The advancement of the Internet has proved that optical packet switching is the most flexible and robust solution for the present and future dynamic network traffic. In optical packet switching networks, a key issue is the header separation and detection techniques with the packet forwarding. The typical labeled optical packet switching requires only the header separation at the core node without processing payload. Thus labeled optical switching is a promising approach to switch and route optical packets in optical packet switching networks.
Currently there are few important techniques available to multiplex the optical header. Among these technologies, sub-carrier multiplexing is the most prevailing approach. However, these existing schemes do not sufficiently resolve the problem with practical application of requirements of performance and cost. An efficient header multiplexing technique that can overcome these challenges is greatly anticipated.
To resolve the drawbacks, this thesis proposes a novel optical header multiplexing technique by Coded Frequency Division Multiplexing (CFDM) with the biased 8B/10B coding system. The proposed multiplexing technique is performed by 8:1B/12B mux coding system and a header Rx at a core node without header swapping, 2.9 GHz optical Rx with a fourth order Bessel Thomson low pass filter is used for separating the header. The multiplexing technique requires nearly the same bandwidth at the transmitter (Tx) and receiver (Rx), which is relatively narrow bandwidth for transporting both the header and payload and thereby allowing better spectral efficiency. On the other hand, the coding multiplex can be done at a very low cost, as traditional 8B/10B transmission coding is widely used. Therefore, this technique enhances the performance as well as lowers the overall system cost.
To verify that the proposed header multiplexing technique can achieve efficient system performance, we perform an analytical analysis in the respect of 8B/10B coding system. We also perform the cost analysis to show that the proposed multiplexing technique is more cost effective than other currently utilized multiplexing techniques. In conclusion, this thesis presents a structured engineering result for the optimal multiplexing technique that can make labeled optical packet switching technology commercially more attractive.
