Streaming encryption for a secure wavelength and time domain hopped optical network

We describe a working implementation of a streaming encryption system for optical networks. The 10 Gbps data stream is encrypted on the physical level in both the wavelength and time domains. Security is obtained by applying a strong pseudo-random hopping pattern to both. The AES algorithm in counter mode is used to control the switches that implement the hopping permutations. Because of the high throughput requirements, aggressive parallelizing and pipelining techniques are used to achieve data rates of 10 Gbps. The core logic of the system was implemented on the Virtex2-XC2V1000 FPGA. Using four FPGA boards and four serializer and deserializer chips, a secure switch of 4 users over 4 wavelengths can be realized, resulting in a total throughput of 10 Gbps. This system is important as a platform for further research in the area of secure optical networks.