On the design of Robust-WDM local area networks

Robust wavelength division multiplexing (Robust-WDM) is a proposal to realize cost-effective WDM local area networks (LANs) which can get around the expensive need for laser wavelength stabilization. The type of these networks that relies on an access protocol with aperiodic reservations and lenient-token-passing based control channel (the AR/LTP protocol) is promising. We look at the deployment of the AR/LTP analytical model in designing this type of network. The model is used to predict the effect of component and network parameters on the waiting time characteristics of the network. An increase in node operation times (i.e. receiver response time, transmitter select time and reservation period) would result in increasing the average waiting time of a connection request, but the waiting time is more sensitive to the physical span of the network and its size. It is also observed that increasing the inter-reservation threshold may result in little increase in waiting time up to some limit beyond which delay increases rapidly. Copyright (C) 2001 John Wiley gr Sons, Ltd.