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Objectives
The main objective of the project was to develop and demonstrate fast and high-throughput (Tb/s) optical switching technology that could be applied for optical packet routing in a burst-switched processor in a telecommunication satellite. The envisioned switch architecture was consolidated and the required key components were developed. Finally, a breadboard demonstrator was designed and fabricated. There were some technical faults in the final breadboard, but if those would be fixed the full implementation of the envisioned optical 110×128 switch should clearly fulfil all the target specifications and it would be even scalable into a much larger switch (>>1 Tb/s).
The objective of this activity was to design, manufacture and test a representative end-to-end breadboard of an ultra-fast & high-throughput optical switch. This optical switch would ultimately be the core part of an ultra-fast & high-throughput burst-switched processor for meshed-type satellite repeaters. The development of the complete processor was not the subject of this activity. The optical switch of the complete processor should have at least 100 input channels and 100 output channels that should be connected to each other in arbitrary order and with a switching time of ~1 ns. The breadboard assembled in OTUS should have less channels, but it should have the same switching time and it should be scalable to the full implementation of the optical switch (100×100 minimum).
This activity was also expected to include the delta technology development of the critical optical components of the optical switch. The most critical component to be developed was an optically tuneable wavelength filter (or selector) on a silicon-on-insulator (SOI) waveguide platform with a response time of ~1 ns. Also optical transmitters, wavelength multiplexers, optical fiber amplifiers, passive splitters and hybrid integrated detectors were to be either procured or developed in the project.
Challenges
The originally envisioned architecture was not possible to implement, so changes to the project plan were necessary from the beginning. The development of the key components also suffered from many technical problems that were tackled. This led to significant delays in the project. Finally, the breadboard could not be tested as a whole because of some faults in the wavelength selector chips, especially in the AWG operation and in the high-speed operation of the PDs.
Plan
The project consortium has the potential to provide all the key components needed to construct the complete optical switch, instead of procuring most of the required parts. The plan was to increase the integration density by developing and optimising most of the key components, which will reduce the weight and power consumption of the optical switch. The backup plan was to procure commercial components when needed. The target was to design a full switch and to implement a breadboard that demonstrates the ability to reach all the target specifications for the full switch.
Current Status
The project has been completed.
A technology roadmap has been proposed towards the full implementation of the switch and for enabling even further improvements and scalability of the switch reaching far beyond the 1 Tb/s target for the aggregate data traffic through the switch.
