DATA SIGNALS CONTROL SIGNALS AND PROTOCOLS FOR FIBER OPTIC CROSSBAR NETWORKS

THE ADVANTAGES OF OPTICS FOR COMMUNICATIONS AND INTERCONNECTIONS AMONG ELECTRONIC SYSTEMS ARE WELL KNOWN; SEVERAL GROUPS ARE DEVELOPING FIBER OPTIC CROSSBAR NETWORKS HAVING A WIDE VARIETY OF BANDWIDTHS,RECONFIGURATION TIMES, SWITCHING MODES, INSERTION LOSSES, ETC. IN ANY APPLICATION, FIBER OPTIC CROSSBARS MUST INTERFACE RELIABLY AND EFFICIENTLY WITH EXISTING ELECTRONICS. WHILE CURRENT TECHNOLOGY ALLOWS FIBER OPTIC CROSSBAR NETWORKS HAVING GREATER THAN 1 GHZ BANDWIDTH ON EACH DATA LINE AND RECONFIGURATION TIMES OF A FEW MICROSECONDS OR LESS, THERE HAS BEEN VERY LITTLE THOUGHT GIVEN TO ELECTRONIC INTERFACE ISSUES. IN THIS PROPOSAL, WE DISCUSS: SYSTEM ISSUES IN DATA SIGNALING (WHAT KIND OF SIGNAL FORMAT, WHERE SHOULD OPTICAL TRANSMITTERS AND RECEIVERS BE PLACED, HOW SHOULD OPTICAL MULTIPLEXERS AND DEMULTIPLEXERS BE USED, HOW CAN ERROR DETECTION AND CORRECTION BE USED); CONTROL SIGNALS (HOW SHOULD THE ELECTRONIC SIGNALS THAT ULTIMATELY DRIVE THE CROSSBAR CONTROLLER BE DERIVED, SHOULD THE NETWORK OPERATE IN A CIRCUIT SWITCHED OR PACKET SWITCHED MODE, SHOULD DATA CARRY ROUTING INFORMATION ENCODED AS A HEADER); AND PROTOCOLS (THE PROCEDURES OR ALGORITHMS FOR DATA ROUTING FOR THE MOST EFFICIENT USE OF THE CROSSBAR NETWORK). IN THIS PHASE I SBIR STUDY, WE PROPOSE TO EXAMINE ALL THESE ISSUES AND DERIVE GENERAL SOLUTIONS FOR A WIDE RANGE OF APPLICATIONS OF FIBER OPTIC CROSSBAR NETWORKS IN MILITARY AND INDUSTRIAL ENVIRONMENTS.