On fast switching related to PFTS nodes

Abstract

The merging trend of three separate networks, i.e. telephone, cable TV and computer networks, demands simplifying network architecture, which has motivated the development of a single physical layer user-data transfer platform architecture network (SUPA-net) by Huaxin Zeng et al., (2004). For such a network the physical layer must be able to provide a mechanism over DWDM to transmit and switch bit streams at very high speed, and to satisfy different users' QoS requirements. As a result, a novel switching technique called physical frame time-slot switching (PFTS) was developed at our lab. This paper is devoted to fast switching technique of burst and non-burst data in PFTS node. The improved format of the switching field of PFTS frame is discussed. Bursting phenomenon is analyzed and tactics in dealing with such feature is discussed in some detail. Relevant issues such as the structure of switching table and fast switching algorithm are proposed based on hardware design to satisfy QoS requirements with respect to transit delay, jitters and etc. at the physical layer.