SCALABLE SWITCH FABRIC USING OPTICAL INTERCONNECTS

• US 20170105060A1
• Filed: 10/07/2016
• Published: 04/13/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 10/07/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Ciena Corporation
• Original Assignee: Ciena Corporation
• Inventors: NICHOLS, Jeffery T., OLTMAN, John K.
• Granted Patent: US 9,980,021 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 11/0005 Switch and router aspects
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 2011/0032 using static wavelength routers (e.g. arrayed waveguide grating router [AWGR] )
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 2011/0056 Clos

Abstract

A scalable switch fabric using optical interconnects includes one or more line modules each including fabric interface optics supporting a plurality of optical output signals; an optical interconnect optically connected to each of the one or more line modules via the fabric interface optics; and one or more center stage switches, wherein the optical interconnect is adapted to shuffle the plurality of optical output signals from each of the one or more line modules to the one or more center stage switches. The optical interconnect can include two levels of shuffle to distribute each of the plurality of optical signals from each of the fabric interface optics to the one or more center stage switches.

Claims

1. A scalable switch fabric using optical interconnects, the switch fabric comprising:

one or more line modules each comprising fabric interface optics supporting a plurality of optical output signals;

an optical interconnect optically connected to each of the one or more line modules via the fabric interface optics; and

one or more center stage switches, wherein the optical interconnect is adapted to shuffle the plurality of optical output signals from each of the one or more line modules to the one or more center stage switches.

2. The scalable switch fabric of claim 1, wherein the optical interconnect comprises two levels of shuffle to distribute each of the plurality of optical signals from each of the fabric interface optics to the one or more center stage switches.

3. The scalable switch fabric of claim 1, wherein the optical interconnect comprises a first level of shuffle connected to the one or more line modules and a second level of shuffle integrated with the one or more center stage switches as a fabric block.

4. The scalable switch fabric of claim 3, wherein optical connections in the fabric block remain fixed as the scalable switch fabric grows and optical connections between the first level and the second level are modified as the scalable switch fabric grows.

5. The scalable switch fabric of claim 3, wherein the scalable switch fabric comprises N fabric blocks, N being an integer, with each additional fabric block adding additional capacity.

6. The scalable switch fabric of claim 1, wherein optical connections between the optical interconnect and the one or more center stage switches remain fixed as the scalable switch fabric grows.

7. The scalable switch fabric of claim 1, wherein the optical interconnect connects to the one or more line modules via bundled fiber cables each comprising a plurality of optical fibers and a single connector for all of the plurality of optical fibers.

8. The scalable switch fabric of claim 1, wherein the optical interconnect connects to the one or more line modules via Dense Wave Division Multiplexing (DWDM) for the plurality of optical output signals from each of the fabric interface optics.

9. The scalable switch fabric of claim 8, wherein the optical interconnect utilizes a cyclic Arrayed Waveguide Grating (AWG) to perform the optical shuffle.

10. The scalable switch fabric of claim 1, wherein the scalable switch fabric is connected with an existing switch comprising an electrical backplane for expansion thereof.

11. A scalable switch fabric method using optical interconnects, the switch fabric method comprising:

providing one or more line modules each comprising fabric interface optics supporting a plurality of optical output signals;

providing an optical interconnect optically connected to each of the one or more line modules via the fabric interface optics; and

providing one or more center stage switches, wherein the optical interconnect is adapted to shuffle the plurality of optical output signals from each of the one or more line modules to the one or more center stage switches.

12. The scalable switch fabric method of claim 11, wherein the optical interconnect comprises two levels of shuffle to distribute each of the plurality of optical signals from each of the fabric interface optics to the one or more center stage switches.

13. The scalable switch fabric method of claim 11, wherein the optical interconnect comprises a first level of shuffle connected to the one or more line modules and a second level of shuffle integrated with the one or more center stage switches as a fabric block.

14. The scalable switch fabric method of claim 11, wherein optical connections in the fabric block remain fixed as the scalable switch fabric grows and connectivity between the first level and the second level is modified as the scalable switch fabric grows.

15. The scalable switch fabric method of claim 11, wherein the optical interconnect connects to the one or more line modules via bundled fiber cables each comprising a plurality of optical fibers and a single connector for all of the plurality of optical fibers.

16. The scalable switch fabric method of claim 11, wherein the optical interconnect connects to the one or more line modules via Dense Wave Division Multiplexing (DWDM) for the plurality of optical output signals from each of the fabric interface optics.

17. The scalable switch fabric method of claim 11, wherein the scalable switch fabric is connected with an existing switch comprising an electrical backplane for expansion thereof.

18. A switch system with optical interconnections, the switch system comprising:

one or more line modules each comprising fabric interface optics supporting a plurality of optical output signals;

a first level of optical shuffle connected to each of the fabric interface optics; and

one or more fabric blocks each comprising a second level of optical shuffle connected to the first level of optical shuffle and a plurality of center stage switches each optically connected to the second level of optical shuffle in a fixed manner;

wherein expansion of the switch system comprises modification of connections between the first level of optical shuffle and the second level of optical shuffle.

19. The switch system of claim 18, wherein the one or more line modules are connected to the first level of optical shuffle via bundled fiber cables each comprising a plurality of optical fibers and a single connector for all of the plurality of optical fibers.

20. The switch system of claim 18, wherein the one or more line modules are connected to the first level of optical shuffle via Dense Wave Division Multiplexing (DWDM) for the plurality of optical output signals from each of the fabric interface optics.