Traffic scheduling in multiple WDM star systems

The authors propose the use of multiple wavelength division multiplexing (WDM) passive stars as the physical interconnection for local or metropolitan area networks. This new architecture is based on the grouping property and will exhibit better channel efficiency as the traffic is more likely to occur within groups. Each concentrator/node is connected to one of the local stars and to the remote star, resulting in one hop communication in the network. The network control and switching are based on a combined WDM/TDM (time division multiplexing) approach. The transmission control algorithm incorporates the unique aspects of WDM communication such as two tunable transmitters and receivers at each node, local and remote communication, the tuning time, and a limited number of wavelengths