Receiver allocation in photonic bus networks

Photonic bus networks (PBNets), which consist of a linear network structure interconnected in a dual unidirectional-bus virtual topology using point-to-point optical channels, are considered. Because of the photonic broadcast-and-select implementation, the design is much more flexible than in conventional point-to-point fiber networks. Receiver allocation, a simple method that exploits the broadcast-and-select implementation, is introduced. A technique that permits consistent media access protocol operation regardless of the location and number of allocated receivers is presented. Several simple receiver allocation algorithms are introduced. Simulation results that compare the algorithms and show that there is a strong advantage in sharing network loading information when performing such assignments are reported. An analytic model is given that accurately predicts individual station queueing delay in a PBNet with allocated receivers is given