The invention provides an
optical communication system (10) comprising a plurality of mutually interconnected bi-directional optical
waveguide rings (20, 30, 40, 50, 60) in which
radiation modulated with communication traffic propagates. The
radiation is partitioned into 32 distinct wavebands. Interfaces (70, 80, 90, 100, 110, 120) are included in the
system (10) where communication traffic propagating in the rings transfers from one ring to another. Each interface (70) is capable of providing an all-optical waveband reconfigurable
communication link between the rings (20, 30, 40, 50, 60). At each interface (70), conversion of
optical radiation to corresponding electrical signals is not required when transferring communication traffic from one ring to another, thereby providing the
system (10) with a potentially larger
communication bandwidth compared to conventional
optical communication systems. If required, the interfaces (70, 80, 90, 100, 110, 120) can include one or more of
regenerative amplification (440, 850, 852, 854, 856, 858, 860, 862, 864) and
wavelength-switching transponders (1332, 1410).