Design of Optical WDM Networks: LAN, MAN and WAN Architectures (The Springer International Series in Engineering and Computer Science, 603)

Lo, soul! seest thou not God's purpose from the first? The earth to be spann'd, connected by net-work From Passage to India! Walt Whitman, "Leaves of Grass", 1900. The Internet is growing at a tremendous rate today. New services, such as telephony and multimedia, are being added to the pure data-delivery framework of yesterday. Such high demands on capacity could lead to a "bandwidth-crunch" at the core wide-area network resulting in degra­ dation of service quality. Fortunately, technological innovations have emerged which can provide relief to the end-user to overcome the In­ ternet's well-known delay and bandwidth limitations. At the physical layer, a major overhaul of existing networks has been envisaged from electronic media (such as twisted-pair and cable) to optical fibers - in the wide area, in the metropolitan area, and even in the local area set­ tings. In order to exploit the immense bandwidth potential of the optical fiber, interesting multiplexing techniques have been developed over the years. Wavelength division multiplexing (WDM) is such a promising tech­ nique in which multiple channels are operated along a single fiber si­ multaneously, each on a different wavelength. These channels can be independently modulated to accommodate dissimilar bit rates and data formats, if so desired. Thus, WDM carves up the huge bandwidth of an optical fiber into channels whose bandwidths (1-10 Gbps) are compati­ ble with peak electronic processing speed. Wavelength Division Multiplexed (WDM) optical networks are emerging as promising candidates for the infrastructure of the next-generation Internet. Such networks are envisaged for spanning local, metropolitan and wide geographical areas. WDM optical networks go beyond technologies such as Synchronous Optical Network (SONET) and Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM) in realizing the full potential of the optical medium.

From passive star coupler-based broadcast optical networks to switch-based optical wavelength-routed networks, the book covers a wide range of available technologies and designs for proposed network architectures. The author investigates the impact of physical-layer issues on the design of such WDM-based optical networks. In particular, this book presents a sampling of problems such as amplifier placement and optimization, sharing and minimization of wavelength converter usage, and bit-error rate (BER)-based all-admission in WDM optical networks and proposes novel solutions. Efficient algorithms are described which significantly improve the cost-effectiveness of WDM networks.

Design of Optical WDM Networks: LAN, MAN and WAN Architectures is targeted towards practitioners and researchers in the field of optical networks and WDM as well as students interested in the future of networking and telecommunications.

Wavelength Division Multiplexed (WDM) optical networks are emerging as promising candidates for the infrastructure of the next-generation Internet. Such networks are envisaged for spanning local, metropolitan and wide geographical areas. WDM optical networks go beyond technologies such as Synchronous Optical Network (SONET) and Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM) in realizing the full potential of the optical medium. From passive star coupler-based broadcast optical networks to switch-based optical wavelength-routed networks, the book covers a wide range of available technologies and designs for proposed network architectures. The author investigates the impact of physical-layer issues on the design of such WDM-based optical networks. In particular, this book presents a sampling of problems such as amplifier placement and optimization, sharing and minimization of wavelength converter usage, and bit-error rate (BER)-based all-admission in WDM optical networks and proposes novel solutions. Efficient algorithms are described which significantly improve the cost-effectiveness of WDM networks. Design of Optical WDM Networks: LAN, MAN and WAN Architectures is targeted towards practitioners and researchers in the field of optical networks and WDM as well as students interested in the future of networking and telecommunications. Front Matter....Pages i-xxvi Introduction....Pages 1-8 Optical Network Devices....Pages 9-31 Front Matter....Pages 33-33 Optimizing Amplifier Placements: The Equally-Powered Wavelengths Case....Pages 35-59 Optimizing Amplifier Placements: The Unequally-Powered Wavelengths Case....Pages 61-81 Front Matter....Pages 83-83 Wavelength Conversion....Pages 85-112 Impact of Transmission Impairments on Network Performance....Pages 113-129 Conclusions....Pages 131-133 Back Matter....Pages 135-166