We propose to investigate the digital versus optical tradeoffs for data buses in digital image processing systems. the research is motivated by the enormous number of pixels in typical images of interest, and thee comparatively long times associated with data transfer both into the image processing… More

The advantages of optics for communications and interconnections among electronic systems are well known; several groups are developing fiber optic crossbar networks having a wide variety of bandwidths,reconfiguration times, switching modes, insertion losses, etc. in any application, fiber optic… More

This is a proposal for the development of a color video real-time data compression system. the proposed system will contain a transmitter and a receiver. the transmitter will accept an ntsc standard color video signal, digitize it, compress it in real-time, and encode it for transmission at… More

A bus extender is a means for high-speed interconnection of a multitude of individual computing modules comprising a distributed computing system. when the elements to be interconnected are spaced by distances of more than a very few meters, there are significant advantages to the use of optics for… More

The work proposed here seeks a solution to the loss problem inherent in the emerging optical interconnect systems with high fan-out and fan-in, such as all-optical crossbar switches. a potential solution of interest is offered by the newly developed laser amplifying devices. a study of the… More

Fiber optics has great advantages in reducing weight, physical size, power requirements and electromagnetic interference (emi) effects in interconnecting sensors, processing modules, communication, control and storage devices in spacecraft or space platforms. optical fiber systems can integrate… More

Future nasa missions will be severely limited without suitable data-compression algorithms to allow use of high- resolution and high-frame-rate sensors. this project will develop a hybrid simulation subsystem specifically designed for research in image-data compression. the system will contain… More

This project will develop a programmable image-data- compression subsystem containing multiple dsp chips to provide high-speed compression of images. the subsystem will plug into an inexpensive workstation and provide an extremely flexible, general-purpose, image-compression station. it will be… More

This is a proposal for an inexpensive gigabit local area network (lan) which augments standard low speed local area networks such as ethernet of fddi for greatly improved performance over distances on the order of 1 km. the gigabit lan consists of simple interfaces running at data rates in the… More

A significant problem in implementing optical interconnects is the inherent attenuation caused by the splitting and combining of optical signals. active interconnects using semiconductor optical amplifiers (soas) show greatpromise for overcoming those inherent losses, and for improving interconnect… More

This proposal describes a research program to investigate the performance and feasibility of a new type of low cost, high performance optical interconnection network called an intelligent bus extender crossbar network (ibecn). the network provides greatly enhanced performance in… More

A significant problem encountered in processing data collected by high energy particle accelerators, such as the superconducting super collider (ssc), is the interconnection of a large number of event scanners (detectors) to a large number of event processors (computers). very high data rates,… More

This is a proposal to study techniques to reduce the blocking artifact which is observed when coding images usingeither transform techniques or vector quantization (vq). this artifact, which we call the tile effect, is observed especially in smooth regions of a reconstructed image after moderate to… More

All-optical switching devices are crucial to realize optical computers which offer ultra-fast information processing. to date, many switching concepts have been investigated, but most suffer from speed, efficiency, reliability, size and cost limitations. optivision, inc. proposes to design,… More

High performance electronic systems are making increasing use of multichip module (mcm) technology. such a system may contain many such mcms, some or all of which must communicate with one another. we propose a high-performace optical technique for connecting mcms on a single board. the virtues of… More

Optivision, Inc. will design, demonstrate, and evaluate a method of externally modulating light in a waveguide, utilizing the surface plasmon polariton (SPP), a high-intensity two-dimensional electromagnetic wave tightly confined to a metal-dielectric interface, by coupling with quantized charge… More

Packaging poses a major impediment to the practical implementation of opto-electronic modules (oems). oems may require multiple fiber-optic interfaces and large electrical pin-out, and may dissipate significant power. we propose a program to develop new packaging techniques to address the needs of… More

The problem addressed in this proposal is the need for a highly parallel, switchable, high data rate interconnection system suitable for interfacing optical memory systems, optical and electronic processors, and other subsystems. The novelty of our approach is as follows. First we use a free-space,… More

Multiresolution compression algorithms offer potential advantages over more traditional vector based algorithms (transform coding, vector quantization) since the blocking artifact is not present and edge fidelity can be improved. the multiresolution representation itself provides a solution to many… More

An optical demultiplexer capable of demultiplexing parallel arrays of data channels at ultra-high sppeds is proposed. The idea is a parallel realization of a previouslyproposed device, known as the TOAD, which has been demonstrated in fiber form for only a single channel. The parallel realization… More

The central problem is the exploration of improved and expanded methods that allow optical crossbar switches to be used more effectively in multiple switch mesh networks over large distances. the primary research objective is to develop new control methods for wide area optical network (waon)… More

This proposal addresses the problem of identifying a video compression technique appropriate for the Joint Tactical Information Distribution System (JTIDS). The key issues are: (1) JTIDS provides relatively low bandwidths to any individual user and so requires high compression ratios, and (2) the… More

NASA/JSC has developed a prototype digital electronic still camera (DESC) which can capture digital images of nearly photographic quality using an imaging CCD array and a removable hard disk drive. As image sizes and uses grow, DESC enhancements are needed to provide image compression, image… More

This proposal addresses the problem of providing a high bandwidth connection with a latency comparable to the transit time of the interconnection. Free space optics is uniquely suited to providing such an interconnection because of the high parallelism of the devices and the crosstalk and isolation… More

There is a need for high-speed, efficient, flexible image compression algorithms for a range of applications including satellite imaging systems and multimedia telecommunications. eosdis, the data transfer and archiving system for future nasa earth observing satellites, will require processing… More

The demand for high performance, high bandwidth communication networks for aggregating processing power is constantly increasing. The next generatoion of computer networks will require high bandwidth (> 1Gb/s) and low latency interconnects. The networks should be scalable, modular, and… More

Future systems will require high-speed optical interconnection of computers in networks and of devices with in a computer at the backplane level. These optical interconnections will require hybrid packaging of optical, electronic, and optoelectronic devices in optoelectronic multichip modules… More

The increasing array sizes and bits per pixel of focal-plane imaging devices require a reliable, easily assembled and repaired, electrically isolated, high bandwidth (= to or > than 200 Mbps) interconnection between focal plane detectors (operating at cryogenic temperatures) and output electronics… More

Fiber-optic switching is required in a variety of commercial and government applications, including datacom and telecom networks, photonically-controlled phased array antennas and fiber-optic sensor systems. Conventional electromechanical fiber optic switches are commercially available and exhibit… More

Polymeric in-line fiber (PILF) devices open up a new region of parameter space for electro-optic (EO) polymer materials development. The short interaction length characteristic of PILF devices makes it possible to use resonant enhancement to greatly boost the achievable EO response. … More

Use of the potential storage capacity of page-oriented 3-D optical memory technology is currently impeded by: 1) lack of development of the interfaces required to transform the data between the optical memory format and that compatible with the rest of the system and users, and 2) infancy of… More

A methodology for assessing the visual quality of digitized imagery and video will be developed. Loss of image quality is noticed after an image has been compressed and reconstructed using JPEG, wavelet or fractal compression techniques. Test by IAs and formal subjective tests (e.g., CCIR 500) can… More

Optical correlators are known to be fastest engine for template based image recognition. There are, however, applications that require speeds even faster than the best optical correlators have accomplished. This effort will demonstrate the Hybrid Electrical-Optical Resonator for Image Classification… More

Emerging weapon system's need for high performance processor with large addressable memory will continue to increase, Airborne systems (e.g. Joint STARS, JSF, and AWACS) will have processing needs approaching Tera-ops packaged in a single chasis and rack. Continued evolution of digital CMOS… More