Optically interconnected parallel computing systems

Tomorrow's systems will need high-bandwidth and dense communication paths at various levels. Commercial high-performance computers are now beginning to use optical interconnections at the intercabinet level. These connections usually consist of optical fiber ribbons, with each fiber carrying signals at 1 to 2 Gbits per second over distances of 200 to 300 meters. The aggregate bandwidth is as much as 30 Gbits per second. The authors propose integrating suitable optoelectronic devices with silicon electronics, which will allow designers to use optical communication channels to transfer data on and off chips. The authors describe an optically interconnected architecture for high-speed computation, image processing, and robotic vision systems. They conclude that optoelectronic parallel-processing systems will overcome some of the interconnection problems facing conventional electronic technology-allowing high-speed computers powerful enough for vision and image-processing applications.