Feed-Forward- and Shared-Buffer-Based Optical Packet Switch Architecture

This architecture incorporates wavelength-routed loop-buffer modules in the feed-forward configuration, and the buffering in these modules is recirculating in nature, using shared memory. The signal quality will deteriorate during each revolution, due to the insertion loss of the various optical components; therefore, it will impose a limit on the number of circulations that a packet can take in the buffer before its correct reception. Generally, this limit has not been considered in the past, but one should have to take care of it in the current scenario for the actual switching systems.