Rooted routing in linear lightwave networks

The authors propose a new scheme for optical signal routing within linear lightwave network (LLN) subnets. They study the synchronization problem that exists in these subnets which prevents efficient implementation of time division multiple access schemes for sharing a common broadcast medium. A solution for this problem is proposed, based on a new optical agent signal routing scheme, called rooted routing. The impact of the rooted routing on power losses is analyzed, and an approach for optimizing the power losses in LLNs with rooted routing is presented. It is shown that when the link and excess losses are small, the optimal power budget is close to that when the original, shortest path routing scheme is used. It is also shown that the power budget in LLNs with rooted routing can be significantly improved using a single optical amplifier.