Wavelength division multiplexing based optical backplane with arrayed waveguide grating passive router

Abstract

A wavelength division multiplexing ͑WDM͒-based optical backplane architecture is introduced. It is a tunable transmitter fixed receiver ͑TT-FR͒ architecture incorporating an N ϫ N arrayed waveguide grating ͑AWG͒ element for passive data routing between the nodes, which in conjunction with star couplers, offers both unicast and multicast capabilities. The data and control plane of the network are implemented on a high-speed field programmable gate array ͑FPGA͒, and a four-node demonstrator is built up. Three different types of AWG routing elements implemented in different technologies are employed, and bit error rate ͑BER͒ versus incident power on the receiver measurements are presented for a data rate of 10 Gbps per link. A total switching time as low as 500 ns is achieved, permitting packet switching operation with more than 95% efficiency when the packet length is greater than 10 kbytes.