ShuffleNet: An Application of Generalized Perfect Shuffles to Multihop Lightwave Networks.

Wavelength-Division Multiplexing (WDM) holds great promise for achieving large-scale concurrency on a single fiber. However, standard multichannel approaches have two serious drawbacks when applied to lightwave networks: (1) they require wavelength- agile transmitters or receivers, and (2) pretransmission coordination between two users wishing to communicate is required. In this memo, we propose a multihop WDM approach referred to as ShuffleNet, for achieving concurrency in distributed lightwave networks. A ShuffleNet can be configured with each user having only one fixed-wavelength transmitter and only one fixed-wavelength receiver, avoiding both wavelength agility and pretransmission coordination problems. Still, the network can achieve at least 40% of the maximum efficiency possible with wavelength-agile transmitters and receivers.