US-12627392-B2 - Optical virtual-circuit-switching network system and optical switch thereof

US12627392B2US 12627392 B2US12627392 B2US 12627392B2US-12627392-B2

Abstract

An optical virtual-circuit-switching network system and optical switches thereof are provided. The optical virtual-circuit-switching network system includes multiple optical switches. Each optical switch includes an optical outbound handling module, an optical pass around module, and an optical inbound handling module. The optical outbound handling module transmits optical signals to both the horizontal optical network subsystem and the vertical optical network subsystem. The optical pass around module transmits optical signals from the horizontal optical network subsystem to the vertical optical network subsystem, or transmits optical signals from the vertical optical network subsystem to the horizontal optical network subsystem. The optical inbound handling module outputs the selected optical signals to dense wavelength-division multiplexing transceivers and, through these transceivers, converts the optical signals into electrical signals before forwarding the data to the top-of-rack switches.

Inventors

Chi-Jui Maria Yuang
Shan Zhong
Po-Lung Tien
Tien-Chien LIN

Assignees

GENOPSYS TECHNOLOGIES, INC.

Dates

Publication Date: 20260512
Application Date: 20240320

Claims (10)

1 . An optical switch, comprising: an optical outbound handling module, comprising: a multiplexer combining a plurality of initial optical signals, and outputting at least one first combined optical signal and at least one second combined optical signal; at least one first horizontal amplifier receiving and amplifying the at least one first combined optical signal from the multiplexer; at least one first vertical amplifier receiving and amplifying the at least one second combined optical signal from the multiplexer; at least one first horizontal splitter receiving the at least one first combined optical signal amplified by the at least one first horizontal amplifier, and outputting a plurality of first horizontal optical signals to at least one horizontal optical switch; and at least one first vertical splitter receiving the at least one second combined optical signal amplified by the at least one first vertical amplifier, and outputting a plurality of first vertical optical signals to at least one vertical optical switch; at least one second horizontal splitter receiving at least one second horizontal optical signal from the at least one horizontal optical switch, and outputting a plurality of selectable horizontal optical signals; at least one second vertical splitter receiving at least one second vertical optical signal from the at least one vertical optical switch, and outputting a plurality of selectable vertical optical signals; an optical pass around module, comprising: at least one first horizontal wavelength selective switch receiving the selectable horizontal optical signals from the at least one second horizontal splitter, and outputting at least one first redirected output optical signal; at least one first vertical wavelength selective switch receiving the selectable vertical optical signals from the at least one second vertical splitter, and outputting at least one second redirected output optical signal; at least one second horizontal amplifier receiving and amplifying the at least one second redirected output optical signal from the at least one first vertical wavelength selective switch; at least one second vertical amplifier receiving and amplifying the at least one first redirected output optical signal from the at least one first horizontal wavelength selective switch; at least one third horizontal splitter receiving the at least one second redirected output optical signal amplified by the at least one second horizontal amplifier, and outputting a plurality of third horizontal optical signals to the at least one horizontal optical switch; and at least one third vertical splitter receiving the at least one first redirected output optical signal amplified by the at least one second vertical amplifier, and outputting a plurality of third vertical optical signals to the at least one vertical optical switch; an optical inbound handling module, comprising: at least one second horizontal wavelength selective switch receiving the selectable horizontal optical signals from the at least one second horizontal splitter, and outputting at least one first output optical signal; at least one second vertical wavelength selective switch receiving the selectable vertical optical signals from the at least one second vertical splitter, and outputting at least one second output optical signal; an output amplifier receiving the at least one first output optical signal from the at least one second horizontal wavelength selective switch, and the at least one second output optical signal from the at least one second vertical wavelength selective switch, and amplifying the first output optical signal and the second output optical signal; and a demultiplexer receiving the first output optical signal and the second output optical signal amplified by the output amplifier, and decomposing the first output optical signal and the second output optical signal into a plurality of final optical signals.
2 . The optical switch of claim 1 , wherein each of the initial optical signals has a wavelength, and the wavelengths are distinct from each other.
3 . The optical switch of claim 1 , wherein each of the at least one first horizontal amplifier, the at least one first vertical amplifier, the at least one second horizontal amplifier, the at least one second vertical amplifier, and the output amplifier is an erbium-doped optical fiber amplifier.
4 . The optical switch of claim 1 , wherein the optical switch connects to a top-of-rack switch, the top-of-rack switch transmits an initial electrical signal to a plurality of dense wavelength-division multiplexing transceivers, and the initial electrical signal is converted to the initial optical signals through the dense wavelength-division multiplexing transceivers, and wherein the dense wavelength-division multiplexing transceivers receive the final optical signals from the demultiplexer, and convert each of the final optical signals to a final electrical signal.
5 . An optical virtual-circuit-switching network system, comprising: a plurality of optical switches connected to each other through the optical fibers to form an optical interconnected subsystem, wherein each of the optical switches comprises: an optical outbound handling module, comprising: a multiplexer combining a plurality of initial optical signals, and outputting at least one first combined optical signal and at least one second combined optical signal; at least one first horizontal amplifier receiving and amplifying the at least one first combined optical signal from the multiplexer; at least one first vertical amplifier receiving and amplifying the at least one second combined optical signal from the multiplexer; at least one first horizontal splitter receiving the at least one first combined optical signal amplified by the at least one first horizontal amplifier, and outputting a plurality of first horizontal optical signals to at least one horizontal optical switch; and at least one first vertical splitter receiving the at least one second combined optical signal amplified by the at least one first vertical amplifier, and outputting a plurality of first vertical optical signals to at least one vertical optical switch; at least one second horizontal splitter receiving at least one second horizontal optical signal from the at least one horizontal optical switch, and outputting a plurality of selectable horizontal optical signals; at least one second vertical splitter receiving at least one second vertical optical signal from the at least one vertical optical switch, and outputting a plurality of selectable vertical optical signals; an optical pass around module, comprising: at least one first horizontal wavelength selective switch receiving the selectable horizontal optical signals from the at least one second horizontal splitter, and outputting at least one first redirected output optical signal; at least one first vertical wavelength selective switch receiving the selectable vertical optical signals from the at least one second vertical splitter, and outputting at least one second redirected output optical signal; at least one second horizontal amplifier receiving and amplifying the at least one second redirected output optical signal from the at least one first vertical wavelength selective switch; at least one second vertical amplifier receiving and amplifying the at least one first redirected output optical signal from the at least one first horizontal wavelength selective switch; at least one third horizontal splitter receiving the at least one second redirected output optical signal amplified by the at least one second horizontal amplifier, and outputting a plurality of third horizontal optical signals to the at least one horizontal optical switch; and at least one third vertical splitter receiving the at least one first redirected output optical signal amplified by the at least one second vertical amplifier, and outputting a plurality of third vertical optical signals to the at least one vertical optical switch; an optical inbound handling module, comprising: at least one second horizontal wavelength selective switch receiving the selectable horizontal optical signals from the at least one second horizontal splitter, and outputting at least one first output optical signal; at least one second vertical wavelength selective switch receiving the selectable vertical optical signals from the at least one second vertical splitter, and outputting at least one second output optical signal; an output amplifier receiving the at least one first output optical signal from the at least one second horizontal wavelength selective switch, and the at least one second output optical signal from the at least one second vertical wavelength selective switch, and amplifying the first output optical signal and the second output optical signal; and a demultiplexer receiving the first output optical signal and the second output optical signal amplified by the output amplifier, and decomposing the first output optical signal and the second output optical signal into a plurality of final optical signals; and a plurality of dense wavelength-division multiplexing transceivers receiving the final optical signals from the demultiplexer, and converting each of the final optical signals to a final electrical signal.
6 . The optical virtual-circuit-switching network system of claim 5 , further comprising: a plurality of top-of-rack switches connecting to the optical switches, and transmitting an initial electrical signal to the dense wavelength-division multiplexing transceivers; and a plurality of servers individually connecting to the top-of-rack switches, and interconnecting to each other through the optical switches.
7 . The optical virtual-circuit-switching network system of claim 6 , wherein the dense wavelength-division multiplexing transceivers convert the initial electrical signal to the initial optical signals.
8 . The optical virtual-circuit-switching network system of claim 5 , wherein the optical interconnected subsystem comprises at least one horizontal optical network subsystem and at least one vertical optical network subsystem connected to the horizontal optical network subsystem, and wherein a total quantity of the optical switches is equal to a product of a quantity of the at least one horizontal optical network subsystem and a quantity of the at least one vertical optical network subsystem.
9 . The optical virtual-circuit-switching network system of claim 8 , wherein a quantity of the optical switches in the at least one horizontal optical network subsystem is equal to a quantity of the optical switches in the at least one vertical optical network subsystem.
10 . The optical virtual-circuit-switching network system of claim 8 , wherein the optical switches in the at least one horizontal optical network subsystem are interconnected in a full mesh configuration through a first ribbon fiber, and the optical switches in the at least one vertical optical network subsystem are interconnected in a full mesh configuration through a second ribbon fiber.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCES TO RELATED APPLICATIONS This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 63/491,627 filed on Mar. 22, 2023. The entirety of each Application is incorporated herein by reference. BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an optical virtual-circuit-switching network system and an optical switch thereof, and in particular to an optical virtual-circuit-switching network system with scalable bandwidth and shareable paths. Descriptions of the Related Art In order to support high-performance computing (HPC), a data center network infrastructure that can flexibly provide high bandwidth and ultra-low-latency communications between servers is required. FIG. 1 illustrates an existing infrastructure 100 based on electrical switching, which includes a plurality of main switches 110, a plurality of secondary switches 120, a plurality of top-of-rack switches 130 and a plurality of servers 140. The infrastructure 100 based on electrical switching uses a large number of low-cost secondary switches 120 and main switches 110 to provide full bisectional bandwidth with path diversity between the servers 140. Electrical switches are connected to optical fibers through optical transceivers, resulting in numerous optical-electrical-optical conversion, leading to high power consumption and transmission latency. In addition, the infrastructure based on electrical switching also faces challenges such as non-scalable bandwidth and complex wiring. Furthermore, as shown in FIG. 2, in the electrical domain, virtual circuit switching has consistently been a primary packet-switching method. Multiple paths are established between the sending end 210 and the destination end 220. All packets pass through one of the paths during the connection, and are routed and electrically switched through the electrical switches 240 along the path, as indicated by the arrowed section in FIG. 2. This path is referred to as a virtual circuit 230, represented by the dashed line in FIG. 2. The traffic formed by packets through the “circuit” is considered dedicated to the end-user (i.e., the destination end 220). The term “virtual” means that this path is not physically dedicated to that traffic but is shared with other traffic. In view of the above, the present invention provides an optical virtual-circuit-switching network system and its optical switch whose bandwidth is scalable and does not require frequent optical-electrical-optical conversion during transmission. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An objective of the present invention is to provide an optical virtual-circuit-switching network system and its optical switch. The optical switching network system comprises a plurality of optical switches. Each optical switch includes a first set of wavelength selective switches, a first pair of optical fiber amplifiers, and two sets of first splitters used to direct traffic to and from the horizontal optical network subsystem. Each optical switch further includes a second set of wavelength selective switches, a second pair of optical fiber amplifiers, and two sets of second splitters used to direct traffic to and from the vertical optical network subsystem. Each optical switch is designed to receive data from the top-of-rack switch and forward traffic completely within the optical domain, either from the horizontal optical network subsystem to the vertical optical network subsystem or from the vertical optical network subsystem to the horizontal optical network subsystem, and transmit the data to the top-of-rack switch. The optical switching network system is a high-performance computing (HPC) network architecture. Similar to the electrical-based virtual circuit packet switching, the optical switching network system requires the establishment of an end-to-end optical path for a given traffic flow before transmitting packets, and this optical path can be shared with the traffic flows from other optical paths. Therefore, the optical switching network system is also referred to as a distributed optical virtual-circuit-switching network system (DOVINSY). In contrast to electrical-based virtual circuit switching networks, in optical switching network systems, packets are transmitted from the sending end to the destination end in the optical domain without the need for optical-electrical-optical conversion. The optical switching network system comprises a plurality of optical switches. These optical switches operate together to facilitate packet transmission through wavelength-based optical channels. These optical channels are managed proactively and reactively by a software defined networking (SDN) based control mechanism. Specifically, the optical channels are made available whenever needed (i.e., proactively) and dynamically established during load balancing operations (i.e., reactively). The optical switching network system features a scalable architecture, high throughput, ultra-low l