There is a world-wide push to create the next-generation all-optical transmission and switching technologies for exascale data centers. In this paper we focus on the switching fabrics. Many different types of 2D architectures are being explored including MEMS/waveguides and semiconductor optical amplifiers. However, these tend to suffer from high, path-dependent losses and crosstalk issues. The technologies with the best optical properties demonstrated to date in large fabrics (>100 ports) are 3D MEMS beam steering approaches. These have low average insertion losses and, equally important, a narrow loss distribution. However, 3D MEMS fabrics are generally dismissed from serious consideration for this application because of their slow switching speeds (∼few milliseconds) and high costs ($100/port). In this paper we show how novel feedforward open loop controls can solve both problems by improving MEMS switching speeds by two orders of magnitude and costs by a factor of three. With these improvements in hand, we believe 3D MEMS fabrics can become the technology of choice for data centers.

中文翻译：

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高速3D MEMS光开关的开环控制理论算法。

全球范围内正在推动为百亿亿次数据中心创建下一代全光传输和交换技术。在本文中，我们重点介绍交换结构。正在探索许多不同类型的2D架构，包括MEMS /波导和半导体光放大器。然而，这些往往遭受高的，与路径有关的损耗和串扰问题。迄今为止，在大型织物（> 100个端口）中展示的具有最佳光学性能的技术是3D MEMS光束控制方法。它们具有低的平均插入损耗，并且同样重要的是，窄的损耗分布。然而，由于其慢速的切换速度（约几毫秒）和高昂的成本（每端口100美元），通常不考虑将3D MEMS织物用于此应用。在本文中，我们展示了新颖的前馈开环控制如何通过将MEMS开关速度提高两个数量级以及将成本降低三倍来解决两个问题。有了这些改进，我们相信3D MEMS架构可以成为数据中心的首选技术。