Digital signal processing for intra- and inter-data centre applications

当今许多技术进步的有效性都是通过远程访问庞大的处理和存储设施实现的;也被称为“云”。这些远程访问的资源由数据中心托管，这些数据中心可以托管数千台互联服务器。光纤用于支持数据中心内服务器之间的高速数据连接。同样，可以将数据中心分组，以扩大可用资源库的规模。这些也通过光纤通信系统（数据中心间）连接。由于光信号的缓冲和路由的挑战，目前的路由是通过电子交换机使用光-电-光转换来实现的。然而，在未来的云架构中，不断增长的数据流量需求和计算资源凸显出电子网络交换机的能力将无法按照摩尔定律扩展。智能光网络和智能收发器可以为下一代数据中心光网络提供解决方案，从而取代电气交换。该博士学位将重点研究超快速光开关与相干检测和简化的数字信号处理相结合是否将成为数据中心网络带宽持续扩展的技术。该博士学位将推进数字信号处理（在一个显着的计算资源约束下）和全光交换领域，可能展示一个全新的光连接数据中心的潜力。与EPSRC主题领域的相关性：信息和通信技术（分主题：光通信，数字信号处理，ICT网络和分布式系统，光学设备和子系统），物理科学。

The effectiveness of many of today's technological advances are enabled by remote access to vast processing and storage facilities; also known as 'The Cloud'. These remotely accessed resources are hosted by data centres, which can host thousands of interconnected servers. Optical fibres are used to support high speed data connection between servers within a data centre (intra-data centre). Similarly, groups of data centres can be clustered together to enhance the size of the available resource pool. These are also connected via optical fibre communication systems (inter-data centre). Due to the challenge of buffering and routing optical signals, routing is currently achieved using optical-electrical-optical conversion, via electrical switches.However, in the cloud architecture of the future, increasing data traffic demands and computing resources highlight that the capability of electrical network switches will not scale in line with Moore's law. Intelligent optical networks and intelligent transceivers may provide a solution for the next generation data-centre optical networks, thus replacing electrical switching. This PhD will focus on investigating whether ultra-fast optical switching in combination with coherent detection and simplified digital signal processing will be an enabling technology for the continued scaling of data centre network bandwidth. This PhD will advance the fields of both digital signal processing (under a significant computational resource constraint) and all-optical switching, potentially demonstrating the potential of an entirely new optically connected data centre .Relevance to EPSRC thematic areas:Information and communication technologies (subthemes: optical communications, digital signal processing, ICT networks and distributed systems, Optical devices and subsystems), Physical sciences.