Transparent Optical Packet Switching: the European ACTS KEOPS project approach

This paper reviews the work carried out under theEuropean ACTS KEOPS (KEys to Optical Packet Switching)project, centering on the definition, development and assessmentof optical packet switching and routing networks capable ofproviding transparency to the payload bit rate. The adoptedapproach uses optical packets of fixed duration with low bit rateheaders to facilitate processing at the network/node interfaces.The paper concentrates on the networking concepts developedin the KEOPS project through a description of the implementationissues pertinent to optical packet switching nodes andnetwork/node interfacing blocks, and consideration of the networkfunctionalities provided within the optical packet layer. Theimplementation, from necessity, relies on advanced optoelectroniccomponents specifically developed within the project, which arealso briefly described.