In this paper, we propose Comb-Net, a tree PON architecture in which several laser combs at the root of the tree supply wavelengths to all stations in the PON. Namely, each station receives several wavelengths from comb laser sources located at the root of the PON, via a Comb Distribution network. It then selects (by fixed or tunable filters) some predefined or agreed upon wavelengths, and uses these as sources; i.e., it modulates them (in amplitude or phase) using an external modulator. The modulated wavelengths are then transmitted on the Multiaccess Communications network, which is separate from the Comb Distribution network. The novelty of Comb-Net is to replace the individual (fixed or tunable) lasers at the station with a set of centralized comb generators. The advantages are better stability control, lower noise and potentially lower cost since each station does not require a dedicated source. In the paper, we describe an example of Comb-Net architecture in which the Multiaccess Data network is based on a physical tree topology and on two separate virtual topologies embedded within the physical topology using WDM: a single hop topology used for circuit switched connections; and a multihop topology used for packet switched traffic. We illustrate the Comb-Net architecture with a simple case study.

Date Published: 1 November 1993
PDF: 10 pages
Proc. SPIE 2024, Multigigabit Fiber Communication Systems, (1 November 1993); doi: 10.1117/12.161317

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 2024:
Multigigabit Fiber Communication Systems
Leonid G. Kazovsky; Karen Liu, Editor(s)