Tunable broadband integrated circuits for adaptive optical interconnects

Ronny Henker; David Schöniger; Guido Belfiore; Laszlo Szilagyi; Jan Pliva; Mahdi Khafaji; Frank Ellinger; Krzysztof Nieweglowski; Tobias Tiedje; Karlheinz Bock

doi:10.1117/12.2271014

10 February 2017 Tunable broadband integrated circuits for adaptive optical interconnects

Ronny Henker, David Schöniger, Guido Belfiore, Laszlo Szilagyi, Jan Pliva, Mahdi Khafaji, Frank Ellinger, Krzysztof Nieweglowski, Tobias Tiedje, Karlheinz Bock

Author Affiliations +

Proceedings Volume 10325, Optical Fibers and Their Applications 2017; 103250P (2017) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2271014
Event: 17th Conference on Optical Fibres and Their Applications, 2017, Supraśl, Poland, Poland

Abstract

To accommodate the growing demand on higher speeds, low latencies and low energy consumption, the interconnections within and between data centers are supposed to be implemented as optical fiber and waveguide interconnects in future. Optical fiber interconnects provide several advantages over their electrical counterparts as they enable higher bandwidth densities and lower losses at high frequencies over distances longer than few centimeters. However, nowadays optical fiber interconnects are usually not very energy-efficient. The systems in optical networks are mostly optimized for running at their peak performance to transmit the information with the highest available error-free data rate. But the work load of a processor system and hence of an optical link is not constant and varies over time due to the demand of the running applications and users. Therefore, optical interconnects consume the same high power at all times even if lower performance is required. In this paper a new method for the tuning of optical interconnects for on-board and board-to-board optical communication is described. In this way the performance of the transceiver systems of the link is adapted to the present transmission workload and link requirements. If for example lower data rates are required, the bandwidth and therefore the power consumption of the systems can be reduced. This tuning is enabled by the integrated circuitry of the optical link. Different methods for such an adaptive tuning are described and several practical examples are reviewed. By using adaptive bandwidth reduction in the circuits, more than 50 % of the consumed power can be saved. These savings can result in tremendous reductions of the carbon footprint and of the operating costs produced by data centers.

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Ronny Henker, David Schöniger, Guido Belfiore, Laszlo Szilagyi, Jan Pliva, Mahdi Khafaji, Frank Ellinger, Krzysztof Nieweglowski, Tobias Tiedje, and Karlheinz Bock "Tunable broadband integrated circuits for adaptive optical interconnects", Proc. SPIE 10325, Optical Fibers and Their Applications 2017, 103250P (10 February 2017); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2271014

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