On scalability of AWGR-based optical switches

AWGRs' WDM capability provides a promising solution for optical switching. Their main problem, however, is poor scalability. In this paper, we show how to combine two scaling techniques to design an ultra-scalable AWGR-based optical packet switch with a total capacity close to 4×10¹⁶ bps.

I. Introduction

The energy/bit efficiency is becoming the ultimate capacity limiting factor for future routers or data center networks [1]–[2]. People have turned to optics for solutions. But the lack of optical memory and optical processors makes an all-optical switch infeasible in the near future. A more practical approach is to implement the control plane of the switch with electronics, and the data plane (bufferless) with optics. Using this approach, we show in this paper how to combine two techniques to make an ultra-scalable AWGR-based packet switch.