Lenslet launches optical DSP

17 Jun 2002

Israeli firm claims to have developed the first optical digital signal processor.

Lenslet Labs of Israel is gearing up to launch what it calls the world's first optics-based digital signal processing engine. By combining laser and signal processing, the optical digital signal processing (ODSP) maker claims to have reached digital processing speeds of up to tera operations per second (TOPS).

The technology is based on an electro-optical computing core that converts electronic digital signals to photons. Mathematical transform algorithms perform the required computation and the optical output is converted back to a digital electronic form.

Lenslet's business development director Ron Levy says the key breakthrough was moving electro-optical components developed for data transmission into computing.

"We will not disclose details at this time, but we can say that technology uses well-known mass-produced optics such as light source arrays, optical elements and photodetector arrays," said Levy. "The optical elements we use are passive and have no moving parts."

Lenslet's current ODSP is said to reach 8 TOPS, beating conventional digital signal processors (DSPs), which deliver between 300 Mega- and 2 Giga-operations per second. Also claiming power and cost reductions, the company now hopes to push processing speeds up to hundreds of TOPS.

"The barriers [to reaching these speeds] are mostly related to the evolution of commercial electro-optical transmission components and [reducing] traditional electronics to commercial sub-0.1 µm levels," said Levy. "These will be realized in the foreseeable future.

Planning to reveal details of its engine's architecture later this year, the company is targeting applications such as wireless telecoms, smart antennas and digital audio broadcasting. The first prototypes will be ready in the second half of 2002.