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INTRODUCTION
The present era is the era of connectivity. Think of any sort of information, and it can
be transferred to us within question of a little time; be it audio information, video information
or any other form of data.
Now talking about transferring data between our computer and the other peripherals,
the first and foremost standard comes to our mind is Universal Serial Bus (USB). It is a
medium speed serial data addressable bus system which carry large amount of data to a
relatively short distance (up to 5m).The present version USB 3.0 promises to provide
theoretical speed of up to 5Gbps.
But Intel has unveiled a new interoperable standard called THUNDERBOLT(Light
Peak) which can transfer data between computers and the peripherals at the speed of 10Gbps
in both the directions with maximum range of 100m (much higher than USB or any other
standard) and has potential to scale its speed high up to 100Gbps in near future.
Light Peak is the code name for thunderbolt technology, a new high-speed optical
cable technology designed to connect electronic devices to each other.
It is basically an optical cable interface designed to connect devices in peripheral bus.
It is being developed as a single universal replacement for the current buses such as SCSI,
SATA, USB, FireWire, PCIExpress and HDMI etc in an attempt to reduce the proliferation
of ports on computers.
Fiber-optic cabling is not new, but Intel executives believe Thunderbolt will make it
cheap enough and small enough to be incorporated into consumer electronics at a price point
that consumers and manufacturers will accept.
Thus with thunderbolt, the bandwidth would tremendously increase, multiple
protocols could be run over single longer and thinner cable.
The prototype system featured two motherboard controllers that both supported two
bidirectional buses at the same time, wired to four external connectors. Each pair of optical
cables from the controllers is led to a connector, where power is added through separate
wiring. The physical connector used on the prototype system looks similar to the existing
USB or FireWire connectors.
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Intel has stated that this technology has the performance to drive everything from
storage to displays to networking, and it can maintain those speeds over 100 meter runs.
Thunderbolt began at Intel Labs with a simple concept: create an incredibly fast
input/output technology that just about anything can plug into. After close technical
collaboration between Intel and Apple, Thunderbolt emerged from the lab to make its first
appearance in MacBook Pro.
Intel co-invented USB and PCI Express, which have become widely adopted
technologies for data transfer. Apple invented FireWire and was instrumental in popularizing
USB. Their collective experience has made Thunderbolt the most powerful, most flexible I/O
technology ever in a personal computer.
2. HISTORY
Intel introduced Thunder bolt at the 2009 Intel Developer Forum (IDF), using a prototype
MacPro motherboard to run two 1080p video streams plus LAN and storage devices over a
single 30-meter optical cable with modified USB ends. The system was driven by a prototype
PCI Express card, with two optical buses powering four ports. At the show, Intel claimed that
Thunder bolt-equipped systems would begin to appear in 2010.
On 4 May 2010, in Brussels, Intel demonstrated a laptop with a Thunder bolt connector,
indicating that the technology had shrunk small enough to fit inside such a device, and had
the laptop send two simultaneous HD video streams down the connection, indicating that at
least some fraction of the software/firmware stacks and protocols were functional. At the
same demonstration, Intel officials said they expected hardware manufacturing to begin
around the end of 2010.
In September 2010, some early commercial prototypes from manufacturers were
demonstrated at Intel Developer Forum 2010.
3. THUNDERBOLT TECHNOLOGY
Developed by Intel (under the code name Light Peak), and brought to market with technical
collaboration from Apple. Thunderbolt technology is a new, high-speed, dual-protocol I/O
technology designed for performance, simplicity, and flexibility. This high-speed data
transfer technology features the following:
Bi-directional
Daisy-chained devices
FIG 3.1 PCI Express and DisplayPort transported between Thunderbolt controllers over a
Thunderbolt cable.
Thunderbolt I/O technology gives you two channels on the same connector with 10 Gbps of
throughput in both directions. That makes it ultra fast, and ultra flexible. You can move data
to and from peripherals up to 20 times faster than with USB 2.0 and more than 12 times faster
than with FireWire 800. You also have more than enough bandwidth to daisy-chain multiple
high-speed devices, without using a hub or switch. For example, you can connect several
high-performance external disks, a video capture device, and even a Mini Display Port
display to a single Thunderbolt chain while maintaining maximum throughput.
Supports multiple existing I/O protocols and smooth transition between them.
Connect to more devices with the same cable, or to combo devices such as docking
stations.
Smaller connectors.
Thunderbolt consist of a controller chip and optical module that would be included in
platform to support this technology. The optical module performs the task of conversion of
electricity to light conversion and vice versa, using miniature lasers and photo detectors. This
transceiver can send two channels of information over an optical cable, necessary, since pc
needs at least two ports. The controller chip provides protocol switching to support multiple
protocols over single cable.
The Thunderbolt cable contains a pair of optical fibers that are used for upstream and
downstream traffic to provide speed of about 10Gbps in both the directions.
The prototype system featured two motherboard controllers that both supported two
bidirectional buses at the same time, wired to four external connectors. Each pair of optical
cables from the controllers is led to a connector, where power is added through separate
wiring.
It was developed as a way to reduce proliferation of number of ports on the modern
computer. Earlier USB was developed for the same purpose and performed very well in the
direction but increased bandwidth demand and high performance has led to development of
new more efficient technologies.
Combining the high bandwidth of optical fiber with Intels practice to multiplex multiple
protocols over a single fiber, optical technology may change the landscape of IO system
design in the future. Its possible that most of the legacy IO protocols can be tunneled by
optical-capable protocols, so some of the legacy IO interfaces can be converged to one single
optical interface, significantly simplifying the form factor design of computers. This change
in IO system will definitely affect the design of systems.
FIG 3.1.1 Abstract model of the optical-enabled system (Arrow shows that we are looking at
4. TODAYS CHALLENGES
In the coming future, people would be using more and more electrical devices such as HD
devices, MIDs and many more and user experience would depend on the huge volume of data
capturing, transfer, storage, and reconstruction. But existing electrical cable technology is
approaching the practical limit for higher bandwidth and longer distance, due to the signal
degradation caused by electro-magnetic interference (EMI) and signal integrity issues.
Higher bandwidth can be achieved by sending the signals down with more wires, but
apparently this approach increases cost, power and difficulty of PCB layout, which explains
why serial links such as SATA, SAS, and USB are becoming the mainstream.
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However optical communications do not create EMI by using photonics rather than electrons,
thus allowing higher bandwidth and longer distances. Besides, optical technology also allows
for small form factors and longer, thinner cables.
Electrons v/s Photons
The physics has a kind of inevitability about it. Electrons travel through copper more slowly
than light through fiber. The USB connectors on the smaller devices like mobile phones have
to use mini-USB or micro-USB to save on the space taken up by the wiring and electricity
through wire creates electric field interference, but light do not create EMI since it rely over
photonics. Optical connecters can carry extremely narrow beams of light and fiber can be
thinner because more streams can pass through glass or plastic passages. Each fiber is only
125 microns wide, the width of a human hair.
In the present scenario, the devices are getting smaller, thinner, and lighter but present
connecting standards seems to hinder in their performance being to thicker and stiffer. So
vendors turn over to new technologies providing much better performance and Thunderbolt
seems to be a providing a good solution.
Different protocols demands for different connectors leading to too many connectors and
cables. But in Thunderbolt there is the Thunderbolt protocol and the native protocols such as
PCI Express, DisplayPort, USB or whatever might be running on it. The native protocols run
basically on top of the Thunderbolt protocol. But the Thunderbolt protocol defines the speed.
The protocol is running at 10 gigabits per second. So, if the native protocols that are running
on top of it are also running at 10 gigabits per second, or something close to that, then the
effective bandwidth for a device on the other end would be equivalent to that 10Gbps.
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Thus, it can be said that presently we demand for the devices and technologies that:
Provides more flexible designs, thinner form factor and new and better usage
models.
Its possible that most of the legacy IO protocols can be tunneled by optical-capable
protocols, so some of the legacy IO interfaces can be converged to one single optical
interface, significantly simplifying the form factor design of computers. This change in IO
system will definitely affect the design of systems. It makes no sense to have a high
throughput IO system with insufficient processing power or overloaded interconnections
between IO system and the processor. Ultimately the main aim is to built an efficient and
balanced system.
Thus Thunderbolt seems to be providing a good solution to the problems existing with the
copper connectors and provides a good platform for the high performance system.
USB 3.0
It is an electrical cable technology which transmits data using electricity which put
limitation on speed and length.
It consists of 9 copper wires for transfer of data between the PC and the
peripherals.
The maximum allowable cable length for USB 3.0 is only about nine meters
THUNDERBOLT
It is an optical cable technology which relies over light to transmit data thus
providing much better speed and length.
Initial proposed speed for Thunderbolt (LPK) [10] starts at 10Gbps and has future
potential to scale up to 100Gbps. With this speed Blu-Ray movie can be
transferred in less than 30 seconds (or in less than 3 seconds with 100Gbps).
The maximum allowable cable length is about 100 meters and can be even
extended more.
6. COMPONENTS OVERVIEW
Thunderbolt consists of a controller chip and an optical module that would be included in
platforms supporting this technology. The optical module performs the conversion from
electricity to light and vice versa, using miniature lasers (VCSELs) and photo detectors. Intel
is planning to supply the controller chip, and is working with other component manufacturers
to deliver all the Thunderbolt components. The main components are:
Fiber optics
Optical module
Controller chip
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Modal dispersion
where is the transmitted wavelength and n1 and n2 are the refractive indices of fiber
core and cladding layer, respectively.
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Chromatic dispersion
It is due to the wavelength-dependent refractive index with a zero-dispersion
wavelength occurring at 1310 nm in conventional SMF. When short duration optical
pulses are launched into the fiber, they tend to broaden since different wavelengths
propagate at different group velocities, due to the spectral width of the emitter.
Optical transmission systems operating at rates of 10 Gbps or higher and distances
above 40 km are sensitive to this phenomenon.
Polarization-mode dispersion
It is caused by small amounts of asymmetry and stress in the fiber core due to the
manufacturing process and environmental changes such as temperature and strains.
This fiber core asymmetry and stress leads to a polarization-dependent index of
refraction and propagation constant, thus limiting the transmission distance of high
speed ( 10 Gbps) over SMF in optical communication systems
Optical fiber is never bare. The fiber is coated with a thin primary coating to protect the
inner glass fiber from environmental hazards.
Thunderbolt is based on Laser-optimized Multi-mode fiber (LOMF). By laser optimized it
just means that the fiber was designed to be used with lasers, and in the case of MMF,
typically VCSELs.
The internal diameter of each Thunderbolt fiber is 62.5 microns (around half the size of a
human hair, but thicker than the fiber used in telecoms). The beam expander moulded into the
lens expands that to 700 microns, so that dust usually around 100 microns may
interrupt the beam partially but the connection will still work. The beam expander also
compensates for distortion or movement in the connector after been used for a while.
Thunderbolt fiber has a 3-micron coating to prevent cracking, it can be bend to a radius of
3mm and it won't break.
It is mixed with copper wires for power and fiber optic cables for data. The commercial
version of the connector has not been released to the public, but it would be possible to create
a Thunderbolt port that is backwards compatible with USB. The fiber optic connection could
be deep in the connector so it would be undamaged by a standard USB cable. Electrical
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connections could be provided for a standard USB 1.1/2.0 cable so that the connector could
provide both fiber optic and electrical connections.
The direct modulation of a laser diode has several limitations, including limited propagation
distance due to the interaction between the laser, frequency chirp and fiber dispersion. This is
not an issue for enterprise networks which are short distance and thus lasers can be
modulated directly.
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TO-can-based designs are now maturing to support high performance 10 Gbps optical links.
These designs being produced in high volumes will further reduce the cost of optical
modules.
OPTICAL TRANSCEIVERS
The optical transmitter and receiver modules are usually packaged into a single package
called an optical transceiver.
There are several form factors for this optical transceiver depending on their operating speed
and applications.
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FIG7.5.1 Simplified schematic for VCSEL without substrate, electrode for pumping,
structure for current confinement etc.
VCSELs are semiconductor lasers, more specifically laser diodes with a monolithic laser
resonator, where the emitted light leaves the device in a direction perpendicular to the chip
surface. The laser resonator consists of two distributed Bragg reflector (DBR) mirrors parallel
to the wafer surface with an active region consisting of one or more quantum wells for the
laser light generation in between. The planar DBR-mirrors consist of layers with alternating
high and low refractive indices. Each layer has a thickness of a quarter of the laser
wavelength in the material, yielding intensity reflectivities above 99%.
VCSELs has low-cost potential because the devices are completed and tested at the wafer
level for material quality and processing purposes and a matrix VCSEL is capable of
delivering high power( up to few watts).
VCSELs have low threshold current value, low temperature sensitivity, high transmission
speed, high fiber coupling efficiency and circular and low divergence output beam as
compared to edge-emitters.
VCSELs for wavelengths from 650 nm to 1300 nm are typically based on gallium arsenide
(GaAs) wafers with DBRs formed from GaAs and aluminium gallium arsenide (AlxGa(1x)As).
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The current is confined in an oxide VCSEL by oxidizing the material around the aperture of
the VCSEL. As a result in the oxide VCSEL, the current path is confined by the ion implant
and the oxide aperture.
The wavelength of VCSELs may be tuned, within the gain band of the active region, by
adjusting the thickness of the reflector layers.
In the present demonstrated Thunderbolt technology, architecture of optical interconnects is
built up on the bases of four VCSELD and two optical links where thermal effects of both the
diodes and the links are included. Nonlinear relations are correlated to investigate the powercurrent and the voltage-current dependences of the four devices. The good performance (high
speed) of interconnects are deeply and parametrically investigated under wide ranges of the
affecting parameters. The high speed performance is processed through three different
effects, namely the device 3-dB bandwidth, the link dispersion characteristics, and the
transmitted bit rate. Eight combinations are investigated; each possesses its own
characteristics. The best architecture is the one composed of VCSELD that operates at 850
nm and the silica fiber whatever the operating set of causes. This combination possesses the
largest device 3-dB bandwidth, the largest link bandwidth and the largest transmitted bit rate.
The Thunderbolt module detects when cables are cut or unplugged and automatically turns
off the laser.
The Thunderbolt optical module is only12mm by 12mm and drives two optical ports.
A single-chip solution will be in demand for Thunderbolt as well, but to date Intel has simply
suggested that it will be providing the controller chip and is working with industry partners to
provide other various components.
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8. OPTICAL MODULE
Thunderbolt is based on 10G 850nm VCSEL and PIN-diode arrays with LOMF (Laseroptimized Multi-mode Fiber) and a new optical interface connector yet to be determined.
The optical module does the function of converting optical signals into electrical signals and
vice versa. This module contains an array of VCSEL (vertical cavity surface emitting laser).
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Thunderbolt protocol
Thunderbolt controller
Thunderbolt platforms
Server Network
Each packet is composed by the payload (the data we want to transmit) and a header. The
header contains information useful for transmission, such as:
Source (senders) address
Destination (recipients) address
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Packet size
Sequence number
Error checking information
IO
IO
IO
Pro
Pro
prot
specific
toc
toc
ocol
Protocol
ol
ol
Application
Common Transport
LIGHT
PEAK
Electrical/Optical
PHY
Cable and
connectors
It provides cheap switching and establishes all routing at the setup only.
A Cross bar switching unit: switches the various protocols from LPK to their
respective protocol adapter.
LPK Ports and Protocol Adapter ports: LPK ports to connect down to PC using any
standard and diverging it their respective protocol through protocol adapter.
THUNDERBOLT
PORTS
PROTOCOL
ADAPTER
PORTS
Adapter
Adapter
LPK
Crossbar
Switch
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LPK
LPK
e
Adapter
The multi-protocol capability the controller implements is an innovative new technology that
will enable new usage models like flexible system designs and thinner form factors, media
creation and connectivity, faster media transfer and cable simplification.
dGFX
PCIe
CPU
Mem
DMI
PCHF
Display
Display
PCIe
Thunderbolt
Controller
CPU
PCIe
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Mem
QPI
dGFX
IOH
PCIe
DMI
ICH
PCIe
Thunderb
olt
Controller
Display
Thunderbo
lt
Controller
FIG 9.3.1Workstation
SERVER
SERVER
SERVER
SERVER
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First Intel relaxed the optical standards required of its components. In the telecom
market, components must meet stringent Telcordia standards, such as a 20-year
lifetime. Obviously, that kind of longevity is not required in the PC market, so Intel
lowered its requirements to a five- to seven-year lifetime.
Requirements for the operating environment also are not as rigorous. Intel lowered
thermal requirements from the Telcordia-specified range of 0 to 85 to a more
relaxed 5 to 65. Intel had originally intended to specify a range starting at 0 but
then realized that batteries freeze at that temperature, making the operation of the PC
a moot point.
The company also relaxed its specification for number of failures per lifetime. If there
is a failure on a trans-Atlantic cable, its a big deal. But the potential failure of one of
four ports on a PC, for example, is not nearly as critical.
Intel has also removed the traditional eye-safety requirements, which also translates
into higher yields and lower costs. The traditional telecom module is typically
launched at about 1 mW of power. But the very aggressive power management of the
Thunderbolt optical module features a launch power much higher than eye safety.
12. ADVANTAGES
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The Thunderbolt optical modules are physically much smaller than those of telecom
grade.
The optical modules are designed to be much lower cost and higher performance.
Thunderbolt can send and receive data at 10 billion bits per second.
The thin optical fiber will enable Thunderbolt to transfer data over very thin, flexible
cables.
Unlike electrical cables, Thunderbolt do not faces the problem of EMI, thus can be
used up to 100m.
Thunderbolt also has the ability to run multiple protocols simultaneously over a single
cable, enabling the technology to connect devices such as docking stations, displays,
disk drives, and more. A simple analogy is it is like loading up many cars onto a highspeed bullet train.
It also supports another feature known as Hot-swapping which means the PC needs
not be shut down and restarted to attach or remove a peripheral.
Enables I/O performance for the next generation Allows for balanced platform, with
external I/O keeping up with most platform interconnects.
Up to 100 meters on an optical-only cable. Each fiber is only 125 microns wide, the
width of a human hair.
Supports multiple existing I/O protocols over a single cable and smooth transition for
todays existing electrical I/O protocols.
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Can connect to more devices with the same cable, or to combo devices such as
docking stations.
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13. CONCLUSION
Thunderbolt is a high-speed, multi-protocol interconnect for innovative and emerging client
usage models, that complements other existing interconnects
Thunderbolt is the name for a new high-speed optical cable technology designed to connect
electronic devices to each other. Thunderbolt delivers high bandwidth starting at 10Gb/s with
the potential ability to scale to 100Gb/s over the next decade. At 10Gb/s, we can transfer a
full-length Blu-Ray movie in less than 30 seconds.
connectors and longer, thinner, and more flexible cables than currently possible. Thunderbolt
also has the ability to run multiple protocols simultaneously over a single cable, enabling the
technology to connect devices such as peripherals, displays, disk drives, docking stations, and
more.
Intel is working with the optical component manufacturers to make Thunderbolt components
ready to ship in 2010, and will work with the industry to determine the best way to make this
new technology a standard to accelerate its adoption on a plethora of devices including PCs,
handheld devices, workstations, consumer electronic devices and more. Thunderbolt is
complementary to existing I/O technologies, as it enables them to run together on a single
cable at higher speeds.
At the present time, Intel has conducted three successful public demonstrations of the
Thunderbolt technology and confirmed that the first Thunderbolt-enabled PCs should begin
shipping next year.
The goal of this new developing technology is to build a high-bandwidth, fault-resilient, lowcost network that can deliver performance isolation across applications. The basic approach
to achieve this target is to integrate low-radix switches into server platform and interconnect
severs directly using multipath topologies.
Thus if the question WHY THUNDERBOLT?? arises, then the answer would be because it is
cheaper as it incorporates cheaper switching components, provide better bandwidth allocation
and performance isolation, uses flexible topologies, integrate multiple protocol devices on to
one cable.
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Intel CEO Paul Otellini called Thunderbolt the I/O performance and connection for the next
generation, and confirmed that both Nokia and Sony have publicly announced their support.
Victor Krutul, director of Intels optical development team and founder of the Thunderbolt
program, is even more effusive, calling Thunderbolt the biggest thing to happen to the
optical industry ever, or at least since the creation of the laser.
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14. REFERENCES
http://science.howstuffworks.com
Electronicsforu magazine, Oct 10
techresearch.intel.com/ProjectDetails.aspx?Id=143
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Light_Peak
news.cnet.com/8301-13924_3-20025559-64.html
www.lightpeakinfo.com/
http://opticalcomponents.blogspot.com/2010/07/laser-optimized-multi-mode-fiberlomf.html
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http://www.technewsworld.com/story/68231.html
http://optics.org/indepth/1/3/6
http://arstechnica.com/apple/news/2009/09/apple-inspiration-behind-light-peakoptical-connection-standard.ars
http://www.lightwaveonline.com/about-us/lightwave-current-issue/Intel-plots-LightPeak-interconnect-revolution.html
http://www.computer.org/portal/web/csdl/doi/10.1109/HOTI.2010.13
http://www.intel.com/thunderbolt
http://www.apple.com/thunderbolt
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