A new architecture and technologies for high-capacity next-generation metropolitan networks

Optical communications is an integral part of the Internet today. It is the only transmission technology that can deliver the capacity necessary for the long-haul links in the Internet backbone and the metropolitan area networks. The current solution for delivering Internet content throughout the metro area evolved from telephony systems designed to transmit digitized voice circuits across an optical link. Thus, the technology is sub-optimal for the transport of bursty, packet-based Internetworking Protocol (IP) data traffic. New solutions for metro networks that implement a data optimized protocol stack over the ring-based fiber plant are now under development.; Looking into the not-so-distant future, it is clear that IP data traffic will continue to scale at a quick pace. To continue delivering the capacity demanded by Internet consumers, networks will have to scale using wavelength division multiplexing (WDM). Ultimately, metro networks will be forced to scale to capacities beyond 1 Tbps. At capacities of this magnitude, the conventional architectures and the incoming generation of architectures require an excessive amount of optical-to-electrical and electrical-to-optical converters, high-speed line cards, and enormous packet switching capacity. Thus, a new architecture will be necessary to deliver greater than 1 Tbps capacity while still allowing network operators to compete in the cost-sensitive market.; A new IP-optimized metro networking architecture that scales inexpensively beyond 1 Tbps is presented in this dissertation. The architecture uses fast-tunable packet transmitters and wavelength routing to eliminate the need for excessive amounts of equipment. Along with a new architecture, the new protocols necessary for the architecture, such as a media access control protocol, a fairness control protocol, and a survivability protocol have been developed. The performance of the architecture and its protocols has been evaluated with computer simulations that were developed specifically for this work. Additionally, the architecture and protocols have been implemented in a laboratory experimental testbed featuring fast-tunable packet transmitters. Potentially, the work presented in this dissertation may lead to the commercial development of new high-capacity metropolitan area networks.