THE FDDI OPTICAL-DATA LINK

The proposed Fiber Distributed Data Interface (FDDI) standard will consist of a number of separate, compatible layered standards which will implement a 100-Mb/s ring network. The author focuses on the physical-medium-dependent (PMD) layer of the FDDI. The PMD layer corresponds to the lowest sublayer of Layer 1 of the Open Systems Interconnection Reference Model and defines the optical transmission medium used to link two FDDI stations. While FDDI is a ring network, most of the characteristics of the FDDI PMD could also be applied to other network topologies which can be implemented in terms of point-to-point duplex links.