Ministry of Education Technical University of Moldova Faculty of Engineering and Management in Electronics and Telecommunications SRCO

Report
Discipline: Digital Signal rocessing

Theme: Optical DSP

!erified dr"conf"univ"

er#u !eaceslav

Chi$in%u &'()

Content Introduction
(" DS technology"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""") ("(

Optical rocessing and Computing""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""*

&" Optical Digital Signal rocessing"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""+ &"( &"& &") &"* &"+

Optical digital signal processing system"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""", Detalied descriptions of e-ample em.odiments"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""/ 0.undant applications"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""&) Ma1ing it 2or1""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""&, Soft2are Development""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""&3

)" Si4e56eld and cost 7ssue""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""")'

Concluzion Bibliography

Introduction
Optical technology is already the dominant carrier of glo.al information" 7t is also central to the realisation of future net2or1s 2hich have the capa.ilities demanded .y society" For e-ample essentially unlimited .and2idth to convey services of any 1ind5 full transparency that allo2s terminal8only upgrades in capacity5 and fle-i.le routing of channels5 are some of the necessary elements for such net2or1s already e-ist in

e-perimental form5and rapid progress is .eing made to2ards field deployement capa.ility"This 2ill .ring a.out a paradigm change in the 2hole nature of telecommunications as 2e move into the third millennium"
("

DSP technology

0 long coveted functionality of photonic systems is the a.ility to provide optical digital signal processing 9DS : on optical data streams";ith applications in optimal memory5optical routing and optical computing5optical DS it is e-pected to .e a 1ey component in the future optical communication system"Currently5 re<uired net2or1ing functionalities li1e signal routing and data .uffering must .e completed in the electrical domain"This electrical solution5 although effective5 is a hindrace in terms of net2or1 latency5 .and2idth and po2er consumption .ecause of the re<uirement for optical8electrical signal conversion"7t is 2idely .elieved that future optical net2or1s 2ill replace this costly OEO nodes 2ith photonic technologies 2ith ODS capa.ility" 0lthough various techni<ues e-ist 2hich can optical DS 5 no clear technology platform has emerged due to various shortcomings in terms of cascada.ilty5 sspeed5 po2er5 si4e5 large scale integra.ility and cost of logic elements"

("(

Optical Processing and Computing

The use of optical technology in storage and signal processing is .ecoming common place in certain application areas:2itness optical hard disc1s for personal computers and domestic CD players"The impact of optical processing on telecommunications has yet to .e e-perienced .ut is li1ely in time to .e as profound"For e-ample5 optical processing 2ill provide a ma#or input to neutral net2or1 development"7ndeed5many research8level neutral net2or1s are .eing realised

in optical components"The main reason for this is the a.ility of optics to offer massive parallelism and interconnections"Since these parameters are fundamental to the principles of neutral computing5 optics is clearly suita.le5 so much that the technologies are li1ely to develop very closely"Fig ( sho2s ho2 an optical neuron 2ould compare 2ith the .iological original"

Figure (:=iological and optical neurons There are many incentives to migrate to2ards optical processing 9Fig (:"The principal advantages is the potential for high speed5 although the physical elegance is also appealing" Speed comes from many factors" For e-ample5 optical computing has a variety of ultra8fast physical effects on 2hich to .ase logic devices" Speeds of picoseconds and .elo2 are possi.le5 although further development is needed .efore this potential is achieved in practical implementations" 0nother advantage is the lo2 energy re<uired .y the relevant optical devices" One of the 1ey devices5 a Self8 Electro8Optical Effect Device9SEED: re<uires s2itching energies do2n in the femto#oules per s<uare micrometer regime" 7f devices can .e made small enough to achieve large scale interrogation5 the lo2 energy feature 2ill .e a ma#or .enefit" Optical computing also demonstrates much greater potential for parallelism than electronics" Fig & sho2 ho2 a massive parallelism may .e realised in an optical

processor5 using a holographic element5 a ( million elements lens array5 Spatial >ight Modulator 9S>M: and a million element detector array" The nature of this devices is analogue .y virtue of its linearity and massive parallelism" =y com.ining such parallelism 2ith the developing a.ility to construct holograms .y computer in real time5 the true potential of optical computing then .ecomes visi.le"

Figure &: Optical processor Optical computing is li1ely to have a .oard impact on telecomunications"7n a optical transmission net2or15 it 2ould allo2 information to .e read5 processed and stored entirely in the optical domain5offering significant improvements in speed and capacity for pac1et net2or1s" ?evertheless5it is unli1ely that optical computing 2ill replace the present electronic methods5indeed the t2o methods are complementary"For e-ample5 optical devices are currently rather slo25the potential in optics coming mainly from the degree of parallelism that can .e achieved"Furthermore5 the precision of devices in presently inade<uate for computing on a 2orth 2hile scale";hether these factors 2ill reamin true as the technology develops remains to .e seen"
&"

Optical Digital Signal Processing

Driven .y ever more comple- algorithms and more and more channels for the processor to handle5 the need for more digital signal processing speed is escalating

rapidly" Conventional DS s are pushing the silicon technology envelope to meet the challenge" They are follo2ing .oth e-pected and une-pected strategies: 7ncreasing cloc1 speeds@Te-as 7nstruments recently announced a ( AB4 productC and5 adding hard 2ired and configura.le coprocessors to e-ecute specific algorithms" The stress of 1eeping pace 2ith the demands of compute8hungry applications is only getting more severe5 ho2ever5 2hich has led some engineers and venture capitalists to consider introducing a technological discontinuity" 7n this case5 it is light82ave processing" The concept of optical digital signal processing in some 2ays is a misnomer .ecause optical signals are .y their very nature analog" ?evertheless5 there is a rationale for using the term the devices are .est suited for the same applications as DS s" =ut employing massively parallel streams of protons traveling at the speed of light can theoretically at least yield processors that are orders of magnitude faster than even the fastest silicon DS "

2. Optical digital signal processing system

0 method for optical digital signal processing5 comprises configuring a plurality of .inary mirrors to allo2 a su.set of the .inary mirrors to represent a range of values" The plurallity of .inary mirrors comprise a digital micromirror device" >ight from a light source is received at the digital micromirror device" The intensity of the light is altered to represent one of the values .ased5 at least in part5 on the configuration of the su.set of the .inary mirrors" The altered light is transmitted from the digital micromirror device to a detector array" Current optical signal processing systems include input modulation that is analog" This discrete analog input is used to drive the input light source" Conventional systems use analog spatial light modulators 9S>Ms: and therefore the output is also analog" Further5 the detector array is also analog5often 2ith limited precision5 and normally re<uires its output to .e digiti4ed via an analog8to8digital 90DD: converter"

7n accordance 2ith the present invention5 the disadvantages and pro.lems associated 2ith analog and .inary digital S>Ms have .een su.stantially reduced or eliminated" One aspect of the invention is a method for optical digital signal processing5 that comprises configuring a plurality of .inary mirrors to allo2 a su.set of the .inary mirrors to represent a range of values" The plurality of .inary mirrors comprises a digital micromirror device" >ight from a light source is received at the digital micromirror device" The intensity of the light is altered to represent one of the values .ased5 at least in part5 on the configuration of the su.set of the .inary mirrors" The altered light is transmitted from the digital micromirror device to a detector array"

2.2 Detalied description o! e"ample embodiments

Figure ) illustrates one em.odiment of an optical digital signal processing system #" Other em.odiments of optical digital signal processing system # may .e formed 2ithout departing from the scope of this disclosure" 7n general5 the present invention offers optical digital signal processing 2ith integration5 resolution5 accuracy5 and programma.ility not afforded .y analog optical systems"

Figure ): Diagram of an optical digital signal processing system Optical digital signal processing system # includes light source 2#5 digital micromirror device 9DMD: $#5 detector array %#5 first digital signal processor &#5 second digital signal processor '#5 analog8to8digital 90DD: converter (#5 and digital8 to8analog 9DD0: converter )#" >ight source 2#5 digital micromirror device $#5 and detector array %# are optically connected" Each component may .e optically coupled through lenses5 collimators5 or other suita.le optical devices">ight source 2# is a device that emits light energy 2& in the direction of DMD $# to initiate optical signal processing" >ight source 2# may include one or more light8emitting diodes 9>EDs:5 in#ection laser diodes 97>Ds:5 !ertical Cavity Surface Emitting >asers 9!CSE>:5 an array of light sources5 or any other appropriate device opera.le to emit light energy 2&" >ight source 2# is controlled .y digital signal processor &#"

Digital signal processor &# is coupled to light source 2# and DMD $#" 7n certain em.odiments5 digital signal processor &# is coupled to light source 2#through DD0 converter )#" Digital signal processor &# may .e a reduced8functionality digital signal processor5 such that there are no multipliers present in digital signal processor &#" Therefore5 reduced8functionality digital signal processor &# may have much less po2er dissipation than traditional digital signal processors" 0ccording to particular em.odiments5 digital signal processor &# generates and digiti4es an input se<uence that drives light source 2#" The generated analog input signal may .e digiti4ed via pulse8code8modulation 9 CM: or pulse82idth8modulation 9 ;M: to produce an input signal 2ith digital precision" 7f present5 DD0 converter )# converts the digital input signal to an analog control signal5 2hich is communicated to and controls light source 2#" 7t should .e understood that if the input se<uence 2as digiti4ed using ;M5 then DD0 converter )# is not necessary" Digital signal processor &# is further opera.le to configure and program DMD $# to allo2 DMD $# to process analog optical signals 2ith digital precision" Detector array %# may .e a photo8detector array 9 D0:5 a charge8coupled device 9CCD: detector array5 CMOS array imager5 or any other suita.le image detection device opera.le to o.tain a spectral response from image $&" 7n general5 detector array %# includes a plurality of detectors that receive image $& and converts the constituent optical signals into electrical signals that may .e further processed .y components of system #" 0ccordingly5 detector array %# converts the energy from image $& into a series of successive electrical pulses5 2hich are output to digital signal processor '#" Digital signal processor '# is coupled 2ith detector array %# through 0DD converter (#" 0DD converter (# converts the analog input signal from detector array %# to a multi8.it digital output signal5 2hich is supplied to digital signal processor '#" Further5 digital signal processor '# may .e a reduced8functionality

digital signal processor5 such that there are no multipliers present in digital signal processor '#" Therefore5 reduced8functionality digital signal processor '# may have much less po2er dissipation than traditional digital signal processors" 7n one aspect of operation5 digital signal processor &# configures DMD $#such that optical signal processing may .e performed 2ith digital precision" 0ccordingly5 digital signal processor &# configures DMD $# to allo2 one or more su.sets of .inary mirrors to each represent a range of values" Digital signal processor &# may dynamically configure DMD $# in order to electronically process digital signals .ased on various optical properties" For e-ample5 digital signal processor &# may configure a first su.set of four .inary mirrors to represent a range of values .et2een E'F and E)F" 7n another e-ample5 digital signal processor&# may configure a first su.set of si-teen .inary mirrors to represent a range of values .et2een E'F and E(+F" System # may also allo2 for the represented range of values to include negative values" The negative values may .e represented through any appropriate techni<ue such as5 for e-ample5 t2os complement5 least significant .it8inversion5 redundant signed digits5 or any higher radi- representation" Once digital signal processor &# configures DMD $#5 system # may use the various components for optical digital signal processing" To initiate an optical signal5 digital signal processor &# generates an input se<uence that drives light source 2#" Digital signal processor &# may digiti4e the generated input se<uence and communicate the digital input se<uence to light source 2#" 7n one em.odiment5 the communicated digital input se<uence is processed .y DD0 converter )#5 2hich converts the digiti4ed se<uence into an analog control signal that drives light source 2#" 7mage $& is received .y one or more detectors of detector array %# for conversion and su.se<uent processing" Detector array converts the optical signals from image $& into analog electrical signals and communicates the electrical signals to digital signal processor '# through 0DD converter (#" 0DD converter (# converts each

analog signal into a multi8.it digital signal and transmits the resulting digital signal to digital signal processor '#" 0s image $&2as formed 2ith digital techni<ues5 there should .e su.stantially less precision loss during conversion .y 0DD converter (#" Digital signal processor '# receives and processes the converted signals using any appropriate digital signal processing techni<ue"

Figure * : E-ample em.odiment of a serial optical digital signal processing system Figure * = illustrates an e-ample em.odiment of a serial optical digital signal processing system 2# " 7n general5 system 2# processes .eams of energy 2& to produce image $& in a serial5 or one8.y8one5 fashion"System 2# includes collimator ## and lens #" Collimator ## directs energy 2& to the appropriate portion of DMD $#5 2hich may include one or more su.sets of .inary mirrors" Collimator ## may .e any optical collimator 2ith an optical scheme that can produce a .eam of parallel rays of energy" Energy 2& is directed to DMD $# and is reflected from mirrors $% that are in the EoffF position to form a second image $("

7mage $( is directed a2ay from detector array %# such that image $( does not distort image $&" Energy 2& that reflects from mirrors $25 2hich are activated to .e in the EonF position5 forms image $& and is directed to2ards detector array %# through lens #">ens # is any lens andDor mirror that directs the line of sight of image $& to detector array %# and5 further5 may .e multi8spectral refractive or reflective" >ens # allo2s oversampling of the image $& from DMD $# to detector array %# # may focus the portion of image $& from one su.set of

through optically lin1ing each su.set of .inary mirrors to a single detector in detector array %#" For e-ample5 lens si-teen mirrors to one detector" 7n another e-ample5 if image $& of the si-teen mirrors is no2 focused onto an area of si-teen detectors then an oversampling of image $& of si-teen times is achieved for more precision" 7n general5 the use of oversampling may allo2 for a significantly higher detection precision or the use of a much smaller detector array %# 2ith fe2er detectors" 7n one aspect of operation5 light source 2# emits energy 2& to2ards DMD $# through collimator ##" Collimator ## .ends light energy 2& to focus on the desired portion of DMD $#" EOnF mirrors $2 reflect the directed energy 2& to form image $&" 7mage $& is focused to2ards the desired portion of detector array %#using lens #"

Figure +0 illustrates another em.odiment of a serial optical digital signal processing system 2#2" Similar to system 2# 5 system 2#2 performs serial optical digital signal processing" 7n addition to the components of system 2# 5 system 2#2 includes .eamsplitter 2# that allo2s for less overall space .eing re<uired for system #" =eamsplitter 2# is capa.le of splitting energy 2& from image $& and may include a .eamsplitter5 a reflector plate that guides .eams of light5 or any mirror or prism or a com.ination of the t2o that is used to divide energy into t2o or more parts" =eamsplitter 2# simultaneously reflects5 or directs5 energy 2& to DMD $# and allo2s passage of image $& to detector array%#"

Figure +: Em.odiment of a serial optical digital signal processing system 7n one aspect of operation5 light source 2# emits energy 2& to2ards

DMD$# through collimator ##" Collimator ## .ends light energy 2& to focus on the desired portion of .eamsplitter 2#" =eamsplitter 2# reflects the su.stantially all of energy 2& to2ards DMD $#" EOnF mirrors $2 reflect the directed energy 2& to form image $&" 7mage $& travels through .eamsplitter 2# and is focused to2ards the desired portion of detector array %# using lens #"

Figure += illustrates an e-ample em.odiment of parallel optical digital signal processing system 2#$" 7n general5 system 2#$ processes .eams of energy 2& to produce image $& in a parallel fashion allo2ing the optical processing of vector inner products" 7n this em.odiment5 light source 2# includes a plurality of input diodes hori4ontally positioned to DMD $# such that each input diode can transmit to an entire column of su.sets of mirrors" 0ccording to one em.odiment5 the num.er of input diodes should su.stantially e<ual the num.er of columns of su.sets" 0lso5

detector array %# is vertically positioned to DMD $# such that the portion of image $& reflected from each ro2 of su.sets can .e summed .y a single detector" System 2#$ includes lens com.ination 2# and lens com.ination %#" >ens com.ination 2# spreads energy 2& from each input diode vertically to the respective column of su.sets of .inary mirrors associated 2ith DMD $#" 0ccording to a particular em.odiment5 lens com.ination 2# includes a spherical lens follo2ed .y a cylindrical lens that has no po2er in the vertical direction" Therefore5 lens com.ination 2# collimates light diverging vertically 2hile directing light hori4ontally to the entire column of su.sets5 as illustrated in Figure ,0"

Figure ,: Operations of the lenses in accordance 2ith the parallel optical digital signal processing system Figures (08D illustrate various em.odiments of a Radi-8* su.set in accordance 2ith optical digital signal processing system #" 7n general5 the Radi-8* su.set is a four8mirror su.set of the plurality of .inary mirrors included in DMD $#"

Figure G: Radi-8* su.set

The Radi-8* su.set allo2s optical digital signal processing system # to configure four .inary mirrors to represent a range of four analog values such as5 for e-ample5 E'F8E)F" 7llustrated in Figure G0 is a s<uare Radi-8*5 or di.it5 su.set $#2" Radi-8* su.set $#2 includes a first5 second5 third5 and fourth .inary mirror" 7n this e-ample em.odiment5 the first and second mirrors are diagonally positioned in relation to one another" Further5 the third and fourth .inary mirrors are diagonally positioned from one another and further positioned in relation to the first and second .inary mirrors to form a &H& s<uare pattern" 7llustrated in Figure G=5 are four similar .inary mirrors that are hori4ontally positioned in relation to one another creating a (H* .inary mirror su.set" 7llustrated in Figure GC5 are four similar .inary mirrors vertically positioned in relation to one another to form a *H( rectangular .inary mirror su.set" Figure GD illustrates one aspect of operation of the Radi-8* s<uare pattern $#2" 0s illustrated in Figure GD5 the Radi-8* su.set may represent five values .ased upon 2hether the individual .inary mirrors are in the EonF or EoffF positions" For e-ample5 if all four .inary mirrors are in the EoffF position5 optical digital signal processing system # may interpret this su.set of .inary mirrors as representing an analog value E'F" 0ctivating the first .inary mirror to .e in the EonF position5 changes the analog value represented .y the su.set to E(F"

Figure /: Radi-8(, su.set Figures )08C illustrate various em.odiments of a Radi-8(, su.set in accordance 2ith optical digital signal processing system #" 7n general5 the Radi-8(, su.set is a si-teen8mirror su.set of the plurality of .inary mirrors included in DMD $#" The Radi-8(, su.set allo2s optical digital signal processing system # to configure si-teen .inary mirrors to represent a range of si-teen analog values such as5 for e-ample5 E'F 8 E(+F" 7llustrated in Figure /05 is a *H* Radi-8(,5 or BEI5 s<uare su.set %#2" 7llustrated in Figure /=5 is an /H& Radi-8(, su.set %#%" Radi-8(, su.set %#% includes a first column of eight .inary mirrors5 each positioned vertically in relation to the other seven" Radi-8(, su.set %#% further includes a second column of eight .inary mirrors5 each also positioned vertically in relation to one another in the second column" 7llustrated in Figure /C5 is a &H/ Radi-8(, su.set %#'"

Figure 3 :

ortion of the digital micromirror device

Figure 3 illustrates an e-ample portion of DMD $# in accordance 2ith optical digital signal processing system #" This e-emplary portion of DMD $# includes four s<uare Radi-8(, su.sets %#2 and is su.stantially delimited .y guard pi-els $'" Each guard pi-el $' is a .inary mirror5 2hich is not activated5 that is not configured to .e included in one of the su.sets" This allo2s system # to use dead space to ensure that the portion of image $& reflected from each su.set %#2 does not interfere 2ith or corrupt other portions of image $&" The illustrated portion of DMD $# is surrounded .y a perimeter of guard pi-els $'" Further5 each su.set %#2 is separated from each other .y a ro2 or column of guard pi-els $'5 as appropriate"

2.$ *bundant *pplications

;hile there are plenty of challenges to .e overcome5 optical digital signal processing 9ODS : 2ould .e a good fit for a num.er of compute8intensive applications 2here the physical si4e of the system is not critical" 0mong these applications are:
J 7nterference canceling .et2een cellular users 9multi8channel distortion: J Soft2are8defined radio J Real8time video compression for B"&,* and BDT! J Bomeland security in applications such as voice analysis and face recognition J Radar and electronic 2arfare J Correlating gene data in .iotechnology J Data mining of large net2or1s"

Conceptually5 optical digital signal processing hinges on the o.servation that although DS s handle many different types of calculations5 they are most useful for e-ecuting algorithms such as FFTs" 0s it turns out5 light can undergo similar

transformations 2hen it passes through optical elements"7n particular5 devices called spatial light modulators 9S>Ms: can alter the light to match the most intensive aspects of the numerical manipulations re<uired .y the algorithm" S>Ms8Spatial light modulators are large &8D arrays of densely pac1ed light modulators" The num.er of individual modulators can range from one thousand to more than a million" They are usually electrically addressed" >ight modulation in the form of intensity5 phase5 or polari4ation is controlled .y applying different electrical signals to each cell" >i<uid crystals and magneto8optic materials can .e used to construct S>Ms .ut their shortest response times are typically of the order of ('8('' Ks" To achieve nanonsecond s2itching5 multiple <uantum level 9ML>: S>Ms fa.ricated in Aa0s have .een introduced" This type of technology has5 in fact5 .een around for <uite some time" =ut it has also .een limited .y internal s2itching speed considerations 9electronic s2itching and lens motion: and accuracy 9or resolution: considerations" 7t also had a pro.lem 2ith 2hat might .e called .eing Mhard 2iredM in an optical sense: The S>Ms could handle only one algorithm and only one set of parameters for the algorithm" rogramma.ility of the S>Ms is critical for commercial use5 of course5 and that is one of the 1ey technology challenges" ?ot surprisingly5 semiconductor vendors have investigated light processing" Te-as 7nstruments5 in particular5 has for some time had a successful commercial operation .ased on micro8mirror technology" T7Ns Digital >ight rocessing 9D> : operation5 ho2ever5 is primarily focused on displays that range in si4e from readily porta.le pro#ectors to systems that can .e used to display motion pictures on theater screens" T7 has not aggressively pursued a commercial implementation of an ODS itself5 says D> =usiness Development Manager ;es Stalcup" Be cites several reasons5 including the speed penalty that must .e overcome 2hen light energy is covered .ac1 to electrical energy so it can .e used .y the rest of the system" ro#ected mar1ets for a system that might .e three feet s<uare also figured into the analysis"T7 also concluded

that a .oard populated 2ith an array of its ( AB45 TMS)&'C,*-- chips could match the speed of any optical products that might come on the mar1et in the foreseea.le future@and .e more in line 2ith T7Ns product strategy" =ut that does not mean there is no interest in ODS at T7" The D> Ns operations DMD Discovery Oit provides developers 2ith the a.ility to use micro8mirror technology to manipulate the carrier .eam itself 9attenuation5 shape or refine the out.ound optical signal: or5 use micro8mirrors and conventional DS s to manipulate the information on the .eam 9such as multiplication: using micro8mirrors instead of S>Ms to modify the light"

2.% +a,ing It -or,

On the other hand5 speed is the ma#or advantage optical digital signal processing offers the industry" Since light is relatively immune to crosstal1 and other noise inducing phenomenon5 light processing can easily ta1e advantage of massive parallelism" ;hereas conventional electronics typically re<uires multiple manipulations of data arranged in series5 optical processing can easily perform the transform in a single cloc1 cycle@2hich e<uates optically to a single pass of light through the S>M and the other system components" 0ll of the components@vertical cavity surface8emitting lasers5 compound lenses5 and the S>Ms@are relatively ine-pensive" Compound lenses8 focus light from !CSE>s on the S>M pi-els and focus light that passes through the S>M on the photo detector array" They are called compound

lenses .ecause t2o lenses are used to achieve superior resolution" The same lenses used in CD8ROM players can often accommodate the re<uirements of S>Ms" =ut optical processing is useful only for the vector multiplication segments of algorithms" Other processing functions associated 2ith silicon DS s@such as encoding and decoding@must .e accomplished 2ith conventional electronic circuits" recision is also an issue" >ight information is analog 2hich means itNs infinitely precise until it is converted into electrical energy" =ut as soon as it is <uanti4ed5 some level@a significant level@of precision is lost .ecause the conversion technologies are non8linear" The technology as practiced .y one OD> company can .e e-plained in terms of a simple vector matri- multiplication" 7n this e-ample5 the value .eing measured is light intensity" Resolution is / .its for reasons mentioned in the previous paragraph" Referring to fig ('5 a linear array of &+, !CSE>s 9vertical cavity surface emitting lasers: provides the input values for the vector multiplication" The processor is a &+,8 .y8&+, S>M 9spatial light modulator": 0 linear array of &+, photodiodes detects the result and &+, 0DCs convert the analog result from the photodiodes into the digital domain"

Figure (': !ector matri- multiplication 9Courtesy of >enslet:

!CSE>s8!ertical cavity surface emitting lasers are used as the light source for matri- multiplication" !CSE>s are speciali4ed laser diodes that have the ro.ustness of >EDs .ut emit coherent energy perpendicular to the .oundaries .et2een the semiconductor layers" Ordinary laser diodes emit coherent energy hori4ontal to the layers" =ecause !CSE>s 9pronounced vi-els: produce coherent light in the vertical plane less electrical energy is re<uired to produce a given amount of coherent light" 0lmost as important is the fact that !CSE>s are relatively ine-pensive to manufacture5 pac1age5 align5 and test" They also have lo2er po2er dissipation and higher relia.ility than ordinary laser diodes" Each element from the &+, !CSE>s is pro#ected on a column 9&+, light modulators: of the S>M matri-" Each ro2 of the matri- is pro#ected on a single photodiode" Remem.ering that multiplication is the sum of a single value repeated multiple times5 it can .e seen that the resultant energy in a detector is the sum of the &+, inputs from the ro2 that pro#ected onto it" 7n this e-ample5 the S>M is acting simply as a means of accumulating values" =ut S>Ms can also alter the information they receive" =y changing values stored in the S>M matri- is e<uivalent to creating a ne2 transform" Only 2hen matri- values can .e changed easily does optical light processing stand a chance of .ecoming a via.le commercial technology" 0n 7sraeli company5 >enslet5 has ta1en a ma#or step to2ard esta.lishing a mar1et for ODS s 2ith the introduction in &'') of the En>ight&+,5 one of the first commercial devices of its 1ind to .ecome availa.le" En>ight&+, is a fi-ed point processor that can e-ecute /''' gigaM0Cs per second@roughly three orders of magnitude faster than traditional DS s" >enslet is not the only commercial vendor" Esse- in Colum.ia5 MD5 also has products in the ODS space although it is focused on military applications" ;henever possi.le5 >enslet has used off8the8shelf components" 7t uses optics developed for CD8ROM technology and !CSE>s that are 2idely used in optical fi.er

communications systems" Even the Aa0s chips used in the S>M are created using a fa.les semiconductor design methodology" Enlight&+, has a standard .oard8level form factor" 7t includes conventional memory and 7DO as 2ell as program memory and .uffers" Most interesting5 of course5 is the processing architecture5 2hich has three levels that match the re<uirements of e-ecuting algorithms@multiplication5 scalar operations5 and vector operations"
("

The optical vector matri- multiplier 9!MM: is the core of the En>ight&+,

processor" 7t has already .een descri.ed as .eing composed of an array of !CSE>s for input data5 an S>M for processing5 and an array of photo detectors plus 0DCs for the output phase"
&"

The S>M5 in particular5 is 2orthy of note" 7t provides its superior performance

.ecause it uses multiple <uantum 2ell 9ML;: Aa0s technology" 0pplying an electric field across each of the light modulators shifts the energy levels in the semiconductor" This in turn changes the transition energies of the light that is passing through the modulator5 2hich is the .asis for ma1ing calculations" >ensletNs ML; S>M can s2itch in nanoseconds" 7ts high contrast ratio provides /8.it resolution@or5 &+, distinct Mgray levelsM of contrast" 7t has a fre<uency response e-ceeding ( AB4 and operates at less than +!" Finally5 En>ight&+, crams tens of thousands of pi-els into a small area"

Functionally5 the optical core does #ust one mathematical operation: multiplication of a matri- .y a vector" 7t runs at a rate of (&+ MB4 for a multiplication of a &+, element vector .y a &+,-&+, matri-5 2hich cran1s out /''' Aiga operations per second" Matri-8vector multiplication can .e used to calculate any linear transform"
)"

For vector8vector operations5 >enslet includes in the En>ight&+, silicon a

vector processing unit 9! U: that does operations li1e adding t2o vectors element .y element5 su.tracting5 and finding the ma-imum value of a vector" The ! U is

presently implemented on an F A0 and is a capa.le processing engine performing a.out (&/ Aiga operations per second" 7t 2ill eventually .e integrated onto an 0S7C"
*"

0 )&8.it standard5 off8the8shelf DS is included for scalar operations and does

all the logical functions5 runs the soft2are5 and manages .oard operations"

2.& So!t.are De/elopment

The En>ight&+, is programma.le5 2hich is one of the reasons it can .e considered the first commercial optical digital signal processor product" 7t has its o2n instruction set that supports vector8vector and vector8matri- computation" Since the MMU has an /8.it 2ord length and the ! U has a (,8.it 2ord length5 the instruction set supports arithmetic and logical operations for .oth 2ord lengths as 2ell as real and comple- vectors" 0lso included in the instruction set are vector comparisons5 shifts5 and other manipulations" The soft2are development flo2 starts 2ith The Math;or1sN M0T>0= and ta1es those results into En>ight8specific soft2are suites5 including a simulator that lin1s the development code to En>ight Function li.raries 9FFTs5 F7Rs5 correlators5 and so on: as 2ell as user8defined li.raries" The last step is generating DS code5 2hich is accomplished .y En>ight Studio Emulator"The results of optical processing are impressive5 as sho2n in the .enchmar1s provided .y >enslet and sho2n in ta.le ("

Ta.le ( 1enslet 2n1ight2& 0unction ' 3 2& +4z 5)### 0I9 9(''' samples (&/ taps: Correlator 9(& / comple- of length (&/: 00T:D0T 9(&/ comple-: 00T:D0T 9(, O comple-: 00T 9)&O comple- filters Cycle (&/ s Time Cycle s Time Cycle s Time Cycle Time Cycle ( KSec" ( / nSec" &+, & KSec" +(& ("'+ mSec" *'' *'' nSec" (''5''' ('' KSec" &''5''' / KSec" (&/ /"& mSec" (5'+'5''' 6+*C7 (''' State8o!8the8 *rt DSP 3 64z 6+*C7 /5&''5''' -/&' ' -('' ' -/&' ' -('' ' -*'' -+' -*'' -+' -*'' 5) 9atio

samples s

samples: 00T 9,*O samples:

s Time Cycle s Time

*"( KSec" ('&* /"& KSec"

&'' KSec" *+'5''' *+' KSec"

-+' -**' -+*

)"

Size; <ield; and Cost Issues

0lthough there are many applications for ODS technology5 >enslet is e-pecting a gradual ramp that 2ill .e determined .y factors other than ra2 performance" Due to the optics5 En>ight&+, and its successors 2ill .e .oard8level products for the foreseea.le future" ;ithin the ne-t three years5 the form factor of the .oard 2ill shrin1 to a.out & feet .y t2o feet5 2hich ma1es si4e a factor in determining suita.le applications" Similarly5 over the ne-t three years production volumes are e-pected to reach into the thousands or tens of thousands5 in part .ecause of mar1et acceptance and in part .ecause of the inevita.le manufactura.ility and yield issues every ne2 technology must face" The En>ight&+, has5 ho2ever5 .een designed to .e ro.ust" Mean time .et2een failures is e-pected to .e close to (' years than1s to .uilt8in redundancy" The system incorporates &// !CSE>s5 for e-ample5 instead of the &+, re<uired for normal operations" The system can automatically s2itch on the fly from a !CSE> that fails 2hile the system is in use to one of the )& e-tra lasers" >enslet also e-pects to meet aggressive pricing goals5 especially considering the orders of magnitude higher performance the technology provides compared to silicon" !ice resident of =usiness Development 0vner Balperin says the En>ight&+, 2ill .e price competitive 2ith leading5 high8performance multi8DS .oards" Technology discontinuities of the type that >enslet envisions occur relatively infre<uently .ut 2hen they do everything around them changes as 2ell" The most

stri1ing technology discontinuity in the past +' years5 for e-ample5 is the replacement of manual calculation methods 2ith electronic in the form of microprocessors5 microcontrollers5 DS s and other processors" ;hile there seems little dou.t that as semiconductor technology starts to reach theoretical limits light2ave technology 2ill play a .igger role5 no one 1no2s 2hen it might happen"

Concluzion
TodayNs telecommunication services intensely rely on optical8P.er systems"Such optical communication systems are re<uested to handle high speed5multi8channels5 long8haul signal transmission" The ultimate aim of this programme is to remove ultrafast electronics from communications systems" The inherently high speeds of many all8optical processes may .e harnessed to produce ne2 non8electrical components and techni<ues for very fast signal manipulation and processing" Our approach is to accept the digital nature of the signal from the outset and to loo1 for 2ays of manipulating channels at the .it level rather than s2itching in an analogue fashion as in optical cross connects" This has the advantage of eliminating impairments due to analogue mi-ing processes and of .uilding in regeneration as a fundamental operation rather than a system add8on" Conceptually5 optical digital signal processing hinges on the o.servation that although DS s handle many different types of calculations5 they are most useful for e-ecuting algorithms such as FFTs" 0s it turns out5 light can undergo similar transformations 2hen it passes through optical elements" 7n particular5 devices called spatial light modulators 9S>Ms: can alter the light to match the most intensive aspects of the numerical manipulations re<uired .y the algorithm"

Bibliography
(" &" )" *"

http:DDarchive"cochrane"org"u1DopinionDarchiveDarticlesDopticalc"php Design 7ssue in Optical rocessing Dhttp:DD.oo1s"google"md Digital Signal rocesingDhttp:DDdoc"ut2ente"nlD(*(GGD(Dt''''''+"pdf http:DD222"eetimes"com