FLEX-SCALE advances disruptive research on complementary optical x-haul (x = front/mid/back) network technologies for Optical Switching Nodes and their Transceiver Interfaces that enable flexible capacity scaling:

• 10 Tb/s rate per interface • 1 Pb/s capacity per link • 10 Pb/s throughput per optical node

based on utilisation of ultra-high bandwidth photonic/plasmonic technologies and the efficient exploitation of optical spatial and spectral switching (UltraWide- Band Spectral & Spatial Lanes Multiplexing; UWB/SDM).

The developed x-haul 6G optical network innovations will achieve

• record energy efficiency sub-pJ per switched/transmitted bit

• low cost, enabled by photonic integration and optical transparency, replacing/bypassing power-hungry and costly electronic processing systems (e.g., electronic routers/switches).

The Optical Nodes and their Transceiver Interfaces will be controlled by

• Machine Learning - enabled SDN control plane approaches that incorporate new resource allocation algorithms and protocols

Relying on emerging information models and enabling autonomous programmable disaggregated open networks, which will optimize traffic flow routing across network layers and segments, improving network Quality of Service (high rates, low latency, high reliability/availability) and low cost/power consumption, as required by 6G specifications.

FLEX-SCALE consortium spans the value chain of industry/academia experts on the targeted topics (transformational transceivers and optical switches, network planning, operation algorithms and protocols development) with demonstrated experience in delivering on their promises, as indicated by their research output and exploitation towards new products, services and standards contributions.

FLEX-SCALE is poised to extend Europe’s leadership in 6G x-haul with offerings of the highest-capacity flexible optoelectronic interfaces and fast switching nodes that fully exploit the optical spatial/spectral resources with the use of novel algorithms and control-plane implementations.