Extended Secure Communications Based on a Wavelength Division Multiplexing/Code Division Multiplexing Hybrid

During Phase I of the ARPA/TRP/SBIR contract "Optical Switchable Network Based on a WDM/CDMA Hybrid", we demonstrated the feasibility and benefits of combining the wavelength division multiplexing (WDM) device technology with the architectural and algorithmic flexibility of code division multiplexing (CDMA). The benefits include (1) while the number of wavelengths n may be limited, we can architect a network of size N(>>n) without requiring wavelength reuse and (2) the network throughput is NxD (where D is the data rate) because CDMA permits concurrent communication. In this new Project we propose a potentially significant overlay to the previous contract: a scrambling/descrambling scheme which increases the number of optical CDMA matrices. This gives rise to an EXTENDED WDM/CDMA Hybrid Network which is larger by the EXTENSION factor (n)!/(n-f)!, where f is the number of wavelengths required by the code. The scrambled WDM/CDMA Hybrid signals have a greater degree of data SECURITY than the original unscrambled set. This can be further enhanced by masking with a WDM JAMMER where the remainder spectrum, n-f, is used to obscure the presence of the matrix CDMA encoded wavelengths. The EXTENSION and SECURITY aspects are independent but complementary. The proposed innovation leads to more dense, scalable, Gigabit per second, optical networks with only a few WDM wavelengths and CDMA codes as building blocks. The innovation potentially can have a masking noisy signal superimposed to enhance security in military and commercial 1 area networks and environments.