Kunal K Mehta(11BEC107)
Electronics and communication branch
Institute of Technology, Nirma University
Ahmedabad
11bec107@nirmauni.ac.in
Abstract:
Optical packet switching promises to bring the flexibility and efficiency of Internet to transparent optical networking technology with bit rate extending beyond that is currently available with electronic router technologies. New optical signal processing have been demonstrated that enable routing at bit rates from 10gb/s to beyond 40gb/s. Keywords: Wavelength Division Multiplexing(WDM), Packet switching, Router, Bandwidth, IP network, Contention Resolution .
I. Introduction Packets are the basic units of Internet data. Currently, they are directed to their final destination using electronic routers. These packets are moved from router to router using optical fiber transmission and wavelength division multiplexing (WDM) systems where data is transported over different wavelength (colors) of light that are combined onto the same fiber. Today’s fiber systems carry a typical 32-80 wavelengths modulated at 2.5 Gbps to 10 Gbps per wavelength while routers are required to handle almost 1 Terabits per second. Now facts state that data carrying potential of optical fibers continues to double every 8-12 months with a single fiber capacity exceeding 10 Tbps. Comparing this increase with that of electronic processor speeds that doubles every 18 months (Moore’s Law) and comes at the expense of increased chip power dissipation we see that there is a potential bandwidth mismatch in handling capability between fiber transmission systems and electronic routers and switching systems.
The situation becomes more complex when we consider that future routers and switches will potentially terminate hundreds or thousands of optical wavelengths and the increase in bit-rate per wavelength will head out to 40 Gbps and beyond to 160 Gbps. Additionally, electronic memory access speeds only increase