Communications Technology Roadmap (CTR)

The Communications Technology Roadmap (CTR) is a project under the Microphotonics Industry Consortium, which in turn is part of the MIT Microphotonics Center. The purpose of this Roadmap is to understand the interaction between technology, industry, and policy dynamics and from there, formulate a vision for the future of the microphotonics industry.

The MIT Communications Technology Roadmap program, sponsored by the Microphotonics Center Industry Consortium, was commissioned to evaluate the vast array of new technology that has disrupted the telecommunications industry -- to serve as a guide for R&D investment and for the rational restructuring of the industry. The CTR document, Microphotonics: Hardware for the Information Age,, more than four years after its initiation, has the same motivation, although the context has changed to reflect today's market. The CTR program is guided by industry-led Technology Working Groups (TWGs), with the support of MIT faculty and student analyses.

A technology roadmap represents a consensus vision and a guide to its realization. The process develops a framework for understanding how technology, markets, and policy dynamics interact. Incorporating two key methodologies-analytical modeling tools and industry-based working groups-the CTR program focuses on the definition of enabling technologies. MIT's Microphotonics Center is pleased to present this document, Microphotonics: Hardware for the Information Age,, which charts a course for the future of photonics technology and represents the culmination of a four-year effort by the Communications Technology Roadmap program.

The Leadership Council is the governing body of the Community Technology Roadmap. It is comprised of one representative from each of the member companies in the Microphotonics Center Industry Consortium. Monthly Council Meetings (at MIT / via teleconference) are held to conduct Consortium business and to review the research of the CTR Technology Working Groups.

The Executive Committee, a subset of Council members, is comprised of the TWG leaders, the Council Chair, the CTR Co-Directors, and the CTR Program Manager. Together they oversee execution of the strategic directions of the program. Among their specific responsibilities are coordination of the Roadmap activities and building of a common consensus among participants.

This first public release of the CTR data supports the following primary findings:

(1) The future of components technology will be driven by electronic-photonic convergence and short-reach (< 1 km) interconnection. This direction will ignite a major shift in the leadership of the optical component industry from information transmission (telecom) to information processing (computing, imaging).

(2) The skill set required for this path does not exist at any single institution.

(3) We recommend that the Microphotonics Center Industry Consortium expand its focus toward the creation of the necessary competence and the recommendation of standards.

The Technology Working Groups (TWGs) represent one of the roadmapping methdologies the CTR program employs to understand where the industry currently is, where it needs to go, and whether it has the technical means to get there. There are 4 TWGs: Next Generation Transceivers, Silicon Optoelectronics, III-V Materials and Organic Materials. Current TWGs are based on three layers: applications/market drivers (market pull), modules/systems, and technologies (technology push). Each TWG is comprised of industry experts in a particular area and focuses on addressing a specific set of issues. TWGs are also supported by MIT faculty and students who have provided analyses from device models, process-based cost models, and system dynamics models where needed. The linkages among the TWGs are critical in translating industry drivers to system requirements and from there to enabling technologies.

The analyses performed by the TWGs yield three common insights:

(1) Traditional revenue sources cannot support sustainable innovation due to long term, cyclical network capital investment, total addressable market reduction by product differentiation, and loss of pricing power with the inventory excess of 2002.

(2) High-volume applications will drive standardization at the network edge and from the data (computation) appliance.

(3) The convergence of electronic and photonic functionality will deliver high volumes, create new markets, and drive integration and standardization. The electronics and photonics markets -- and their technology roadmaps -- will merge.