Variable-weight optical orthogonal codes (OOCs) have application in multimedia optical code division multiple access (OCDMA) systems supporting multiple quality of services (QoS). In this paper, several combinatorial constructions for optimal variable-weight OOCs are presented explicitly. A useful recursive construction for optimal variable-weight OOCs is proposed as well. Based on these results, two new infinite classes of optimal variable-weight OOCs with Hamming weights 3 and 4 are obtained.

Optical code-division multiple-access (OCDMA) is a promising technique for multimedia transmission in fiber-optic local-area networks (LANs). Variable-weight optical orthogonal codes (OOCs) can be used for OCDMA networks supporting multiple quality of services (QoS). Most constructions for optimal variable-weight OOCs have focused on the case where the number of distinct Hamming weights of all codewords is equal to two, and the codewords of weight 3 are normally included. In this letter, four explicit constructions of optimal (υ,{4,5,6},1,Q)-OOCs are presented, and more new optimal (υ,{4,5,6},1,Q)-OOCs are obtained via recursive constructions. These improve the existing results on optimal variable-weight OOCs with at least three distinct Hamming weights and minimum Hamming weight 4.

Variable-weight optical orthogonal code (OOC) was introduced by G-C Yang for multimedia optical CDMA systems with multiple quality of service (QoS) requirement. In this paper, a construction for optimal (υ, {3,4}, 1, {s/(s+1), 1/(s+1)})-OOCs is given. For s=2, it is proved that for each prime υ≡ 1(mod 24), there exists a (υ, {3,4}, 1, {2/3, 1/3})-OOC. A recursive construction for cyclic difference family is also presented. By using these constructions, a number of new infinite classes of optimal (υ, {3,4}, 1, Q)-OOCs for Q = {1/2, 1/2} and {2/3, 1/3} are constructed.

Future optical code division multiple access (CDMA) networks should be designed for multirate and fully integrated multimedia services. In the conventional schemes, multilength optical orthogonal codes (OOCs) are designed to support multirate systems, while variable-weight OOCs are designed to support differentiated quality of service (QoS) for multimedia applications. In this paper, a novel class of optical signature codes; multiple-length variable-weight optical orthogonal codes (MLVW-OOC) is proposed for supporting multirate and integrated multimedia services in optical CDMA networks. The proposed MLVW-OOC has features that are easy to construct variable-weight codes and expanded to multiple-length codes. A construction method for designing MLVW-OOCs up to three levels of codes is discussed. The designed MLVW-OOCs can support differentiated requirements on data rates and QoS for several types of services in the networks. A code analysis for obtaining the value of cross-correlation constraints or multiple access interference (MAI) computation for several levels of codes is also suggested. The cross-correlation constraints of the proposed codes are better than the conventional codes such as multilength OOCs. Finally, the bit error probability performance of the two-level MLVW-OOC is evaluated analytically. The results show that the proposed MLVW-OOC can provide differentiated bit error probability performances for several combinations of data rates and QoS.