Register insertion bus architecture for fibre optic local area networks

A protocol for fibre optic local area networks, the register insertion bus (RIB), is proposed. RIB uses a folded-bus topology with an access scheme which includes the existence of two buffers in each station to hold packets that would conflict. Simulations have shown the access scheme to efficiently utilise the network with a minimum of overhead. RIB implements a fair access scheme at normal network loads but at high loads a priority scheme is implemented. An enhancement technique is discussed that will implement a fair access scheme by altering the time between transmissions based on the measured network load.