OP: Application-Aware Reconfigurable Silicon-Photonic Interconnected Computing Systems for Energy-Efficient and Scalable Data Centers

该项目致力于数据中心和计算系统的能效和可扩展性，它们构成了我们网络基础设施的核心。由于我们的日常生活严重依赖这些大规模计算系统，并且需要处理的数据量呈指数级增长，项目的影响是双重的：(A)由于目前依赖电气互连和交换的系统的能效有限，可扩展性的改善远远超出了今天的可能，以及(B)这些大型系统的总体功耗显著降低，使世界各地的能源和环境部门受益。此外，通过采用创新的硅光子互连技术，该项目促进了一个新的技术部门，可以推动我们访问和处理数据的方式发生革命性变化。整个项目将进行研究和教育的融合，为光电子、网络和计算机科学的跨学科互动提供了丰富的平台。建议的项目将使学生和研究人员能够从不同的角度全面了解未来的数据中心网络技术。拟议的项目将通过在多插槽刀片(MSB)中集成高基硅光子交换机来追求可扩展、高吞吐量和高能效的计算系统，多插槽刀片通过应用感知可重新配置网络进行光学互连。具体地说，该项目将进行以下关键研究任务：(1)设计/制造/测试用于高基数、全对全互连的非热硅光子开关；(2)设计/制造/测试具有电光印刷电路板(EO-PCB)的光学多插槽板；(3)开发模拟框架，以评估拟议的具有应用意识的光学可重构数据中心架构在实际流量下的能效、性能和可扩展性；(4)针对拓扑重构和资源分配的全系统基准研究；(5)通过制造的硅光子开关和EO-PCB进行MSB内和MSB间通信的概念验证物理层演示。

This project addresses energy efficiency and scalability of datacenters and computing systems, which form the core of our cyber-infrastructures. As our everyday lives are critically dependent on these large-scale computing systems, and the amount of data that need to be processed is increasing exponentially, the project impact is two-fold: (a) scalability improvement far beyond what possible today due to the limited power efficiency of current systems relying on electrical interconnects and switching, and (b) significant reduction of the overall power consumption of these large-scale systems with benefits for the energy and environment sectors around the world. In addition, by adopting innovative silicon photonic interconnect technologies, the project promotes a new technology sector that can drive transformative changes in the way we access and process data. Integration of research and education will be carried out throughout this project, which offers a rich platform for cross-disciplinary interaction of optoelectronics, networking, and computer science. The proposed project will allow students and researchers to gain comprehensive insight into future data center networking technologies from diverse perspectives. The proposed project will pursue scalable, high-throughput and energy-efficient computing systems by incorporating high-radix silicon photonic switches in Multi-Socket Blades (MSBs) which are optically interconnected through an application-aware reconfigurable network. Specifically, the project will pursue the following key research tasks: (1) design/fabrication/testing of athermal silicon photonic switches for high-radix, all-to-all interconnects; (2) design/fabrication/testing of optical multi-socket boards with Electro-Optic Printed Circuit Boards (EO-PCBs); (3) development of a simulation framework to evaluate energy efficiency, performance and scalability of the proposed application-aware optically-reconfigurable data center architecture under realistic traffic; (4) system-wide benchmarking studies for topology reconfiguration and resource allocation; (5) proof-of-concept physical layer demonstration of intra and inter MSB communication through the fabricated silicon photonic switches and EO-PCBs.