Packet switching apparatus using pipeline controller

Abstract

Abstract A high-speed, high-capacity, asynchronous transfer mode packet switching system (10,12) comprises electronic and optical components. The switching system may be a high-capacity multiple-gigabit-per-second optical system controlled by a relatively low-speed electronic controller operating at one hundred megabit-per-second rates. The switching system comprises a plurality of N input lines (1 to N). Each of the N lines carries a succession of data packets or cells to the switching system. Each of the cells is input to the switch in time slots or cell periods of predetermined duration. A laser transmitter (in 10) producing a separate and distinct carrier frequency identifying its associated input is responsive to each of the N input lines. The laser transmitters are connected to the input of an optical star coupler (in 10) which is connected to a series of tunable receivers (in 10). There is one tunable receiver for each output of the switching system. Groups of tunable receivers are connected to the inputs of a series of relatively small packet switching modules (12). The receivers are tuned by a relatively low-speed electronic controller. The controller is responsive to header information in the incoming cells and produces a series of control packets having, for example, activity, priority, and source information. The control packets are pipelined through the controller and sent to the appropriate tunable receivers where they indicate which frequency coming out of the star coupler they should be tuned, thereby causing each receiver to be receptive to the output of an appropriate one of the laser transmitters.

Inventors

• 👤 Kai Y. Eng
• 👤 Mark J. Karol

Bibliographic Details