Optical packet switches based on a single arrayed waveguide grating

Optical packet/burst switching is a very interesting approach to cope with some of the disadvantages of wavelength routed optical networks: static, coarse bandwidth assignment. Key components in that technology are the network nodes: fast optical packet switches. Apart from performance, cost and upgradability are also important issues. The paper proposes some different architectures, all based on a single AWG as the central building block. The different node architectures are assessed on their qualities and shortcomings.