Potential roles of optical interconnections within broadband switching modules

An investigation of potential physical design bottlenecks in future broadband telecommunication switches has led to the identification of several areas where optical interconnections may play a role in the practical realization of required system performance. In the model used the speed and interconnection densities as well as requirements for ease-of-access and efficient power utilization challenge conventional partitioning and packaging strategies. Potential areas where optical interconnections may relieve some of the physical design bottlenecks include fiber management at the customer interface to the switch routing and distribution of high-density interconnections within the fabric of the switch and backplane interconnections to increase system throughput.© (1991) COPYRIGHT SPIE--The International Society for Optical Engineering. Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.