Architectures for optical time-based traffic regulators

We present three types of architectures for optical time-based regulators, which smooth out bursty optical packet streams. In particular, the regulators reduce the peak rate of packet transmissions. The basic building blocks for these architectures are optical crossbar switches, fiber delay lines, and simple electronic control logic. The architectures presented embody tradeoffs between the required number of switches and the operating speed of the control logic.