The Principles and Performance of Hubnet: A 50 Mbit/s Glass Fiber Local Area Network

Abstract

The principles, some of the implementation details, and some performance results for Hubnet are given, Hubnet is a 50 Mbit/s local area network using glass fiber as a transmission medium. The performance of the network for different topologies and loads is analyzed. This analysis is supported by experience with prototype hardware. The network is shown to have excellent performance up to loads which are a large fraction of capacity. Hubnet uses a dual rooted tree structure with twin-fiber communications paths. This structure has not been reported previously in just this form. The network uses all seven layers of an early version of the proposed ISO Reference Model for Open Circuit Interconnection to implement its protocols. The protocols execute in 16 bit microprocessors embedded in the network access controllers within the network.