The application of optical fibers to bus-type local area networks (LANs) has led to a proliferation of network architecture approaches. This has occurred due to the fact that it is not straightforward to implement a bus using passive fiber-optic technology. Nevertheless, a passive approach is one that best mimics coaxial or wireline bus designs, therefore workable designs have emerged, one of which is the so-called passive star approach. This paper discusses the nature of the passive star implementation. The architecture is described and design trade-offs are discussed. Applications of the passive star to CSMA/CD and Token Bus LANs are discussed. In particular, the problem of collision detection in passive star CSMA/CD networks is addressed

Date Published: 1 January 1987
PDF: 9 pages
Proc. SPIE 0841, Fiber Optic Networks and Coherent Technology in Fiber Optic Systems II, (1 January 1987); doi: 10.1117/12.967558

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 0841:
Fiber Optic Networks and Coherent Technology in Fiber Optic Systems II
John D. Chipman; Harish R. Sunak, Editor(s)