Optoelectronic switch

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10034069-B2
Application number	US-201615317897-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 29, 2016
Priority date	Sep 29, 2015
Publication date	Jul 24, 2018
Grant date	Jul 24, 2018

Abstract

An optoelectronic switch for switching a signal from an input device to an output device includes a plurality of switch modules, each connected or connectable to an optical interconnecting region, wherein: each switch module is configured to output a WDM output signal to the optical interconnecting region, and the optoelectronic switch further includes one or more MZI routers, each configured to direct the WDM output signal from its source switch module towards its destination switch module, wherein the one or more MZI routers are located either on each of the switch modules, or in the interconnecting region.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. An optoelectronic switch for switching a signal from an input device to an output device, the optoelectronic switch including a plurality of switch modules, each connected or connectable to an optical interconnecting region, wherein:
each switch module is configured to output a WDM output signal to the optical interconnecting region, and
the optoelectronic switch further includes one or more MZI routers, each configured to direct the WDM output signal from its source switch module towards its destination switch module, the one or more MZI routers located either:
on the switch modules, or
in the optical interconnecting region.

2. An optoelectronic switch according to claim 1 wherein the one or more MZI routers include an electro-optic MZI.

3. An optoelectronic switch according to claim 1 wherein an MZI router, of the one or more MZI routers, includes:
a plurality of MZI switches arranged in a matrix.

4. An optoelectronic switch according to claim 3 wherein the MZI router is a 1×N router, the plurality of MZI switches arranged in a tree formation.

5. An optoelectronic switch according to claim 1 wherein the optical interconnecting region includes, or is in the form of, an optical backplane.

6. An optoelectronic switch according to claim 1 wherein:
the optical interconnecting region includes an intermediate switching device having a plurality of inputs and outputs, and
a pre-interconnect MZI router is connected between the source switch module and the intermediate switching device, and is configured to receive the WDM output signal from the source switch module.

7. An optoelectronic switch according to claim 6 wherein the pre-interconnect MZI router is configured to direct the WDM output signal to an input of the intermediate switching device corresponding to an output of the intermediate switching device corresponding to the destination switch module.

8. An optoelectronic switch according to claim 6 further including a controller connected to an MZI router, of the one or more MZI routers, the controller configured to control the direction of the WDM output signal within the pre-interconnect MZI router.

9. An optoelectronic switch according to claim 8 wherein the controller is configured to control the direction of the WDM output signal based on destination information contained in the WDM output signal.

10. An optoelectronic switch according to claim 6 further including a post-interconnect MZI router connected between the intermediate switching device and the destination switch module.

11. An optoelectronic switch according to claim 10 wherein the post-interconnect router is configured to direct WDM signals which are output from the intermediate switching device towards their respective destination switch modules.

12. An optoelectronic switch according to claim 6 wherein each switch module includes:
a plurality of client-facing input ports connectable to the input device;
a corresponding plurality of client-facing output ports connectable to the output device;
an outgoing optical connection to the optical interconnecting region; and
an incoming optical connection from the optical interconnecting region.

13. An optoelectronic switch according to claim 12 , wherein there are M client-facing input ports, and M client-facing output ports.

14. An optoelectronic switch according to claim 13 wherein each switch module includes:
a plurality of detector-remodulators (DRMs), each configured to receive one or more optical signals from one of the input ports and to change the wavelength of and/or regenerate the received signals to produce respective DRM optical outputs,
a pre-interconnect AWG configured to multiplex M DRM optical outputs into the WDM output signal which is output to the optical interconnecting region.

15. An optoelectronic switch according to claim 14 wherein each DRM of the plurality of DRMs includes:
a photodetection stage configured to receive the optical signals from a respective one of the input ports of the switch module and to convert the optical signals into one or more electrical signals;
a CMOS chip for processing the electrical signals;
a modulation stage for: receiving the processed electrical signal(s) signals from the CMOS chip; receiving unmodulated light input having a fixed wavelength; and for modulating the unmodulated light according to the output of the CMOS chip.

16. An optoelectronic switch according to claim 15 wherein the DRM is configured to operate in burst mode.

17. An optoelectronic switch according to claim 15 wherein processing of the electrical signals by the CMOS chip includes one or more of: concentration, amplification, reshaping, re-timing, and filtering of the signal before it is received by the modulation stage.

18. An optoelectronic switch according to claim 14 wherein the pre-interconnect MZI router is configured to receive the WDM output signal from the pre-interconnect AWG.

19. An optoelectronic switch according to claim 14 wherein the pre-interconnect AWG is a cyclic AWG.

20. An optoelectronic switch according to claim 14 wherein each switch module further includes a post-interconnect AWG configured to route optical signals received at the incoming optical connection from the optical interconnecting region towards their respective destination switch modules.

21. An optoelectronic switch according to claim 20 wherein the post-interconnect AWG is an N×M AWG, the post-interconnect AWG having N inputs and M outputs, each of the N inputs connected to a respective output of the intermediate switching device and each of the M outputs of the N×M AWG for communicating a signal to one or more of the M outputs of the switch module.

22. An optoelectronic switch according to claim 20 wherein the post-interconnect AWG is a 1×M AWG; and the optoelectronic switch further comprises a post-interconnect MZI router;
wherein the 1×M AWG has a single input and M outputs, the single input connected to the post-interconnect MZI router and each of the M outputs of the 1×M AWG for communicating a signal to one or more of the M outputs of the switch module.

23. An optoelectronic switch according to claim 20 wherein the post-interconnect AWG is a non-cyclic AWG.

24. An optoelectronic switch according to claim 20 further comprising a second array of DRMs located after the post-interconnect AWG, each DRM of the second array configured to convert the wavelength of and/or regenerate a signal from a respective output port of the post-interconnect AWG for communication to an output port of the switch module.

25. An optoelectronic switch according to claim 1 wherein the optical interconnecting region includes a passive fibre shuffle.

26. An optoelectronic switch according to claim 1 , configured to act as an optoelectronic packet switch.

27. A switch module for pluggably connecting to an optical interconnecting region, the switch module comprising:
a plurality M of client-facing input ports and a corresponding plurality M of client-facing output ports;
an outgoing optical connection to the optical interconnecting region and an incoming optical connection to the optical interconnecting region;
an array of DRMs each DRM of the array configured to receive one or more optical signals from one of the input ports of the switch module and to change the wavelength of and/or regenerate the received sig

Assignees

• Rockley Photonics Ltd

Inventors

• Rickman Andrew George

Classifications

• H04Q11/0005 Primary

  Switch and router aspects · CPC title

• H04Q2011/0016

  using wavelength multiplexing or demultiplexing · CPC title

• H04Q2011/0011

  using wavelength conversion · CPC title

• H04Q2011/006

  Full mesh · CPC title

• H04J14/02

  Wavelength-division multiplex systems · CPC title