New multiprotocol WDM/CDMA-based optical switch architecture

Different switching techniques have been proposed to design optical switch architectures. Wavelength division multiplexing (WDM) techniques were extensively investigated to implement switching. Code division multiple access (CDMA) permits multiple users to access bandwidth simultaneously and asynchronously via spread spectrum. This paper presents a non-blocking multiprotocol switch architecture bused on WDM and CDMA techniques. A WDM demultiplexer is used to distribute each wavelength to a specific CDMA switch fabric. The CDMA switch fabric is used to switch the information from an input port to an output port. Each packet is segmented into proprietary cells that are switched from the input to the output. This allows synchronous operation of the switch. Orthogonal subcodes are used for the same output port to avoid cell loss. The optimum number of subcodes used is determined using analytical modeling and simulations.