Memory technologies associated to optical interconnects

[techlife]

Greetings,

I want to know what is an optical interconnect in terms of the memory technologies.
Also, if anybody could help me with these terms in computer architecture-
Optical RAM cell and Optical Cache memory.

Thanking you in advance.

 

[KlausST]

Hi,

We need the context.

I assume you read about this somewhere. So please give us (the link to) this document.

Klaus

 

[techlife]

Hello,

I am studying it from an IEEE Technical Paper. Although I couldn't Download it, still sharing the link below.
https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/7550267

Thank You.

 

[KlausST]

Hi,

I can´t downlod it, either.

Thus the context is still missing.

Is it asking too much, that you tell something about the content of the document?

Klaus

 

[techlife]

Hello,

Basically, It contains something related to the optical RAM cells and the optical cache module operation using Optical interconnect for high speed computers. So far only this much I could figure out.

Thank You.

 

[techlife]

Also, about the optical RAM cells I have seen the following video but couldn't understand.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CPnVev74qjU&feature=youtu.be

Anyone who can relate to the topic please help.

Thank You.

 

[BradtheRad]

The video predicts many future benefits the day when optical computing becomes practical. They don't say they have a working computer. The project is still in research and development.

The concept of optical computing has advantages:

* Needs no wires. So needs no current return path.
* Generates minimal heat. Wastes minimal power.
* Not hindered by internal parasitic capacitance.
* Not hindered by external magnetic flux fields.

As for the hardware, I imagine a chamber where at one end is a narrow-beam 'write gun' and narrow-beam 'read camera'. The other end has wall of memory cells, made of a luminescent substance, arranged in a grid. The 'write gun' lights up a cell by shooting it with a certain color, or makes it go dark with a different color. The 'read camera' senses whether a cell is bright or dark. I have not heard this exists yet. It's just a conceptual picture.

 

[techlife]

Yes Even I think it's a conceptual picture. Maybe on the verge of development since I've been reading it in the technical paper. I have finally downloaded the paper but couldn't exactly understand.
Attaching the paper below. Please refer and help.

[Moderator action: per forum rules, deleted attachment]

 

[techlife]

Hello,

It is about the Optical RAM-based cache memory technology and optical interconnect technologies in disintegrated computational so that the off-chip optical cache modules can be connected to cache-light Chip Multiprocessors and DRAM modules.It discuss about the FP7 project RAMPLAS and ICT-STREAMS project.
I couldn't understand the projects so couldn't figure out the rest. Help.

Thank You.

 

[BradtheRad]

The Youtube video mentioned their challenge to 'store light'. From what I understand they're trying to invent random access memory of a sort where binary bits are in optical form. They hope to fabricate optical memory cells so tiny and cheap that we can use them in computers.

Conventional electronic memory stores a high or low in the form of:

* an RS flip-flop (static ram)

* or a charge on a capacitor (dynamic ram)

* or a small magnetic ring around the intersection of two wires (old-fashioned core memory).

The claim is that optical memory is superior to electronic methods. It's plausible because a single thin glass fiber optic carries several times more conversations than a thick copper cable.

To make a memory cell requires someone to make a breakthrough in creating a way to store light. We can imagine several methods, although there is lots of work ahead to develop any one of those methods into something usable.

 

[techlife]

Hello,

Thank You for the help @BradtheRad.
I got it.
Also, The IEEE paper is towards boosting optical memory bandwidth by deploying optical cache memories facilitating at the same time disintegration through architectures that support off-chip optically interconnected caching functions. Where even optical cache memories can be treated as off-chip modules.An overview of their research efforts in the deployment of integrated optical Static RAM cells exploiting different photonic integration platforms and their employment in novel optical content addressable memory (CAM) layouts.

Attaching the image:


Fig.a) Current layout of a typical CMP-to-memory interconnect architecture;
b) Current goal of the computing and photonics industry towards replacing the DDR3 interconnect with optics;
c) The vision for enabling optical caching and
bringing caches off-chip, so as to yield a modular and flexible CMP-to-memory architectural scheme.

Thank You.