Multiwavelength Optical Networks: A Layered Approach (Addison-Wesley Professional Computing Series) (Hardcover)

-- Shared channel networks, which use optical multiplexing and multiple access to provide multipoint connectivity on a static optical layer
-- Wavelength-routed networks, which use optical switching to provide point-to-point connectivity over a reconfigurable optical layer
Linear lightwave networks, which support multipoint connectivity over a reconfigurable optical layer
Hybrid, logically routed networks, using electronically switched overlays to provide virtual connectivity on a reconfigurable optical layer

Procedures for network control and design are covered for each category of network and are illustrated with examples. The emphasis here is on the fundamental role of available network resources--optical spectrum, fiber topology, and switching node and access station functionality--in determining network performance. Important topics covered are:

-- Multiplexing and multiple access in the optical domain
-- Effective techniques for physical layer simulation
-- Optical switch designs to circumvent component imperfections, plus coverage of optical layer packet switching
-- New and efficient algorithms for routing and wavelength assignment
-- Combining the advantages of optical transparency and electronic switching
-- Network survivability and fault recovery
-- Recent commercial trends in multiwavelength optical networking and practical deployment issues that may arise, including cost, flexibility, and performance tradeoffs

From the Inside Flap

At the present time, the telecommunications industry is undergoing unprecedented change, brought on largely by the shift from a voice-centric to a data-centric world--a consequence of the rapid growth of the Internet together with other data networking applications.

In the past, telecommunications network design and economics were dictated by voice traffic considerations. With the change to data-dominated traffic, a new generation of networks is taking shape--one that requires a fundamental modification in the principles of network design, control, and management. At the core of the next generation is the multiwavelength (wavelength-division multiplexed) optical network--the subject of this book

As opposed to many other books on optical fiber communications, our emphasis is on methodologies for network analysis, design, control, and fault management rather than on optical transmission technology. The book is intended as a text for students specializing in telecommunications and as a reference for practicing engineers and researchers. Here we provide a discussion of enabling technology at a level necessary to understand the devices on which multiwavelength networks are built. However, for the reader seeking a deeper treatment of the underlying photonic principles and technology, we recom-mend one of the many excellent texts devoted to these subjects (for example, see Agrawal97 and Saleh+91).

This book focuses on four classes of optical networks, presented within the framework of a multiwavelength network architecture. The classes, presented in increasing order of complexity are: static networks, wavelength-routed networks, linear lightwave (waveband-routed) networks, and logically routed networks. The latter class consists of networks composed of an electronic overlay on an optical infrastructure.

Different parts of the book will be appropriate to different audiences. Chapters 1, 2, 3, and 9 would be suitable for a short (12- to 15-hour) course on optical networks for electrical engineering or computer science majors. These chapters give a basic, qualitative description of multiwavelength networks without going into the fundamental aspects of the enabling technology and without treating networking methodologies in depth.

This material explains the place of optical networks in the world of communications (Chapter 1), describes the multiwavelength network architecture and its basic network building blocks (Chapter 2), shows how connectivity is achieved both optically and electronically (Chapter 3), and gives a glimpse of optical networking trends as of early 1999 (Chapter 9).

A comprehensive quantitative graduate course would want to include the remaining chapters. Technological foundations are covered in Chapter 4, followed by a presentation of static networks in Chapter 5, wavelength routed and linear lightwave networks in Chapter 6, and logically routed networks in Chapter 7. Survivability and fault recovery are presented in Chapter 8.

Exercises are provided for Chapters 2 through 8. Many of them are open ended and some are closer to projects (for example, simulation studies). This is in keeping with the fact that we are dealing with a rapidly moving field.

Six appendices are included. Three of them provide necessary background for those unfamiliar with various areas: Appendix A deals with graph theory, Appendix C summarizes the pertinent aspects of Markov chains and queues, and Appendix F presents an overview of the SONET standard. The remaining appendices contain algorithms for solving certain problems that arise in Chapters 5 and 6: a fixed-scheduling algorithm for shared media (Appendix B), an algorithm for finding limiting cuts (i.e., bottlenecks) in a network (Appendix D), and an algorithm for minimum interference routing in linear lightwave networks (Appendix E).

Certain sections will be of special interest to designers of current and near-term networks because they deal with contemporary architectures. Others are more forward-looking and will be of more interest to researchers. A road map for the book indicating various possible itineraries appears in Section 1.7. 020130967XP04062001

See all Editorial Reviews

• Books > Computers & Internet > Certification Central
• Books > Computers & Internet > Networking > Networks, Protocols & APIs > Networks
• Books > New & Used Textbooks > Computer Science > Networking
• Books > Professional & Technical > Engineering > Electrical & Electronics > Optics
• Books > Professional & Technical > Engineering > Telecommunications > Optical Communication Engineering
• Books > Science