Photonic switching for ATM networks

A tera-BPS throughput ATM cell switch requires an efficient combination of high photanic bandwidths and high electronic intelligence. Thispaper discusses the design principles necessary for an effective photonic cell switch; a two-layer structure of photonics and electronics; a cell-by-cell synchronous operation, a simpple optical layer, A modular structure and an electronic routing control that is well-matched with the optical layer. A novel Cell switched architecture based on a two-layered detouring, hypercube network is described and some related results are presented for an experimental 2-Gbps 8-line system using a tree structured space switch made from high-speed LiNbO/sub 3/ directional coupler switches. The throughput estimates suggest that 6.6-Tbps photonic systems will be possible in the future.