Optical cross-connect switch

The use of all optical switches are now taking over the use of O-E-O switches, as the O-E-O switches requires complex circuitry and have their own limitation while performing smooth lossless switching. The most common applications of these are WDM optical add-drop multiplexing (OADM), cross connects and protection switching. Yet the use of all optical... 

This intrabuilding backbone run comprises the fiber optic paths that support applications to the telecommunications closet. This network supports the use of fiber-to-the-desk (FTTD) or copper but requires hubs or switches in the closet. This particular user decides to install a 30-fiber, 62.5-/ttm cable to each horizontal cross connect. The choice of 30 fibers included sufficient spares to handle expansion and future needs. 

Figure 4.8 Schematic diagram of a 3-d optical cross-connect switch. Light from an input port is reflected off a two-axis MEMS tilt mirror array. The reflected optical beams are then directed to a second two-axis MEMS tilt mirror array that directs the beams into an optical fiber collimator at the output port. (Reprinted with permission from IEEE Conference Proceedings on Photonics in Switching, PS 09,128 x 128 3D-MEMS optical switch module with simultaneous optical paths connection for optical cross-connect systems, M. Mizukami et al. 1967 IEEE.)...

The Lucent lambda router, a 3-d switch, was developed as an optical cross-connect switch for large switch arrays (256 x 256 to 1024 x 1024 port counts). A schematic diagram of a 3-d optical cross-connect switch is shown in Figure 4.8 [11]. 

K.-F. Chen, and T.-C. Chen, Optical Cross-connect Switch (OXC), EE215 MEMS Design, UC Santa Cruz, Spring 2007. 

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