Rodney S. Tucker

Green Cloud Computing: Balancing Energy in Processing, Storage, and Transport

Network-based cloud computing is rapidly expanding as an alternative to conventional office-based computing. As cloud computing becomes more widespread, the energy consumption of the network and computing resources that underpin the cloud will grow. This is happening at a time when there is increasing attention being paid to the need to manage energy consumption across the entire information and communications technology (ICT) sector. While data center energy use has received much attention recently, there has been less attention paid to the energy consumption of the transmission and switching networks that are key to connecting users to the cloud. In this paper, we present an analysis of energy consumption in cloud computing. The analysis considers both public and private clouds, and includes energy consumption in switching and transmission as well as data processing and data storage. We show that energy consumption in transport and switching can be a significant percentage of total energy consumption in cloud computing. Cloud computing can enable more energy-efficient use of computing power, especially when the computing tasks are of low intensity or infrequent. However, under some circumstances cloud computing can consume more energy than conventional computing where each user performs all computing on their own personal computer (PC).

Energy Consumption in Optical IP Networks

As community concerns about global energy consumption grow, the power consumption of the Internet is becoming an issue of increasing importance. In this paper, we present a network-based model of power consumption in optical IP networks and use this model to estimate the energy consumption of the Internet. The model includes the core, metro and edge, access and video distribution networks, and takes into account energy consumption in switching and transmission equipment. We include a number of access technologies, including digital subscriber line with ADSL2+, fiber to the home using passive optical networks, fiber to the node combined with very high-speed digital subscriber line and point-to-point optical systems. In addition to estimating the power consumption of todays Internet, we make predictions of power consumption in a future higher capacity Internet using estimates of improvements in efficiency in coming generations of network equipment. We estimate that the Internet currently consumes about 0.4% of electricity consumption in broadband-enabled countries. While the energy efficiency of network equipment will improve, and savings can be made by employing optical bypass and multicast, the power consumption of the Internet could approach 1% of electricity consumption as access rates increase. The energy consumption per bit of data on the Internet is around 75\bm muJ at low access rates and decreases to around 2-4 \bm muJ at an access rate of 100 Mb/s.

Energy-Minimized Design for IP Over WDM Networks

On a router-port basis, our previous study [1] found that lightpath bypass strategy can significantly save power consumption over the lightpath non-bypass strategy. However, in real network systems, router ports are organized by network line cards or modules; on each line card there are multiple router ports. In this paper, we evaluate the energy consumption of an IP over WDM network in the context of modularized router ports. We develop mixed integer linear programming (MILP) model for power consumption minimization under the lightpath bypass strategy. We also compare the cases of lightpath bypass and nonbypass. It is found that for modularized route ports, the strategy of optical bypass can significantly outperform the strategy of non-bypass. Also, under different types of modular router line cards, a mixed deployment of different types of router line cards consumes the least energy compared to the deployment of a single type of line card.

Slow-light optical buffers: capabilities and fundamental limitations

This paper presents an analysis of optical buffers based on slow-light optical delay lines. The focus of this paper is on slow-light delay lines in which the group velocity is reduced using linear processes, including electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT), population oscillations (POs), and microresonator-based photonic-crystal (PC) filters. We also consider slow-light delay lines in which the group velocity is reduced by an adiabatic process of bandwidth compression. A framework is developed for comparing these techniques and identifying fundamental physical limitations of linear slow-light technologies. It is shown that slow-light delay lines have limited capacity and delay-bandwidth product. In principle, the group velocity in slow-light delay lines can be made to approach zero. But very slow group velocity always comes at the cost of very low bandwidth or throughput. In many applications, miniaturization of the delay line is an important consideration. For all delay-line buffers, the minimum physical size of the buffer for a given number of buffered data bits is ultimately limited by the physical size of each stored bit. We show that in slow-light optical buffers, the minimum achievable size of 1 b is approximately equal to the wavelength of light in the buffer. We also compare the capabilities and limitations of a range of delay-line buffers, investigate the impact of waveguide losses on the buffer capacity, and look at the applicability of slow-light delay lines in a number of applications.

High-speed modulation of semiconductor lasers

An overview is given of the direct modulation performance of high-speed semiconductor lasers. The high-speed response characteristics are described using a cascaded two-port model of the laser. This model separates the electrical parasitics from the intrinsic laser and enables these subsections to be considered separately. The presentation concentrates on the small-signal intensity modulation and frequency modulation responses, and the large-signal switching transients and chirping. Device-dependent limitations on high-speed performance are explored and circuit modeling techniques are briefly reviewed.

Evolution of WDM Optical IP Networks: A Cost and Energy Perspective

We review technologies and architectures for WDM optical IP networks from the viewpoint of capital expenditure and network energy consumption. We show how requirements of low cost and low energy consumption can influence the choice of switching technologies as well as the overall network architecture.

Circuit modeling of the effect of diffusion on damping in a narrow-stripe semiconductor laser

This paper describes a circuit modeling technique for directly modulated narrow-stripe semiconductor lasers with strong carrier confinement and index guiding. It is shown that diffusion damping of the modulation response, due to a nonuniform electron density distribution in the active layer, can be accounted for in terms of an equivalent optical gain saturation. Based on this equivalence, a small-signal ac circuit model of a narrow-stripe laser is derived. The model can be used to determine the intensity modulation and frequency modulation response characteristics of a packaged device.

Fixed Mobile Convergence Architectures for Broadband Access: Integration of EPON and WiMAX [Topics in Optical Communications]

EPON and WiMAX are two promising broadband access technologies for new-generation wired and wireless access. Their complementary features motivate interest in using EPON as a backhaul to connect multiple dispersed WiMAX base stations. In this article we propose four broadband access architectures to integrate EPON and WiMAX technologies. The integrated architectures can take advantage of the bandwidth benefit of fiber communications, and the mobile and non-line-of-sight features of wireless communications. Based on these integrated architectures, we elaborate on related control and operation issues to address the benefits gained by this integration. Integration of EPON and WiMAX enables fixed mobile convergence, and is expected to significantly reduce overall design and operational costs for new-generation broadband access networks.

The Role of Optics and Electronics in High-Capacity Routers

This paper examines the role of optical and electronic technologies in future high-capacity routers. In particular, optical and electronic technologies for use in the key router functions of buffering and switching are compared. The comparison is based on aggressive but plausible estimates of buffer and switch performance projected out to around 2020. The analysis of buffer technologies uses a new model of power dissipation in optical-delay-line buffers using optical fiber and planar waveguides, including slow-light waveguides. Using this model together with models of storage capacity in ideal and nonideal slow-light delay lines, the power dissipation and scaling characteristics of optical and electronic buffers are compared. The author concludes that planar integrated optical buffers occupy larger chip area than electronic buffers, dissipate more power than electronic buffers, and are limited in capacity to, at most, a few IP packets. Optical fiber-based buffers have lower power dissipation but are bulky. The author also concludes that electronic buffering will remain the technology of choice in future high-capacity routers. The power dissipation of high-capacity optical and electronic cross connects for a number of cross connect architectures is compared. The author shows that optical and electronic cross connects dissipate similar power and require a similar chip area. Optical technologies show a potential for inclusion in high-capacity routers, especially as the basis for arrayed-waveguide-grating-based cross connects and as components in E/O/E interconnects. A major challenge in large cross connects, both optical and electronic, will be to efficiently manage the very large number of interconnects between chips and boards. The general conclusion is that electronic technologies are likely to remain as integral components in the signal transmission path of future high-capacity routers. There does not appear to be a compelling case for replacing electronic routers with optically transparent optical packet switches

High-frequency characteristics of directly modulated InGaAsP ridge waveguide and buried heterostructure lasers

The high-frequency modulation characteristics of InGaAsP ridge waveguide lasers at 1.55 μm and etched mesa buried heterostructure (EMBH) lasers at 1.3 μm are investigated. Small-signal and large-signal circuit models are developed for both devices, and the main factors which influence the high-frequency modulation response are established. It is shown that the electrical parasitics in the chip dominate the small-signal frequency response of the EMBH laser and limit the large-signal turn-on and turn-off times. The small-signal and large-signal responses of both devices show strong damping of the relaxation oscillations. This damping can be modeled accurately using field-dependent optical gain compression in the rate equations.