High performance interprocessor communication through optical wavelength division multiple access channels

Abstract

A multiprocessor system with a large number of nodes can be built at low cost by combining the recent advances in high capacity channels available through optical fiber communication. A highly fault tolerant system is created with good performance characteristics at a reduction in system complexity. The system capitalizes on the optical selfrouting characteristic of wavelength division multiple access to improve performance and reduce complexity. This paper examines typical optical multiple access channel implementations and shows that the star-coupled approach is superior due to optical power budget considerations. Star-coupled configurations which exhibit the optical self-routing characteristic are then studied. A hypercube based structure is introduced where optical multiple access channels span the dimensional axes. This severely reduces the required degree since only one 1/0 port is required per dimension, and performance is maintained through the high capacity characteristics of optical communication.