ATM flexible access node for subscriber feeder networks

In designing flexible access networks, we propose an ATM-based network node named ATM flexible access node. ATMFAN has capabilities of effective transport of user traffic in subscriber feeder networks based on the virtual path connections. The main goal of ATMFAN is to provide node and network level flexibilities with access feeder networks, such as flexible network topology configuration and flexible interface package accommodation. We also describe a prototyping model of ATMFAN and show its feasibility on the ring-shaped feeder network by connecting ATMFANs.