About ALLEGRO ‘Agile ultra low energy secure networks’
ALLEGRO aims at designing and validating a novel end-to-end sliceable, reliable, and secure architecture for next-generation optical networks, achieving high transmission/switching capacity
- with 10 Tb/s for optoelectronic devices and 1 Pbt/s for optical fiber systems
- low power consumption/cost
- with > 25% savings
- and secure infrastructures and data transfers.
The architecture relies on key enabling innovations:
- smart, coherent transceivers exploiting multi-band & multi-fiber technologies for P2P and P2MP applications, based on e.g., high-speed plasmonic modulators/photodetectors and programmable silicon photonic integrated waveguide meshes;
- loss-less, energy-efficient transparent photonic integrated optical switches, eliminating OEO conversions, e.g., with on-chip amplification in the O-band for datacom applications;
- a consistent approach to security, in terms of functional/ protocol architectures and communications, further improving QKD systems, enabling optical channel co-existence and researching on quantum-resistant (post-quantum) cryptography, developing systems based on physically unclonable functions; and
- a scalable AI/ML assisted control and orchestration system, responsible for autonomous networking, dynamic and constrained service provisioning, function placement and resource allocation, leveraging devices increasing programmability and overall network softwarization.
To achieve the target objectives and KPIs, ALLEGRO has defined a clear methodology ending in ambitious demonstrators. The consortium includes a good balance of industry and research/academia with know-how in complementary fields.
The results of ALLEGRO will be disseminated in leading conferences, events, and high-impact journals. They will have a concrete and measurable economic and social impact, contributing towards achieving key European objectives, reinforcing European leadership and digital sovereignty in the ongoing digital and green transition.
Project News
Advancing the Packaging of ALLEGRO Devices & Subsystems
In the ALLEGRO project, packaging plays a crucial role in ensuring optimal performance and integration of our advanced photonic and electronic devices. As detailed in the RP1 Technical Report, Fraunhofer IZM has collaborated closely with IPR, TUe, NVIDIA, and ETHZ to...
Advancing O-band SOA Integration in Silicon Photonics!
As part of the ALLEGRO project, we are excited to share progress on the O-band Semiconductor Optical Amplifiers (SOAs), designed for seamless integration with NVIDIA's O-band switch. These SOAs will serve as amplifiers at the input and output ports, enhancing the...
Optical Switch Tape-out Successfully Completed!
Exciting progress in the ALLEGRO project! Our silicon photonic switch layout has been finalized and successfully submitted for fabrication to Tower Semiconductor. 🎉 Key highlights of this achievement:✅ Design Rule Check (DRC) Clean: Extensive efforts were made to...
Advancing Optical Switching with ALLEGRO’s O-band Optical Switch
The demand for scalable, high-performance optical switches is growing, and ALLEGRO is tackling this challenge with an innovative hybrid optical switch system. Our O-band optical switch consists of two key sections: 🔹 Silicon photonics switching – leveraging MZI...
C-band Semiconductor Optical Amplifier (SOA) – Pushing the Limits of Datacom Optical Interconnects
The demand for higher capacity and power-efficient WDM switches and transceivers is rising as data center traffic continues to grow. A key challenge? Optical power at the receiver and on-chip loss, which directly impact transceiver performance and photonic switch...
🔬 Ensuring Functional Chip Quality: ALLEGRO’s Pre-Validation Testing 🔬
In the ALLEGRO project, ensuring high-performance photonic chips starts with a rigorous pre-validation testing phase before electrical and optical packaging. This crucial step eliminates non-functional chips early, optimizing time and cost efficiency. 🔹 Key Steps in...
🚀 Advancing Photonic Integration with ALLEGRO’s Waveguide Mesh 🚀
As part of the ALLEGRO project, we are pushing the frontiers of photonic integration with an advanced waveguide mesh—a versatile platform designed for high-performance optical processing, switching, and signal manipulation. 🔹 Programmable Photonic Waveguide MeshThe...
🚀 Advancing Optical Communication: ALLEGRO’s Experimental Setup 🚀
In the ALLEGRO project, we are optimizing the characterization of optical networks through a carefully designed experimental setup that enhances signal transmission and reception. 🔹 TX to RX Optical NetworkThe setup consists of a transmitter (TX) and receiver (RX)...
🚀 Advancing Fibre-to-Chip Efficiency in ALLEGRO 🚀
As part of the ALLEGRO project, we are pushing the boundaries of passive component fabrication to enhance fibre-to-chip coupling efficiency (CE) and reduce fibre-to-fibre insertion loss (F2F IL) below 10 dB. 🔹 Optimizing Edge Couplers (EC)✅ Higher & broader CE...
🔬 Advancing Coherent Photodetectors (PDs) in ALLEGRO! 🚀
In our latest development, the ALLEGRO project continues to push the limits of high-speed photodetection. Previous results from RP1 demonstrated a flat electro-optical response up to 100 GHz and consistent responsivity in the C-band. 📡 Key Highlights from This Run:✅...