This project explores improved and expanded methods that allow optical crossbar switches to be used more effectively in multiple switch mesh networks over large distances. The primary research objective is to develop new control methods for wide area optical network (WAON) configurations using the techniques of packet switching, global status tables and out-of-band control. The anticipated results of the work include the ability to expand the size (number of nodes) and extent (distance between nodes) of supercomputer networks tasked to solve large scale computing problems. Applications include gigabit LANs, supercomputer networks, and avionics networks.
