| Photonics is a technology capable of supporting very high bit-rates of data. However, with the current state of photonic technologies logic and memory functions are very difficult to implement in the photonic domain. In photonic star networks using time division multiplexing (such as the Agile All Photonic Network), timeslots from the edges of the network have to arrive at the star point at exactly the same instant to be switched because they cannot be buffered in the photonic domain. The switching requires that the time at which the timeslots are transmitted must be coordinated and tightly controlled. This thesis addresses methods of synchronizing the components at the edge of the network to compensate for heterogeneous propagation delays between the edges and the star point. Different methods of providing this compensation are described and assessed in terms of their capabilities and performance. |
