Low Latency, Scalable Photonic Packet Switching Fabric

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The goal of the proposed research program is to develop a photonic packet switching fabric capable of interconnecting large-scale systems (with 2000 ports) in a closely coupled fashion featuring latency that is dominated by time-of-flight. An integrative photonic interconnection network will be demonstrated. The underlying photonic switching fabric is based on a novel architecture termed the Data Vortex, that utilizes hierarchal topology, simplified traffic control, and synchronous timing to reduce the necessary routing logic operations and buffering. These features drastically simplify the optical packet routing and facilitate the implementation the Data Vortex with commercially available photonic components. The optical packets are encoded in a wavelength division multiplexed (WDM) fashion to provide the optical data rate interfacing with the routing control and to achieve a minimum latency data exchange between physically separated memory and processor. Optical packets propagate through semiconductor optical amplifier (SOA) switch elements optimized for switching speed and minimal cross gain modulation. The integrated system will include the interfacing between the electronic processor/memory elements and the optical data streams in the switching fabric. Various traffic patterns will be tested and demonstrated including asynchronous and bursty packet distributions.The research program will provide unique graduate students training in a multifaceted complex systems program. The participating students will carry out the research as a team with each owning responsibility for the various subsystems or network levels. The close interdependence between the sub-projects will require each student to gain an understanding of all the system aspects. In this environment the students necessarily depend on each other to succeed fostering teamwork. Additionally, a new course on optical and computer networking for undergraduates is being introduced to the Computer/Electrical Engineering curriculum. This new course will be geared toward undergraduates with backgrounds in Electrical or Computer Engineering but not necessarily in optics. Interested undergraduate students particularly those from underrepresented groups will be drawn from the course to participate in this research program.