Flexible synchronous broad-band subscriber loop system: optical shuttle bus

A flexible, synchronous, broadband subscriber loop system called the optical shuttle bus is discussed. The emphasis is on the proposed design architecture and performance of a 1.8-Gb/s prototype system. The optical shuttle bus is constructed of multigigabit/second intelligent optical shuttle nodes (OSNs). The software-defined OSNs allow the bus to be configured as a synchronous transmission network with any topology and provides flexible channel allocation by means of a drop/insert/cross-connect function. The OSN can be configured as a highly reliable network by virtue of its self-healing functions such as line switch, bypass, and loop back. The proposed bus architecture has been successfully applied in a 1.8-Gb/s prototype in which three OSNs are connected by one 10-km and two 5-dm single-mode fibers in a ring configuration. Very compact and inexpensive equipment is realized by using high-speed ICs. Experimental results show the proposed architecture to be a powerful one for the realization of synchronous broadband subscriber loop systems