In this paper a WDM network architecture of passive star topology is presented that uses a set of control channels to exchange suitable control information in order to coordinate the data packets transmissions without channels collisions. The proposed synchronous access strategy effectively exploits the propagation delay parameter to eliminate the packet loss and to improve the system performance. In opposition to relative studies, the proposed protocol considers that the number of control channels in the MCA is less than the number of data channels. This fact provides a less costly implementation, since it requires less receivers per station. An analytic Markovian model for finite population is developed to derive the performance measures. The proposed protocol performance is extensively studied for various network parameters: nodes population, control and data channels. Finally, the performance optimization conditions are analytically explored.
Keywords-wavelength division multiplexing, multi-channel control architecture, propagation delay latency.I.