ABSTRACT
Optical networks have been slated to meet the challenge posed by the ever-increasing demand for bandwidth. By using wavelength division multiplexing (WDM), we divide the vast transmission bandwidth available on a fiber into several nonoverlapping wavelength channels and enable data transmission over these channels simultaneously. Along with the huge bandwidth comes the realization that even if traffic is disrupted for a few seconds, a lot of data is going to be lost. Besides, the kind of traffic that is being carried over optical networks may be mission critical, so such huge losses may be catastrophic.
