INEXPENSIVE GIGABIT LAN

THIS IS A PROPOSAL FOR AN INEXPENSIVE GIGABIT LOCAL AREA NETWORK (LAN) WHICH AUGMENTS STANDARD LOW SPEED LOCAL AREA NETWORKS SUCH AS ETHERNET OF FDDI FOR GREATLY IMPROVED PERFORMANCE OVER DISTANCES ON THE ORDER OF 1 KM. THE GIGABIT LAN CONSISTS OF SIMPLE INTERFACES RUNNING AT DATA RATES IN THE VICINITY OF 100 MB/S, FIBER-OPTIC LINKS, A CROSSBAR SWITCHING MATRIX, AND A NETWORK CONTROLLER ATTACHED TO A LOW SPEED LAN. GIGABIT OVERALL THROUGHPUT IS ACHIEVED WITH LOW SPEED AND LOW COST INTERFACES BY USING PARALLEL DATA TRANSFER THROUGH THE SWITCH. THE NETWORK OPERATES IN A CIRCUIT SWITCHED MODE FOR THE TRANSFER OF LARGE FILES OR LONG MESSAGES BETWEEN SYSTEMS SUCH AS WORKSTATIONS, DISPLAYS, MASS STORAGE DEVICES, SPECIAL PURPOSE PROCESSORS, ETC. THE COST OF HARDWARE IS EXPECTED TO BE MUCH LESS THAN LARGE-SCALE INTEGRATED GIGABIT NETWORK NODES THAT ARE STILL YEARS AWAY. THE DESIGN EMPHASIZES LOW-COST, STANDARD, READILY AVAILABLE ELECTRONIC AND OPTOELECTRONIC COMPONENTS, AND EASE OF INTERFACE TO EXISTING SYSTEMS. IN THIS PHASE I SBIR STUDY, WE DEVELOP PROTOCOLS, OPERATIONAL SPECIFICATIONS, COMPLETE A HIGH LEVEL DESIGN, HARDWARE DESIGN AND SOFTWARE FUNCTIONAL DESIGN, ANALYZE THE PERFORMANCE AND SIMULATE THE NETWORK. PHASE II INCLUDES THE CONSTRUCTION OF A SMALL-SCALE PROTOTYPE SYSTEM, AND ASSOCIATED CONTROL AND INTERFACE ELECTRONICS AND SOFTWARE. ANTICIPATED BENEFITS/POTENTIAL COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS - DISTRIBUTED COMPUTING SYSTEMS CAN SHARE RESOURCES AND ACHIEVE THEIR HIGHEST PERFORMANCE WHEN PROCESSORS ARE INTERCONNECTED WITH THE LOW-COST GIGABIT NETWORK PROPOSED. THERE ARE EXTENSIVE MILITARY AND COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS IN PARALLEL COMPUTING, SIGNAL PROCESSING AND TELECOMMUNICATIONS, INCLUDING: IMAGING RADAR; TRACKING; PATTERN RECOGNITION; AND SYSTEMS WITH DISTRIBUTED DATA GATHERING, PROCESSING AND STORAGE. KEY WORDS - HIGH SPEED NETWORKS, CROSSBAR NETWORKS, GIGABIT NETWORKS,