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

该项目解决了网络中心和计算系统的能源效率和可扩展性问题，这些系统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于这些大规模计算系统，需要处理的数据量呈指数级增长，因此该项目的影响是双重的：（a）由于依赖于电互连和切换的当前系统的有限的功率效率，可扩展性改进远远超过今天可能的，以及（B）显著降低这些大规模系统的总功耗，从而有益于全世界的能源和环境部门。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领域，可以推动我们访问和处理数据方式的变革。 研究和教育的整合将在整个项目中进行，为光电子学，网络和计算机科学的跨学科互动提供了丰富的平台。拟议的项目将使学生和研究人员从不同的角度全面了解未来的数据中心网络技术。 拟议的项目将追求可扩展的，高吞吐量和节能的计算系统，通过将高基数的硅光子交换机在多插槽刀片（MSB），这是通过一个应用程序感知的可重构网络光学互连。具体而言，该项目将进行以下主要研究任务：（1）设计/制造/测试用于高基数，全对全互连的无热硅光子开关;（2）设计/制造/测试光电印刷电路板（EO-PCB）的光学多插座板;（3）开发评估能源效率的模拟框架，（4）拓扑重构和资源分配的系统级基准测试研究;（5）通过制造的硅光子交换机和EO-PCB的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.