Wavelength-modular optical cross-connect switch

摘要

An optical cross connect (OXC) switching fabric that has wavelength and fiber modularity, allowing the OXC fabric to be expanded for new wavelengths and new input fibers with the addition of new modules is disclosed. A plurality of main module switches comprising two-channel add/drop modules are connected to a common junction module switch. For M wavelengths on N fibers switched within the OXC, each of N/2 main modules includes M separate building blocks each comprising two one-channel add/drop module, and the junction module includes MxN/2 selection matrices for N/2 main module and MxN passive optical splitters having one-input and (N/2-1) output. The main module building blocks and junction module selection matrices provide wavelength and fiber modularity and expandability for the OXC.