Integrating VOA and multicast capabilities into the optical switch

This paper examines the integration of optical multicast and VOA functionalities into an optical switch. The paper contains an analysis of the different methods available today to perform such integration, as well as a detailed investigation of some of the applications that stand to benefit from such integration. Integrated switching, multicast and VOA functionalities are offered using several different technologies. The leading technologies are integrated optics, polarization based devices. Some applications that stand to benefit from such devices include: Next generation optical protection schemes - realizing dynamic optical protection schemes in both ring and mesh networks requires both switching and VOA functionalities. Cost effective 1+1 schemes in mesh networks may benefit from multicast functionality as well, Reconfigurable optical networks - Dynamic provisioning in optical networks mean that the wavelength path in the network is not fixed. This requires both VOA and switching functionality to execute the dynamic reconfiguration, Next generation optical amplifiers, Optical multicast networks.