| Next-generation all-optical fiber networks with optical crossconnect switches have the ability to direct optical signals from any input to any output interface by configuring the embedded optical switch matrix. Microelectromechanical system (MEMS) based switches have been found to be the most promising technology to achieve such functionality. In this research, we propose a new approach to implement a transparent all-optical, non-blocking crossconnect switch for routing optical network traffic. The proposed technique is based on the combination of MEMS, diffractive optical elements (DOEs), and optical fibers. The crossconnect switch can be programmed to reconfigure the network depending on the traffic. A multistage interconnection network (MIN) using the MEMS-based connect switches as the backbone has been developed to support multicast while reducing the crosstalk and network complexity. To achieve this, we utilized reordering of algorithms and a slot-permuter adaptable to all changes for multicast support. Finally, the performance of the proposed technique has been verified via computer simulation and statistical analysis. |
