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Transmission of RF Signals Over Optical Fiber for Avionics ApplicationsDuring flight, aircraft avionics transmit and receive RF signals to/from antennas over coaxial cables. As the density and complexity of onboard avionics increases, the electromagnetic interference (EM) environment degrades proportionately, leading to decreasing signal-to-noise ratios (SNRs) and potential safety concerns. The coaxial cables are inherently lossy, limiting the RF signal bandwidth while adding considerable weight. To overcome these limitations, we have investigated a fiber optic communications link for aircraft that utilizes wavelength division multiplexing (WDM) to support the simultaneous transmission of multiple signals (including RF) over a single optical fiber. Optical fiber has many advantages over coaxial cable, particularly lower loss, greater bandwidth, and immunity to EM. In this paper, we demonstrate that WDM can be successfully used to transmit multiple RF signals over a single optical fiber with no appreciable signal degradation. We investigate the transmission of FM and AM analog modulated signals, as well as FSK digital modulated signals, over a fiber optic link (FOL) employing WDM. We present measurements of power loss, delay, SNR, carrier-to-noise ratio (CNR), total harmonic distortion (THD), and bit error rate (BER). Our experimental results indicate that WDM is a fiber optic technology suitable for avionics applications.
Document ID
20030020843
Acquisition Source
Glenn Research Center
Document Type
Preprint (Draft being sent to journal)
Authors
Slaveski, Filip (Oklahoma Univ. Norman, OK, United States)
Sluss, James, Jr. (Oklahoma Univ. Norman, OK, United States)
Atiquzzaman, Mohammed (Oklahoma Univ. Norman, OK, United States)
Hung, Nguyen (NASA Glenn Research Center Cleveland, OH, United States)
Ngo, Duc (NASA Glenn Research Center Cleveland, OH, United States)
Date Acquired
September 7, 2013
Publication Date
January 1, 2002
Subject Category
Communications And Radar
Report/Patent Number
E-13603
Paper-277
Meeting Information
Meeting: The 21st Digital Avionics Systems Conference (DASC)
Location: Irvine, CA
Country: United States
Start Date: October 27, 2002
End Date: October 31, 2002
Funding Number(s)
CONTRACT_GRANT: NCC3-903
PROJECT: RTOP 727-01-10
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Work of the US Gov. Public Use Permitted.

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