All-Optical Packet Buffering for OTDM Networks

In this paper, we investigate the performance of passive and active recirculating fibre loop buffers (RFLB) in an optical time division multiplexing (OTDM) network employing soliton pulse shape. Both standard fibre and dispersion shifted fibre (DSF) are considered. Further to previous work [1], it is no longer assumed that switching mechanism is ideal, and both insertion loss and crosstalk are included within the simulation model. Simulation results for the bit error rate (BER) performance for different buffer loop numbers, and eye diagrams for both passive and active buffering are presented. It will be shown that for BER of 10 both passive and active loop buffers employing DSF require lower received power level compared with the case using standard fibre. DSF based buffer also offers increased buffer storage time because of reduced inter symbol interference (ISI) due to pulse broadening.