Limits of Multicasting in a Packet-Switched WDM Single-Hop Local Lightwave Network

Abstract

Wavelength division multiplexing (WDM) is a technique used to divide the tremendous optical bandwidth of a fiber into many non-interfering channels. A WDM single-hop local lightwave network can be designed by using two-way fibers to connect every node to a passive star coupler, and equipping the nodes with tunable transmitters and/or receivers. The passive star broadcasts data transmitted on each wavelength channel to all nodes in the system. This type of network, known as broadcast and select, is naturally suited to multicasting; every node in the network has the opportunity to receive any particular packet. In this study, we show how multicasting in a broadcast and select environment can dramatically increase the throughput of the network. Using a Markov model and a simulation, we show that multicasting significantly improves the limiting performance of both small and large networks, especially when each node is equipped with multiple receivers.