A protected optical star-shaped ring network using an N x N arrayed waveguide grating and incoherent light sources

We propose an optical star-shaped single ring architecture with protection links suitable for implementing high-speed ring networks on a star-wired cabling layout. The experimental network consisting of an N/spl times/N arrayed waveguide grating in a hub, an incoherent light source in each node, and a single fiber between them was constructed to investigate the feasibility. Bit-error rates below 10/sup -9/ were measured at 155 Mb/s.