Advanced optoelectronic packet switch architecture with reduced optical hardware requirement

Initiated by studying the characteristics of our 1st generation opto-electronic packet switch (VIVALDI), we identified the impacting factors for the performance of a generic system under a burst-like traffic environment. Analyzing the complex relationship between system resource (i.e. connectivity and throughput) and performance (i.e. packet delays), a novel architecture based on a revolutionary principle of group switching was designed that produced significant reduction in the hardware required and the difficulties in operations, and yet still achieved an acceptable level of performance. The centre of the architecture lays a novel solid state switching device with ultra fast response characteristics – in the order of microseconds. The deployment of this new device further reduces the required level of system complexity – making the architecture a truly practical solution. An experimental demonstrator was designed and built to verify the feasibility of the new device in the application of optical switching. This thesis is structured in five sections. The first section (chapter 1 & 2) states the motivations and goals of our research work and looks at the currently available methods of optical switching. The second section (chapter 3) discusses the analysis conducted on the 1st generation VIVALDI architecture. The results and analytical methods used form a foundation for our more advanced architecture. The third section (chapters 4-7) presents the origination of the group switching principle and the architectural design of the novel system. Simulations are used to assess the performance of the system. In the fourth section (chapter 8), we discuss the results of our experimental work from the optical core demonstrator. Finally, in section five (chapter 9), we conclude our findings from the project and provide guidelines to future research works.EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo