What is a ring network?

 

For those who work with optical modules, they often encounter some rather novel network concepts, such as, "Why is a metropolitan area network (MAN) called a metropolitan area ring network?"

A metropolitan area network (MAN) is a communication network within a city. What's the connection between that and a ring network?

Many people use highways to describe communication networks. For city residents, if you want to visit anyone in the city,

you can find the route to their home, although whether they'll open the door is another matter.

 

 

Network topology consists of these paths; whether or not a path is open is a matter of access permission.

Twenty years ago, I came to Optics Valley in Wuhan. Back then, it wasn't called Optics Valley. I was filled with sadness because there was a junction of three roads just 500 meters from my doorstep. Even just buying a bowl of noodles meant waiting forever to cross the road.

 

Theoretically speaking, standing at that intersection, there are many possibilities. Fortunately, 20 years ago, this was the suburbs, with few people and cars.

Then, more than a decade later, the term "Optics Valley" came into being. More houses, more businesses, and even more people appeared, leading to traffic congestion. But congestion has solutions, and so a roundabout was built. Essentially, it's a road that solves the n possible connections between the six nodes at the aforementioned intersection.

 

 

Similarly, for signal transmission, if a node has both sending and receiving directions, and bidirectional transmission is required for the other 5 nodes, then 30 optical fibers would be needed.

Using a ring network, the main line only needs one optical fiber, which is much more convenient.

For metropolitan area networks (MANs), the ring network design is the most efficient way to save fiber optic resources and has the shortest latency.