Nucleus of excellence in optical connectivity

• Grant number: 03/09850-5
• Support Opportunities: PRONEX Research - Thematic Grants
• Start date: July 01, 2004
• End date: November 30, 2007
• Field of knowledge: Engineering - Electrical Engineering - Telecommunications
• Agreement: CNPq - Pronex
• Principal Investigator: Helio Waldman
• Grantee: Helio Waldman
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Engenharia Elétrica e de Computação (FEEC). Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP). Campinas , SP, Brazil
• Pesquisadores principais: Maurício Ferreira Magalhães ; Nelson Luis Saldanha da Fonseca
• Associated research grant(s): 06/56014-6 - Michael Devetsikiotis | North Carolina State University - Estados Unidos, AV.EXT
• Associated scholarship(s): 07/06264-9 - Physical Layer Impairment-aware Routing in Optical Networks, BP.PD

Abstract

The Internet has been playing a crucial social role: e-mail allows fast and global communications at low prices, e-commerce makes possible safe online commercial transactions, and e-gov enables easy and transparent interaction between government and the citizenry. The trivialization of these applications gives rise to the emerging Next Generation Networks, which will be able to support the heterogeneous traffic composed by voice, data and TV, providing the adequate Quality of Service (QoS) demanded by each application. Optical networks are the only medium with enough bandwidth to support the huge traffic volume demanded by Next Generation Networks. The majority of the optical systems currently in operation still employ the SOH/SONET hierarchy, adequate to voice traffic for offering protection and circuit switching. These characteristics, however, are not suitable to the Next Generation Networks, where different levels of Quality of Service are needed. The evolution of the optical networks towards the harmonious integration with the Next Generation Networks is therefore a strategic research area. Our group includes some of the main Brazilian researchers working on optical networking, MPLS traffic engineering and the development of new applications for the Internet. International publications on the area [1-18] and cooperation agreements with companies [CPqD from 1997 to 1999, Embratel from 1997 to 2000, Ericsson Tel. from 2000 to 2004 (Optical Networking) and Ericsson Tel. from 1999 to 2001 (MPLS e IP Traffic Engineering)] emphasize the excellence of our achievements. In this context, the support of the PRONEX is needed to enable us to continue and escalate our research efforts. (AU)