Optical free-space interconnection in mesh-array processor architecture for beam forming radar processing

Optical interconnection is becoming very prevalent for computer architects, namely for massively parallel processing. This is more and more admitted but the optical technologies must fit constraints of these architectures. In this paper we reflect a technology-oriented research based on a view architecture-oriented : SPMD (Single Program Multiple Data) type machine. We have demonstrated OFSI (Optical Free Space Interconnection) between 8 PEs (Processors Elements) up to 2 Gbit/s of throughput and a density of 4 links/mm/sup 2/ by using a MCM-D technology (MultiChip Module) and matrix of Optoelectronic components.