摘要 |
In one embodiment, a three-stage scalable hybrid switch fabric has an input stage with one or more electronic input crossbar switches, a middle stage, and an output stage with one or more electronic output crossbar switches. The middle stage has (1) tunable optical transmitters that convert electrical signals received from the input stage into optical signals having selectable wavelengths, (2) one or more passive, wavelength-dependent optical routers that route the optical signals received from the transmitters at input nodes to output nodes, each output node determined by the wavelength of the optical signal and possibly by the input node at which the optical signal is applied, and (3) optical receivers that convert the routed optical signals into electrical signals provided to the output stage. Each scaling increment includes (i) an input crossbar switch and its corresponding optical transmitters and (ii) an output crossbar switch and its corresponding optical receivers. |