FIBEROPTIC BUS-ORIENTED SINGLE-HOP INTERCONNECTIONS AMONG MULTI-TRANSCEIVER STATIONS

This paper explores the merits of the single-path selective-broadcast interconnection (SBI) implemented in fiberoptic technology. This is a static, passive, fiber-optic interconnection among a set of stations, each equipped with multiple, say c, transmitters and receivers. It employs c2 buses, each interconnecting a subset of the stations, and provides a single optical path between any two stations. Thus, it succeeds in decoupling transmission rate from aggregate network throughput. It also offers substantial advantages in power budget and the maximum number of stations that can be connected without repeaters or amplifiers. When compared with c buses, each interconnecting all stations, this SBI is also attractive in terms of the required passive fiber-optic compnents such as fiber segments and star couplers. For a fixed power budget, the capacity of this SBI is optimal among bus-oriented single-hop interconnections for both a uniform traffic pattern and worst-case unknown skew.