A 155-Mbits SONET/ATM interface for a photonic backplane /

McGill University is near completion on a five year Major Project in Photonic Devices and Systems funded by the Canadian Institute for Telecommunication Research (CITR). The objective is to build and demonstrate a representative subset of an electro-optical "Intelligent Optical Backplane" system capable of handling terabit data rates. This thesis describes the construction and demonstration of a prototyping printed circuit board (PCB) known as the ATMCard. The goal of the ATMCard is two-fold. The first is to develop an electronic PCB supporting ATM switching which can be connected to the 1998 CITR optical backplane demonstrator with minimal adjustments. The second goal is to serve as an initial step towards the specification and development of a more advanced electronic PCB designed for an optical backplane capable of supporting a bandwidth on the order of 10 Gbit/s. ATMCard functions include the extraction of ATM cells from SONET frames, ATM cell header translation, cell queueing, access to the CITR optical backplane, and the extraction of ATM cells from the backplane. The ATMCard is also a reconfigurable and reusable hardware prototyping platform, enabling rapid testing and verification of digital systems.The first objective of this thesis, the successful demonstration of an operational ATMCard which can be connected with minimal adjustments to the 1998 CITR demonstrator, has been achieved. Furthermore, the detailed descriptions of the ATMCard design and implementation included in this thesis provide the framework for the construction and demonstration of more advanced second generation boards. Thus, the second objective of this thesis has also been achieved