OE-CAM: A Hybrid Opto-Electronic Content Addressable Memory
A content addressable memory (CAM) is a type of memory that implements a parallel search engine at its core. A CAM takes as an input a value and outputs the address where this value is stored in case of a match. CAMs are used in a wide range of applications including networking, cashing, neuromorphi...
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IEEE
2020-01-01
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| Series: | IEEE Photonics Journal |
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| Online Access: | https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/8960344/ |
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| author | Yousra Alkabani Mario Miscuglio Volker J. Sorger Tarek El-Ghazawi |
| author_facet | Yousra Alkabani Mario Miscuglio Volker J. Sorger Tarek El-Ghazawi |
| author_sort | Yousra Alkabani |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | A content addressable memory (CAM) is a type of memory that implements a parallel search engine at its core. A CAM takes as an input a value and outputs the address where this value is stored in case of a match. CAMs are used in a wide range of applications including networking, cashing, neuromorphic associative memories, multimedia, and data analytics. Here, we introduce a novel opto-electronic CAM (OE-CAM) utilizing the integrated silicon photonic platform. In our approach, we explore the performance of an experimental OE-CAM and verify the efficiency of the device at 25 Gbit/s while maintaining the bit integrity under noise conditions. We show that OE-CAM enables a) two orders of magnitude faster search functionality resulting in b) a five orders of magnitude lower power-delay-product compared to CAMs implementations based on other emerging technologies. This remarkable performance potential is achieved by utilizing i) a high parallelism of wavelength-division-multiplexing in the optical domain, combined with ii) 10's of GHz-fast opto-electronic components, packaged in iii) integrated photonics for 10–100's ps-short communication delays. We further verify the upper optical input power limit of this OE-CAM to be given by parasitic nonlinearities inside the silicon waveguides, and the minimal detectable optical power at the back-end photoreceiver's responsivity given channel noise. Such energy-efficient and short-delay OE-CAMs could become a key component of functional photonic-augmented ASICS, co-processors, or smart sensors. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-e925ea96be7841fea0a26dcd7e9824a4 |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 1943-0655 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2020-01-01 |
| publisher | IEEE |
| record_format | Article |
| series | IEEE Photonics Journal |
| spelling | doaj-art-e925ea96be7841fea0a26dcd7e9824a42025-08-20T03:33:11ZengIEEEIEEE Photonics Journal1943-06552020-01-0112211410.1109/JPHOT.2020.29667488960344OE-CAM: A Hybrid Opto-Electronic Content Addressable MemoryYousra Alkabani0https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8806-8146Mario Miscuglio1Volker J. Sorger2https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5152-4766Tarek El-Ghazawi3Electrical & Computer Engineering Department, George Washington University, Washington, DC, USAElectrical & Computer Engineering Department, George Washington University, Washington, DC, USAElectrical & Computer Engineering Department, George Washington University, Washington, DC, USAElectrical & Computer Engineering Department, George Washington University, Washington, DC, USAA content addressable memory (CAM) is a type of memory that implements a parallel search engine at its core. A CAM takes as an input a value and outputs the address where this value is stored in case of a match. CAMs are used in a wide range of applications including networking, cashing, neuromorphic associative memories, multimedia, and data analytics. Here, we introduce a novel opto-electronic CAM (OE-CAM) utilizing the integrated silicon photonic platform. In our approach, we explore the performance of an experimental OE-CAM and verify the efficiency of the device at 25 Gbit/s while maintaining the bit integrity under noise conditions. We show that OE-CAM enables a) two orders of magnitude faster search functionality resulting in b) a five orders of magnitude lower power-delay-product compared to CAMs implementations based on other emerging technologies. This remarkable performance potential is achieved by utilizing i) a high parallelism of wavelength-division-multiplexing in the optical domain, combined with ii) 10's of GHz-fast opto-electronic components, packaged in iii) integrated photonics for 10–100's ps-short communication delays. We further verify the upper optical input power limit of this OE-CAM to be given by parasitic nonlinearities inside the silicon waveguides, and the minimal detectable optical power at the back-end photoreceiver's responsivity given channel noise. Such energy-efficient and short-delay OE-CAMs could become a key component of functional photonic-augmented ASICS, co-processors, or smart sensors.https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/8960344/Content addressable memory (CAM)integrated photonicsoptical memoryoptical lookupmicroring Resonators |
| spellingShingle | Yousra Alkabani Mario Miscuglio Volker J. Sorger Tarek El-Ghazawi OE-CAM: A Hybrid Opto-Electronic Content Addressable Memory IEEE Photonics Journal Content addressable memory (CAM) integrated photonics optical memory optical lookup microring Resonators |
| title | OE-CAM: A Hybrid Opto-Electronic Content Addressable Memory |
| title_full | OE-CAM: A Hybrid Opto-Electronic Content Addressable Memory |
| title_fullStr | OE-CAM: A Hybrid Opto-Electronic Content Addressable Memory |
| title_full_unstemmed | OE-CAM: A Hybrid Opto-Electronic Content Addressable Memory |
| title_short | OE-CAM: A Hybrid Opto-Electronic Content Addressable Memory |
| title_sort | oe cam a hybrid opto electronic content addressable memory |
| topic | Content addressable memory (CAM) integrated photonics optical memory optical lookup microring Resonators |
| url | https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/8960344/ |
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