An optical circuit switching matrix includes a plurality of optical ports, each optical port being optically coupled to a respective one of a plurality of user nodes and an optical coupler having at least one input port optically coupled to the plurality of optical ports, and an output port. The optical circuit switching matrix also includes a wavelength demultiplexer having an input optically coupled to the output port of the optical coupler, and a plurality of output ports, each output port being optically coupled to a respective one of the plurality of optical ports.

An L-dimensional optoelectronic switch for transferring an optical signal from an input device to an output device, the optoelectronic switch includes: a plurality of leaf switches, each having a radix R, and arranged in an L-dimensional array, in which each dimension i has a respective size R.sub.i (i=1, 2, . . . , L), each leaf switch having an associated L-tuple of co-ordinates (x.sub.1, . . . , x.sub.L) giving its location with respect to each of the L dimensions; wherein each leaf switch is a member of L sub-arrays, each of the L sub-arrays associated with a different one of the L dimensions, and including: a plurality of R.sub.i leaf switches, whose co-ordinates differ only in respect of the i.sup.th dimension, each leaf switch having C client ports for connecting to an input device or an output device, and F fabric ports for connecting to spine switches; a plurality of S.sub.i spine switches, each having R fabric ports for connecting to the fabric ports of the leaf switches, and wherein, in a given sub-array each leaf switch in the sub-array is connected to each spine switch via an optical active switch.

An end-to-end method is provided for scheduling connections for networks such as all-optical data centers, which have a zero in-network buffer and a non-negligible reconfiguration delay in which the rate of schedule reconfiguration is limited to minimize the impact of reduced duty-cycles and to ensure bounded delay without overly restricting the rate of monitoring and decision processes. The method decouples the rate of scheduling from the rate of monitoring. A scheduling algorithm for switches with a reconfiguration delay is used which is based on the well-known MaxWeight scheduling policy. The scheduling policy requires no prior knowledge of traffic load.

Systems and methods for providing transmission and reception of hybrid time and wavelength division multiplexed signals on passive optical networks are provided. Networks that use shared transmission media avoid interference between transmitters by restricting the times or wavelengths that given transmitters may use to transmit their messages. The hybrid broadcast WDM TDM PON architecture enables transmitters to use multiple fixed wavelengths for parallel optical transmission within given timeslots to avoid interference with other transmitters and make use of inexpensive fixed optical components to gain a speed advantage over existing architectures while making use of their deployed infrastructure. A single scheduling manager controls the timeslots of upstream and downstream transmissions, which make use of existing standards.

A switch module and optoelectronic switch incorporating the same. The optoelectronic switch includes an N-dimensional array of switch modules arranged in a topology in which each switch module is a member of N sub-arrays, the sub-arrays defined with reference to the coordinates of the constituent switch modules, and wherein all of the members of each sub-array are connected by an active switch, which in some embodiments may be an optical active switch or an electronic active switch.

An optical signal module including a driver and an optical signal module. The driver includes a differential pair configured to receive and process an input signal to create a drive signal. A modulation current source provides a modulation current to the differential pair. One or more termination resistors connected to the differential pair for impedance matching. A first switch, responsive to a first control signal, maintains charge on a charge storage device. The optical signal module includes an optical signal generator arranged between a supply voltage node and a bias current node. The optical signal generator receives the drive signal and generates an optical signal representing the input signal. A second switch is between a supply voltage node the bias current node. The second switch, responsive to second control signal, selectively establishes a short between the supply voltage node the bias current node.

A high capacity node includes a plurality of receiver sections and a plurality of transmitter sections; and an electrical switching fabric between the plurality of receiver sections and the plurality of transmitter sections, wherein each of the plurality of receiver sections and the plurality of transmitter sections interface the electrical switching fabric at a full signal level and the electrical switching fabric is configured to perform flow switching on the full signal level between respective receiver sections and transmitter sections, and wherein the plurality of receiver sections, the plurality of transmitter sections, and one or more stages of the electrical switching fabric are implemented in one or more optoelectronic integrated circuits.

An optical switching control method and apparatus. The method includes generating an optical switching path corresponding to a destination node of service traffic flowing from an external service network, generating an optical frame corresponding to the generated optical switching path, transmitting, to a control server, a request message for requesting an allocation of a time slot to transmit the generated optical frame, generating an optical signal having a predetermined wavelength to transmit the optical frame in response to an admission message being received as a result of admission with respect to the request message, and transferring the optical frame to the destination node based on the optical switching path using the generated optical signal.

Anode for burst switching of traffic flows in an optical network switches bursts of traffic flows in different time slots. Time slots are allocated (96) so that a time gap between successive allocated time slots is selected according to a jitter specification of the traffic flow. A map of the allocations controls a burst switch to pass the bursts in their allocated time slots (86). By making the time gap between allocated time slots for successive bursts selectable, the jitter can be controlled more precisely, or the proportion of time slots filled can be increased resulting in better utilization of available bandwidth. The allocation can be made hop by hop. The map can be generated in a distributed and duplicated manner at each node. The allocation can be updated to adapt to changes bandwidth demands.

A method of local path protection in a node on a shared alternative path of a network. The method comprising receiving a signal switched on a primary label switched path (LSP). The signal is switched by lambda-switching or time-division multiplex TDM switching. The method further comprises receiving identification information arranged to identify the signal, and forwarding the signal on the alternative path based on the identification information.