The Internet2’s Hybrid Optical and Packet Infrastructure (HOPI) testbed is using dynamically provisioned dedicated optical circuits to link three radio telescopes distributed around the world for an electronic Very-Long-Baseline Interferometry (e-VLBI) observatory.
Leveraging the HOPI infrastructure together with the NSF-funded DRAGON testbed, the telescopes located in Westford Mass. US; Greenbelt, Md. US; and Onsala, Sweden will be dynamically linked via dedicated low-latency optical circuits to a central data correlator and simultaneously transmit multiple gigabits-per-second of data during a 20-minute observation. The team will also attempt to connect to a fourth telescope in Kashima, Japan during the demonstration. Historically, radio astronomy data was recorded on magnetic tape or disk at each site and shipped to the central processing location for the analysis.
Not only will the demonstration highlight the capability to provision
on-demand light paths within an administrative domain, but it also proves
for the first time, the ability to provision those optical circuits across
multiple network administrative domains for global data transmissions.
Utilizing DRAGON-developed inter-domain Generalized Multiprotocol Label
Switching (GMPLS) capabilities, which provides control plane capabilities,
automated end-to-end circuit provisioning, and management of network
resources, the optical routes were seamlessly connected across scientific,
HOPI and DRAGON domains. The paths also crossed UKLight, SURFnet,
NorthernLight, Nordunet, SUnet, JGN2, StarlLight, GIG-EF, and BOSnet.
The network was demonstrated at this week’s SC|05 conference held in Seattle.
http://www.internet2.org/
- The Internet2 Hybrid Optical and Packet Infrastructure (HOPI) will serve as a national network testbed infrastructure that allows researchers to experiment with new optical technologies, including dynamically provisioned wavelengths, circuit switched environments, and new transport protocols. The HOPI testbed will utilize facilities from Internet2’s Abilene Network, the National Lambda Rail (NLR) network, the MANLAN exchange point, and regional optical networks. Each HOPI node will consist of an Ethernet switch with 10GigE capabilities, a fiber cross connect switch, and servers to control HOPI’s network infrastructure and measure network performance, all designed to model future optical infrastructures.
- The HOPI testbed is using HP’s ProLiant DL360 G4 servers to provide monitoring and control plane capabilities.
- Force10 Networks is supplying its Force10 E-Series family of switch/routers for Internet2’s Hybrid Optical and Packet Infrastructure (HOPI) project.
