AN OPTICAL PACKET ROUTER FOR AN OPTICAL NODE IN A PACKET SWITCHED WDM OPTICAL NETWORK

摘要

The present invention is directed to an optical router device that is configured to route optical packets in a TDM/WDM optical network. The optical device is disposed in a node of the WDM optical network. The WDM optical network is configured to accommodate a plurality of wavelength channels. Each of the plurality of wavelength channels is configured to propagate optical packets in a time division multiplexed (TDM) arrangement. Each optical packet includes a baseband-payload and a subcarrier modulated (SCM) header. The device includes an optical WDM demultiplexer configured to demultiplex the plurality of wavelength channels. A header recovery component is coupled to the optical WDM demultiplexer. The header recovery element is configured to recover the SCM header in each optical packet propagating on each demultiplexed wavelength channel. A routing control processor (RCP) is coupled to the header recovery component. The RCP is configured to analyze the SCM header to determine which optical packets are destined for the node.