A parallel optical link architecture using FPGAs

Author

Aloisio, A. ; Cevenini, F. ; Severi, M.

Author_Institution

I.N.F.N. Sezione di Napoli, Italy

Volume

49

Issue

2

fYear

2002

fDate

4/1/2002 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

507

Lastpage

512

Abstract

Novel chip-sets allow designing parallel optical links for short-haul applications in the range of several gigabyte/s. This aggregate bandwidth is shared across multiple fibers and the system clock required to cope with such a data rate falls into the last generation FPGAs´ capabilities. In this paper, we present a point-to-point parallel optical link architecture based on the INFINEONs PAROLI-DC devices and Xilinx field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs). The system works at 160 MHz and sustains a payload transfer rate higher than 240 megabyte/s. The link exhibits a low and deterministic latency in order to be used in critical real-time environments as trigger and data acquisition system (DAQ) systems in high-energy physics experiments. We examine the transport and data-link layers, focusing on both the system performances and the FPGAs´ layout

Keywords

data acquisition; field programmable gate arrays; high energy physics instrumentation computing; nuclear electronics; optical computing; optical links; parallel architectures; real-time systems; trigger circuits; 160 MHz; DAQ; FPGA; INFINEON PAROLI-DC devices; Xilinx field programmable gate arrays; aggregate bandwidth; chip-sets; data acquisition; data-link layers; high-energy physics experiments; latency; multiple fibers; parallel optical link architecture; payload transfer rate; real-time environments; short-haul applications; system clock; trigger system; Aggregates; Bandwidth; Clocks; Data acquisition; Field programmable gate arrays; Optical arrays; Optical design; Optical fiber communication; Optical fiber devices; Payloads;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Nuclear Science, IEEE Transactions on

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0018-9499

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/TNS.2002.1003789

Filename

1003789