A communication network includes a first serving area, a second serving area, a network hub, one or more trunk optical cables, and a first bridging connection. The first serving area includes a first optical switch, a first optical node, and one or more first intra-serving-area (ISA) optical cables communicatively coupling the first optical node to the first optical switch. The second serving area includes a second optical switch, a second optical node, and one or more second ISA optical cables communicatively coupling the second optical node to the second optical switch. The one or more trunk optical cables communicatively couple the first and second optical nodes to the network hub, and the first bridging connection communicatively couples the one or more first ISA optical cables and the one or more second ISA optical cables.

A method for constructing an AWG based non-blocking optical multicast switching network, comprising constructing a non-blocking optical copy network via a wavelength replication module and an arrayed waveguide grating recursively and constructing a non-blocking optical multicast switching network via cascading a data copy network with a point-to-point switching network. The number of active optical devices required for constructing an N×N optical switching network with r input/output ports and with each port carrying m wavelengths is just O(N log.sub.m N), realizing system scalability and saving hardware cost and power consumption. By splitting the routing path of the multicast network into a routing path with O(1) complexity in the copy network and a routing path in a point-to-point unicast switching network, the routing complexity of the multicast switching network is equivalent to that of a unicast switching network.

An intersecting splitter configured so that the branching ratio of each optical splitter differs in accordance with the difference in the number of intersections in each branched waveguide. The branching ratios (totaling 100%) of the optical splitters are adjusted so that the branching ratios on the high side as to the number of intersections is high in comparison with the branching ratios on the low side as to the number of intersections, and it is thereby possible to level the total loss.

Apparatus and method for monitoring IP multicast delivery. One embodiment comprises an Optical Line Termination (OLT) device that includes a Network Termination (NT) device that connects to a core network, and a plurality of Line Termination (LT) devices that connect to an optical distribution network. The NT device generates an IP multicast monitoring stream directed to a group address, and transmits the monitoring stream to the LT devices. The LT devices then monitor for packets directed to the group address. When an LT device detects a loss of one or more packets directed to the group address, the LT device reports packet loss for the IP multicast monitoring stream to the NT device.

Components of an optical communications network are described at a node of the network providing switching from one or more degrees of received optical signal routed to a plurality of receivers. The switch at the node generally includes a passive reconfigurable optical add drop multiplexer (ROADM) having drop or output ports that connector to optical channels leading to optical receivers without optical amplifiers between the ROADM outputs and the receivers. Configurations of the node and corresponding parameters are described that provide for use of lower cost components due to the absence of an array of optical amplifiers connected to the ROADM outputs.

Disclosed is a hardware-based protection group switching method and optical communication equipment. The method includes: transmitting, by a FPGA in equipment when detecting switching triggering information indicating that a local network element possibly has switching triggering situations, the switching triggering information to each protection state machine through a hardware bus; determining, by each protection state machine according to related traffic flow information, one or more related protection groups that are possibly affected by each switching triggering situation, and generating each corresponding switching triggering condition according to each piece of switching triggering information; separately querying, by the protection state machines corresponding to the related protection groups, a pre-stored table for APS protocol operation results; and updating a cross connection table according to the operation results, and configuring the updated cross connection table to a cross connection chip or a packet switching chip through the FPGA.

In order to reduce the number of power driving elements, an optical signal processing device includes a control unit, a current generation unit, a connection portion, and an optical signal processing unit, the current generation unit includes one or a plurality of power driving elements s, the optical signal processing unit is an optical waveguide on a substrate, and a plurality of driven elements are connected in parallel to an identical one of the plurality of power driving elements and are driven.

A transmission device for which a work path is established in a first degree and a protection path is established in a second degree includes: a switch equipped with a plurality of optical ports; an optical signal generator, optically connected to a first optical port, and configured to generate an optical signal that is transmitted through the work path; and a monitor light generator, optically connected to a second optical port, and configured to generate monitor light by using a wavelength tunable light source. The monitor light generator controls a wavelength of the monitor light to be substantially the same as a wavelength of the optical signal. The switch guides the optical signal that arrives at the first optical port toward the first degree and guides the monitor light that arrives at the second optical port toward the second degree.

The present invention provides a method and an apparatus for data packet switching, and an access switch and a switching system, so as to satisfy requirements of a datacenter for a switching bandwidth and a switching granularity. The method includes: receiving MAC frame control information; determining an interface used for forwarding an MAC frame according to the MAC frame control information and through performing a query on a MAC address forwarding table, where the interface used for forwarding the MAC frame includes a downlink interface, an uplink electrical packet switching network interface and/or an uplink optical packet switching network interface; transmitting a control signal to an electrical packet switching unit, so that the MAC frame is forwarded to the determined interface. According to the method provided in the present invention, the utilization rate of each interface can be improved.

Today's communications require an effective yet scalable way interconnection of data centers and warehouse scale computers (WSCs) whilst operators must provide a significant portion of data center and WSC applications free of charge to users and consumers. At present, data center operators face the requirement to meet exponentially increasing demand for bandwidth without dramatically increasing the cost and power of the infrastructure employed to satisfy this demand. Simultaneously, consumer expectations of download/upload speeds and latency in accessing content provide additional pressure. Accordingly, the inventors provide a number of optical switching fabrics which reduce the latency and microprocessor loading arising from the prior art Internet Protocol multicasting techniques.