A method includes configuring a first plurality of beamsplitters in a network of interconnected beamsplitters of an optical circuit into a transmissive state. The optical circuit is configured to perform a linear transformation of N input optical modes, where N is a positive integer. The first plurality of beamsplitters is located along a beam path within the optical circuit and traversing a target location. The method also includes configuring a second plurality of beamsplitters in the network of interconnected beamsplitters of the optical circuit into a reflective state to reconfigure the optical circuit into a reconfigured optical circuit. The reconfigured optical circuit is configured to perform a linear transformation on M input optical modes, where M is a positive integer less than N. The second plurality of beamsplitters is located along at least one edge of the optical circuit.

A method and apparatus for operating an optical switching fabric or other optical device are provided. The device has multiple input and output ports to be selectably connected together via optical paths. For a requested configuration, an optical device configuration is determined based on a loss metric, which is based on one or both of: a number of crossings of the optical paths; and a length of the optical paths. The crossings can be waveguide crossings within the switching fabric. The configuration can be obtained by selecting particular intermediate stages of the switching fabric for carrying particular optical paths. The number of waveguide crossings, or the variation in the number of waveguide crossings, can be limited or minimized in the selected configuration. In one embodiment, an initial solution is determined, and the intermediate stages of the switch are re-ordered to obtain an improved solution in terms of the loss metric.

A method and apparatus for operating an optical switching fabric or other optical device are provided. The device has multiple input and output ports to be selectably connected together via optical paths. For a requested configuration, an optical device configuration is determined based on a loss metric, which is based on one or both of: a number of crossings of the optical paths; and a length of the optical paths. The crossings can be waveguide crossings within the switching fabric. The configuration can be obtained by selecting particular intermediate stages of the switching fabric for carrying particular optical paths. The number of waveguide crossings, or the variation in the number of waveguide crossings, can be limited or minimized in the selected configuration. In one embodiment, an initial solution is determined, and the intermediate stages of the switch are re-ordered to obtain an improved solution in terms of the loss metric.

An optoelectronic switch for switching data from a source external client device to a destination external client device, the optoelectronic switch includes: an array of client-side transceivers, each having an array of client-facing optical ports to connect to an external client device, and an array of leaf-facing electrical ports; an array of leaf switches, each including an array of client-side electrical ports and an array of fabric-side electrical ports; a first electrical interconnecting region providing electrical connections between the leaf-facing electrical ports of the client-side transceivers and the client-side electrical ports of the leaf switches, an array of fabric-side transceivers, each having an array of leaf-facing electrical ports, and an array of fabric-facing optical ports; a second electrical interconnecting region providing electrical connections between the fabric-side electrical ports of the leaf switches and the leaf-facing electrical ports of the fabric-side transceivers; an array of spine switches, each including an array of fabric-facing optical ports; and an optical fabric providing connections between the fabric-facing optical ports of the fabric-side transceivers and the fabric-facing optical ports of the spine switches.

An optical switch module includes: N first input ports to which a signal is input; M first output ports from which a signal is output; an MN switch to include N second input ports and M second output ports, and to set a path between the second input ports and the second output ports, the second output ports coupling with the first output ports, respectively; a test-signal input port to which a test-signal is capable of being externally input; an expansion port from which one of the test-signal and the signal from any one of the first input ports is output; and an optical switch to selectively connect at least one of the test-signal and the signal from any one of the first input ports to at least one of the expansion port and any one of the second input ports, wherein both N and M are natural numbers.

This invention discloses a distributed optical switching and interconnect chip and system having multiple connected nodes, each node including an optical routing unit with one side having multiple internal input/output ports and the other side having multiple external input/output ports, a laser array and a photodetector array, connected to the internal input and output ports, respectively. The external output ports are connected to the external input ports of other nodes through optical waveguides. The signals received by the photodetectors can be dropped to the node or re-routed to the lasers by an electronic packet switching chip for re-transmission to other nodes. The invention integrates and encapsulates laser arrays, photodetector arrays, optical routing units and interconnection network in one chip. The distributed optical switching chip and system architecture have the advantages of high scalability, low latency and low power consumption, and can be used for multi-chip computing systems and datacenters.

An optical switch module includes: N first input ports to which a signal is input; M first output ports from which a signal is output; an M?N switch to include N second input ports and M second output ports, and to set a path between the second input ports and the second output ports, the second output ports coupling with the first output ports, respectively; a test-signal input port to which a test-signal is capable of being externally input; an expansion port from which one of the test-signal and the signal from any one of the first input ports is output; and an optical switch to selectively connect at least one of the test-signal and the signal from any one of the first input ports to at least one of the expansion port and any one of the second input ports, wherein both N and M are natural numbers.

A configurable wide area distributed antenna system is provided. At least one remote master unit of the system is in communication with at least one base station. The remote master unit includes a remote switch function that provides at least multiplexing in a downlink direction, demultiplexing in an uplink direction and routing of digital samples. The local master unit is located remote from the remote master unit. The local master unit is in communication with at least one remote antenna unit used to provide communication coverage in a select coverage area. The local master unit includes a local switch function providing at least demultiplexing in a downlink direction, multiplexing in an uplink direction and routing of digital samples. At least one communication link communicatively couples the remote master unit to the local communication unit with transport media interfaces.

An optical switch module includes: N first input ports to which a signal is input; M first output ports from which a signal is output; an M?N switch to include N second input ports and M second output ports, and to set a path between the second input ports and the second output ports, the second output ports coupling with the first output ports, respectively; a test-signal input port to which a test-signal is capable of being externally input; an expansion port from which one of the test-signal and the signal from any one of the first input ports is output; and an optical switch to selectively connect at least one of the test-signal and the signal from any one of the first input ports to at least one of the expansion port and any one of the second input ports, wherein both N and M are natural numbers.

An optical network-on-chip, an optical router, and a signal transmission method. The optical network-on-chip includes: N2 intellectual property IP cores, N2/2 gateways, and N2 optical routers. The N2 optical routers form two subnets, and every N2/2 optical routers form one subnet. Each gateway in the N2/2 gateways is connected to every two IP cores in the N2 IP cores, where IP cores connected to different gateways are different, and the two IP cores connected to each gateway are in one-to-one correspondences with the two subnets. The N2/2 gateways are in one-to-one correspondences with the N2/2 optical routers in each subnet in the two subnets, where each gateway is connected to an optical router that is in each subnet and that is corresponding to each gateway.