Reconfigurable Information-Sharing Network System Based on a Cyclic-Frequency AWG and Wavelength-Tunable Lasers

We propose an information-sharing network system, capable of forming and dynamically reconfiguring multiple information-sharing groups on the same network platform by using wavelength routing and distributed shared memory technologies. The network system comprises information-sharing terminal nodes equipped with a shared memory and a wavelength-tunable transmitter, network management terminal and an arrayed-waveguide grating (AWG). The information-sharing terminal nodes are connected to an AWG by a pair of optical fibers, forming a star-shaped topology. Information is shared among the information-sharing terminal nodes through the establishment of a logical information-sharing ring. This is accomplished by adjusting the output of the wavelength-tunable transmitter at each terminal node to an appropriate wavelength according to the wavelength-routing characteristics of the AWG wavelength router. We developed a prototype information-sharing network system, in which, as preliminary experiments, HDTV and SDTV videos were used for real-time information sharing. The dynamic reconfiguration of information-sharing groups and a simple automatic restoration technique have been successfully demonstrated. The system is applicable to distributed computer processing systems and high-capacity information-sharing applications such as high-quality videoconferences.