Details of Grant 

EPSRC Reference:	GR/S34588/01
Title:	Smoothed Optical ATD Packet Switching (SOAPS)
Principal Investigator:	White, Professor I
Other Investigators:	Penty, Professor R
Researcher Co-Investigators:
Project Partners:
Department:	Engineering
Organisation:	University of Cambridge
Scheme:	Standard Research (Pre-FEC)
Starts:	01 August 2003	Ends:	31 July 2006	Value (£):	179,617
EPSRC Research Topic Classifications:	Optical Communications
EPSRC Industrial Sector Classifications:	Communications Electronics
Related Grants:
Panel History:
Summary on Grant Application Form
We propose to develop and implement an architecture for both metropolitan and wide-area networking, with the aim of providing an effective and practical data communications service over Optical Packet Switching. Unlike previous techniques, this architecture involves the use of comparatively simple Asynchronous Time Division optical switching, based on refinements of available optical components, combined with the computing power and memory capacity of electronics at the edge of the network, to effectively utilise the optical transport layer, while also providing the richness of service required for commercialy successful data communications products.The project will therefore use the capabilities of the electronics to queue and schedule traffic at the edge, in combination with WDM, dynamic fixedlength time slot allocation on transmission links and electronic control of optical nodes to provide flexible and effective architectures. WDM will be used to allow lower electronic speeds for header processing and fast download of payloads.Hardware research is required to enable the network to be developed. In the first phase of the project, the emphasis will be on using COTS CWDM components, but later simple add/drop CDWM switches will be implemented for greater scalability. Intermixing is key to making this possible.
Key Findings
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Potential use in non-academic contexts
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Organisation Website:	http://www.cam.ac.uk