Configuration and performance for a WDM NAM network

At the Communications Research Centre, in collaboration with Nortel and the National Research Council, an eight wavelength Network Access Module (NAM) is currently under development. Such devices can be deployed so as to form an optoelectronic, regenerative, broadband ring backbone network for ATM traffic. This paper reports on the impact of wavelength assignment on the number of add/drop lines required at each NAM when configured in a ring topology. Additionally, system performance in the absence of adequate media access control on the ring is examined.