Patent ID: 8855489

Claim:
A communications method between a main station and processing nodes served by the main station and able to exchange information via the main station, comprising: interconnecting the main station and the processing nodes in an optical path defining adjacent nodes and non-adjacent nodes in a series configuration so as to define an ordered distribution of the processing nodes according to an optical propagation direction with respect to the main station; operatively grouping the processing nodes into a plurality of distinct sub-groups, each sub-group formed by non-adjacent nodes, at least one of the sub-groups including at least two processing nodes; generating at the main station a multiplexed optical signal propagating along the optical path for serving the processing nodes, the multiplexed optical signal comprising a plurality of optical channel signals having a respective plurality of distinct carrier wavelengths, each carrier wavelength being associated with a respective sub-group of nodes, wherein the optical signal undergoes an optical power attenuation along the optical path dependent on each carrier wavelength; allocating the carrier wavelengths among each sub-group of non-adjacent processing nodes based on the attenuation suffered by the carrier wavelengths along the optical path, so that processing nodes progressively farther from the main station are respectively associated with a carrier wavelength having progressively lower attenuation; and serving each processing node of each sub-group of processing nodes with a respective portion of a corresponding optical channel signal having the associated carrier wavelength.