Reconfigurable optical interconnects for computer vision applications

Abstract

We evaluate the advantages of reconfigurable optical interconnects within massively parallel systems due to their ability to provide versatile application-dependent network configurations. Furthermore, they are being considered as alternatives to electronic interconnects within high-performance computers because of their advantages of high bandwidth, low wire density and low power requirement at high data rates. Fiber optic interconnects based on wavelength division multiplezing and free-space holographic interconnects are two classes of optical interconnects that can support network reconfiguration. Using computer vision applications, we compare these two classes of optical interconnects with electronic interconnects taking into account the combined effects of link speeds, link latencies, system size, message size and network topologies feasible with current implementation capabilities.