Mass production of switch to begin within 12 months AMAGASAKI, JAPAN – Engineers at Mitsubishi Electric Corp. have developed a 16-way optical cross-connect switch for use in metropolitan area fiber networks that they say is capable of operating faster than similar products from other companies.Mitsubishi Electric’s new switch, which was demonstrated at the company’s research and development center here recently, can connect and disconnect fiber paths in less than one millisecond or around one-tenth the time of components currently in use, said Tatsuo Hatta, a manager of the company’s opto-electronics team at its Information R&D Center.At the heart of the device is a component called a Bascule optical switch. This consists of a small square polymer sheet into which a 16-by-16 waveguide grid has been scored. Directly below each point where the waveguides cross is a 0.3-millimeter diameter ball — the same type as that used in a ballpoint pen — and beneath that is a piezo-actuator. When the actuator is switched off the ball is at rest and light passes directly through the junction, but when energized the actuator pushes the ball up so it impacts the polymer. This creates a break in the waveguide and light then takes a 90-degree turn. In this way light from any of 16 input fibers can be switched to any of 16 output fibers. The Bascule switch has several advantages over competing technologies being pushed for use in such optical cross-connect systems, said Hatta. Compared to MEMS (micro-electrical-mechanical systems) type switches, which bounce light off small mirrors, the new component is about ten times faster and has less signal loss. Against thermo-optical effect switches the speed is also faster and the power consumption is much less, he said.The first product samples based on the 16-way switch and a previously developed eight-way switch should be available by September, said the company. Mass production is planned within the coming 12 months, said Hatta.The company will first target the metropolitan area optical network market, which is expected to expand as broadband communication systems become more pervasive. Already that move is on in the company’s home market. At the end of 2003 there were just under 900,000 subscribers to fiber-to-the-home Internet service in Japan versus 10.2 million DSL (digital subscriber line) and 2.5 million cable Internet subscribers, according to figures from Japan’s Ministry of Public Management, Home Affairs, Posts and Telecommunications (MPHPT). Mitsubishi Electric has 14 domestic and seven overseas patents pending on the technology, it said. Technology Industry