Enabling Technologies for Optical Data Center Networks: Spatial Division Multiplexing

• With the continuously growing popularity of cloud services, the traffic volume inside the data centers is dramatically increasing. As a result, a scalable and efficient infrastructure for data center networks (DCNs) is required. The current optical DCNs using either individual fibers or fiber ribbons are costly, bulky, hard to manage, and not scalable. Spatial division multiplexing (SDM) based on multicore or multimode (few-mode) fibers is recognized as a promising technology to increase the spatial efficiency for optical DCNs, which opens a new way towards high capacity and scalability. This tutorial provides an overview of the components, transmission options, and interconnect architectures for SDM-based DCNs, as well as potential technical challenges and future directions. It also covers the co-existence of SDM and other multiplexing techniques, such as wavelength-division multiplexing and flexible spectrum multiplexing, in optical DCNs.

Subject headings

TEKNIK OCH TEKNOLOGIER  -- Elektroteknik och elektronik -- Telekommunikation (hsv//swe)

ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY  -- Electrical Engineering, Electronic Engineering, Information Engineering -- Telecommunications (hsv//eng)

NATURVETENSKAP  -- Fysik -- Atom- och molekylfysik och optik (hsv//swe)

NATURAL SCIENCES  -- Physical Sciences -- Atom and Molecular Physics and Optics (hsv//eng)

NATURVETENSKAP  -- Fysik -- Den kondenserade materiens fysik (hsv//swe)

NATURAL SCIENCES  -- Physical Sciences -- Condensed Matter Physics (hsv//eng)

Keyword

resource allocation

network architecture

multicore fiber

fiber-optical communication

multiplexing and demultiplexing

Few-mode fiber

spatial division multiplexing

switching

optical data center networks

Publication and Content Type

art (subject category)

ref (subject category)