On-OPCB interconnection networks

Photonic solutions are penetrating the lowest levels of the packaging hierarchy of Data Centers (DC) and High-Performance Computing (HPC) systems (board-to-board, chip-to-chip, intra-chip), as a solution for the increased bandwidth demands and to avoid an explosion in energy consumption. To fully exploit their offered benefits, HPC and DCs architectures need to be reconsidered. In this paper we focus on the on-OPCB (optical printed circuit board) packaging level and describe a lay-out strategy for direct interconnection networks. We also outline a methodology for on-OPCB interconnection network design that takes as input a set of packaging and required performance parameters and incorporates our proposed lay-out strategy. We apply our OPCB designing methodology, using realistic parameters, to highlight potential bottlenecks and to explore the benefits of photonic technological advancements (namely, smaller bending radiuses, crossing angles and chip footprints).