HONET: an integrated services wavelength division optical network

Proposes a high-speed, fiber-optic network architecture for a local or metropolitan area environment that can support a wide range of applications, namely: datagram; real-time, connection oriented communications, and; multicast/broadcast. Successful results have been reported by using WDM (wavelength division multiplexing) in two types of optical network architectures: single-hop and multihop. It has been observed that, while neither of these schemes can adequately satisfy all requirements, yet single-hop and multihop networks have positive and negative properties that tend to complement and compensate each other. The authors exploit this situation by proposing a hybrid architecture HONET (hybrid optical network) which combines the concepts of both schemes, retaining their advantages and avoiding their limitations. HONET uses a multihop network for packet service and a single-hop network for circuit-switched service. The authors show that even the simplest HONET implementation requiring only two transmitter-receiver pairs can provide better performance than a classic single-hop network.