Abstract
We propose an optical multipath network system that improves transmission performance by performing diversity reception of the signals from different paths used as working, protection, and reservation paths in an optical mesh network. Long transmission delays occur among the signals from the different paths. Thus, we also propose a diversity reception technique that compensates for the transmission delays by using digital buffer memories at a transmitter side and the estimation of the delays using tap coefficients of digital adaptive equalizers at a receiver side. Numerical simulation shows the validity of the diversity reception technique and improvement in transmission performance.
