NSF Award
9761399
High-speed optical interconnections promise to play a major role in the development of the national information infrastructure. Numerous tasks in a world reliant on information technology to improve the quality of life and productivity require the creation, processing, and transmission of images which have tremendous information content. Hence the enormous demand for wider bandwidth hardware that enables the realization of high data rates. This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project from Reveo, Inc. will develop a routing algorithm that works in conjunction with a revolutionary all-optical crossbar switch that is capable of multi-tera-bit/second, which is being developed under a separate National Science Foundation SBIR project. This routing algorithm will enable Reveo to realize the full potential of the crossbar switch. The proposed program of research will focus on the design and implementation of the novel routing algorithm that can be scaled up to large network sizes. In addition to the multi-tera-bit data rate of the whole system, the non-blocking routing algorithm features reconfiguration speeds that approach the nanosecond time scale. Routing is an essential operation in all switching networks. The proposed routing algorithm, along with the all-optical crossbar switch, will be commercialized within a multi-billion dollar high-speed networking market which is growing significantly.
