Optical packet node and optical packet add drop multiplexer

An optical packet add drop multiplexer for receiving and transmitting optical packets and to add and to drop at least one individual wavelength to a multiwavelength band, said packet add drop multiplexer comprising:

• a drop stage to drop at least one received individual wavelength of said multiwavelength band, wherein said drop stage comprises a series connection of:
• a multiwavelength band splitting device for splitting received optical packets transmitted via said multiwavelength band into individual wavelengths, and
• a wavelength selector to select the wavelengths to be dropped and the wavelengths not to be dropped, and
• a transit stage to forward at least one received individual wavelength of said multiwavelength band, wherein said transit stage comprises a series connection of:
• a multiwavelength band splitting device for splitting received optical packets transmitted via said multiwavelength band into individual wavelengths,
• a wavelength selector to select the wavelengths to be forwarded and the wavelengths not to be forwarded, and
• a multiwavelength band combining device for combining said selected wavelengths to be forwarded, and
• an add stage to add at least one individual wavelength to said multiwavelength band, each added wavelength being unequal to each of the forwarded wavelengths, wherein said add stage comprises a series connection of:
• a wavelength selector to select the wavelengths to be added and the wavelengths not to be added, and
• a multiwavelength band combining device for combining said selected wavelengths to be added, and
• a wavelength band coupler to forward a portion of the optical signal power of the received optical packets to a first output, and to forward the remaining portion of the optical signal power to a second output, the first output connected to the transit stage and the second output connected to the drop stage, and
• a coupler to couple the output signals of the transit stage and the output signals of the add stage.

An optical packet node for receiving and transmitting optical packets, said packet node comprising:

• a multiwavelength band splitting device for splitting received optical packets transmitted via multiwavelength bands into at least three groups, each group comprising one multiwavelength band,
• a multiwavelength band combining device for combining said at least three groups of multiwavelength bands,
• at least one optical packet add drop multiplexer placed between said multiwavelength band splitting device and said multiwavelength band combining device, and said optical packet add drop multiplexer serving to add at least one individual wavelength to a respective multiwavelength band group and to drop at least one individual wavelength from a respective multiwavelength band group, and
• at least one optical packet cross-connect between said multiwavelength band splitting device and said multiwavelength band combining device, said at least one optical packet cross-connect serving to switch at least one individual wavelength of a respective group of a multiwavelength band, and
• a load balancing stage connected to said at least one optical packet add drop multiplexer to provide an interconnection between at least two multiwavelength wavelength band groups, wherein said load balancing stage manages traffic levels of optical packets to prevent overload by shifting selected packets from one multiwavelength band group to another multiwavelength band group, and wherein said load balancing stage stores low priority optical packets that were dropped to transmit high priority optical packets, said stored low priority optical packets being transmitted to fill gaps between high priority optical data or being transmitted over an available wavelength in a multiwavelength band group.