Performance evaluation of AWG-based optical switches with shared wavelength conversion

Abstract

Since the demand for high-capacity and flexibility in optical WDM networks keeps increasing, the realization of simple optical cross-connects (OXCs) becomes more and more a central topic in the optical research field. In this paper we consider new solutions for the architectures of WDM optical switches employing only arrayed waveguide gratings and tunable wavelength converters. Our interest is focused on single-stage OXC architectures for which non-blocking conditions have been already identified. Here, we go deeper into this subject providing a performance evaluation of such structures in terms of blocking probability, in comparison with other blocking or non-blocking architectures.