WDM packet routing for high-capacity data networks

We present experimental and numerical studies of a novel packet-switch arch itecture, the data vortex, designed for large-scale photonic interconnectio ns. The selfrouting multihop packet switch efficiently scales to large port counts (> 10 k) while maintaining low latencies, a narrow latency distribu tion, and high throughput. To facilitate optical implementation, the data-v ortex architecture employs a novel hierarchical topology, traffic control, and synchronous timing that act to reduce the necessary routing logic opera tions and buffering. As a result of this architecture, all routing decision s for the data packets are based on a single logic operation at each node. The routing is further simplified by the employment of wavelength division multiplexing (WDM)-encoded header bits, which enable packet-header processi ng by simple wavelength filtering. The packet payload remains in the optica l domain as it propagates through the data-vortex switch fabric, exploiting the transparency and high bandwidths achievable in fiber optic transmissio n. In this paper, we discuss numerical simulations of the data-vortex perfo rmance and report results from an experimental investigation of multihop WD M packet routing in a recirculating test bed.