Optoelectronic Techniques For Broadband Switching

Optoelectronic switching employs a hybrid optical/electronic principle to perform the switching function and is applicable for either analog broadband or high-bit rate digital switching. The major advantages of optoelectronic switching include high isolation, low crosstalk, small physical size, light weight, and low power consumption. These ad-vantages make optoelectronic switching an excellent candidate for on-board satellite switching. This paper describes a number of optoelectronic switching architectures. System components required for implementing these switching archi-tectures are discussed. Performance of these architectures are evaluated by calculating their crosstalk, isolation, inser-tion loss, matrix size, drive power, throughput, and switching speed. Technologies needed for monolithic optoelectronic switching are also identified.