Packed-switched OTDM networks employing the packet compression/expansion technique

Future networks should carry several types of traffic in a dynamical manner. Predominantly, optical networks could provide sufficiently high bandwidth for future bandwidth-intensive applications. Particularly, the packet-interleaved optical time division multiplexing (CYFDM) technology could be a promising candidate for future high-dynamical and high-capacity photonic networks. In this paper, photonic networks employing rate-conversion of data packets in the optical domain are addressed, thereby achieving a high bit-rate access to the optical medium on a packet-by-packet basis. Two rate-conversion methods including the compression/expansion loop and the optical delay line structure are discussed and compared relating to the power budget and the optical signal-to-noise ratio. Moreover, a scalable optical packet rate-conversion unit is proposed and investigated by means of numerical simulations. The impact of the "time-out" phenomenon on the network performance and especially the improvement of the transmission efficiency and the average packet transfer delay by using the proposed scheme are shown.