Properties of optically implemented shuffle interconnections

Abstract The various possibilities of optically interconnecting 16×16-data arrays by shuffle patterns are presented and analysed. The pattern analysis is based on evaluating the skew of each particular path of the shuffle interconnections. Geometric quantities of interest (deflection angle, path length of spatial and frequency pattern) are derived. The switch preserving transformation of 2D shuffle interstage patterns into their equivalent 1D shuffles and vice versa, the way a 1D shuffle overlaps into a 2D shuffle in the 3D physical space, is presented. The costs of these different interconnection schemes are evaluated and the results are compared. (The applied cost measure is the total length of the interconnections.) For example, the interconnection of 256 data has the least costs if the arrays are interconnected by a 4D shuffle.