Novel flat datacenter network architecture based on scalable and flow-controlled optical switch system.

Area of Science:

• * Optical networking
• * Data center architecture
• * High-speed communication

Background:

• * Traditional data center networks face challenges with latency and scalability.
• * Existing optical switching solutions often struggle with reconfiguration time and resource utilization.

Purpose of the Study:

• * To propose and demonstrate a novel optical flat datacenter network.
• * To achieve low-latency, scalable, and efficient optical switching.
• * To implement hardware flow control at the optical level.

Main Methods:

• * Development of a scalable optical switch system with distributed control.
• * Implementation of an RF tone in-band labeling technique for parallel label processing.
• * Utilization of hardware flow control at the optical level by reusing label wavelengths.

Main Results:

• * Demonstrated a modular optical switch with port-count independent reconfiguration time.
• * Achieved error-free 40 Gb/s data packet operation with a minimal 1 dB penalty.
• * Validated dynamic switching and multicasting in a 4x4 system, handling loads up to 0.5 with low packet loss (<10^-5) and average latency (<500 ns).

Conclusions:

• * The proposed optical flat datacenter network offers a scalable and efficient solution.
• * The system achieves low latency and high performance through innovative optical flow control and labeling techniques.
• * The design shows potential for scaling to large port counts with minimal power penalty.