Switching and synchronization performance of CORD, an optical ATM packet switched network

The CORD (COntention Resolution using Delay lines) consortium has been formed to investigate methods of optical contention resolution. We have developed a WDM network test-bed to demonstrate our Contention Resolution Optics (CRO). The CRO, consisting of optical switches and delay lines, is an optical buffered switch element, capable of rearranging the order of arrival of packets. Shown is the two-stage CRO structure used in CORD. An extension of this structure could be used as a 2/spl times/2 optical switch element for a distributed buffered optical switching fabric or a variety of switch architectures.