Design and performance of a repeater for CSMA/CD passive optical star network connection

Abstract

One method to expand a network is to employ repeaters operating at layer 1. When networks using the optical passive star coupler are connected through repeaters with only a relaying function, there arises the problem of “self-collision.” This problem occurs when the packet returned from the optical star coupler connected to the destination network is relayed unconditionally by the repeater to the originating network. As a means to avoid the self-collision, the authors have proposed a repeater with wavelength-division multiplex technique and gate control [1]. Through the design of the wavelength filter, it is shown that a satisfactory performance is obtained [3]. This paper shows further the results of studies, from the functional viewpoint, for the transmission design of the repeater, the control method for the gate, and the relaying method for the code rule violation. The repeater is built into a system constructed experimentally for the star configured optical transmission system with the transmission rate of 32 Mbit/s. The result of measurement of the transmission performance and the functional operation are described. The design for the repeater, which is applicable to the connection of the passive star network, is now described clearly.