Reliable Opto-Electronic Hybrid Interconnection Network

The interconnection network plays a critical role in the cost and performance of a high performance parallel computer and it is closely related with signaling technology. Electrical signaling is inexpensive but limited in range by the frequency dependent attenuation. Emerging optical technology enables new topologies by allowing links to cover large distances but at a significant premium in cost. In addition, parallel transmission presents low latency but its frequency limited by the timing skew. Serial transmission greatly improves the signaling rate but it needs added latency to re-synchronize data. This paper describes the reliable opto-electronic hybrid interconnection network (ROEHIN). ROEHIN exploits emerging high-speed optical and electrical links, parallel and serial transmission to provide cost effective scalability. The ROEHIN router is an 8 times 8 ASIC, which supports adaptive source-base routing and multicast communication. The ROEHIN topology and packaging takes advantage of signaling technology and provides graceful degradation in the presence of faults.