9318497 Li The rapid development of fiber-optic technology has made high-speed network services possible. However, the current gap between the bandwidth of the standardized optical networks and the theoretical limit of optical fiber bandwidth suggests that a great deal of research remains before an effective optical network can be deployed. The objective of this research is to explore the possible architectures, routing protocols, and system and device implementations for the metropolitan-area or wide-area wavelength-division-multiplexing (WDM) all-optical networks. Such a wide-area network will present certain challenges which are not found in a local-area network. The researchers will explore wavelength-division-multiplexing as the fundamental shifting technology for all-optical networks due to its potential impact for significant capacity upgrades through parallel transmissions on an optical fiber. Work will done to enhance dramatically the efficiency and throughput of such a WDM all-optical network by introducing the novel concept of wavelength converting (or wavelength shifting) and by developing unique wavelength routing schemes which consider new models and requirements of all-optical networks. The throughput and utilization of WDM networks is expected to be at least doubled under the expected traffic loads. Moreover, incurred disruptions are expected to be reduced by 2 orders of magnitude. This will advance the art of previously conceived wavelength-continuous WDM networks. A close collaboration will be formed between experts in the networks, systems, and device areas of photonics. ***
