FIBER OPTIC INTERCONNECTION NETWORKS FOR SPACECRAFT

FIBER OPTICS HAS GREAT ADVANTAGES IN REDUCING WEIGHT, PHYSICAL SIZE, POWER REQUIREMENTS AND ELECTROMAGNETIC INTERFERENCE (EMI) EFFECTS IN INTERCONNECTING SENSORS, PROCESSING MODULES, COMMUNICATION, CONTROL AND STORAGE DEVICES IN SPACECRAFT OR SPACE PLATFORMS. OPTICAL FIBER SYSTEMS CAN INTEGRATE THESE DEVICES IN A FLEXIBLE, DYNAMIC NETWORK WHICH CAN OPERATE IN A VACUUM, HIGH-RADIATION ENVIRONMENT WITH SIGNAL BANDWIDTH EXCEEDING 1 GHZ. THIS PROPOSAL DESCRIBES SEVERAL OPTICAL FIBER NETWORK CONCEPTS, RANGING FROM FIBER POINT-TO-POINT SIGNAL DISTRIBUTION NETWORKS AND PROCESSOR BUS EXTENDERS TO A FIBER BUS NETWORK USING AN ALL-OPTICAL CROSSBAR SWITCH AS THE CENTER HUB INTERCONNECTING MANY PROCESSORS AND DEVICES. THE CROSSBAR SWITCH IS CAPABLE OF 5 MICROSECOND RECONFIGURATION TIME, WIDE BANDWIDTH (> 1 GHZ) USING A SINGLE WAVELENGTH OR WAVELENGTH DIVISION MULTIPLEXING (WDM) AND THE TRANSMISSION OF EITHER ANALOG OR DIGITAL DATA. THE FEASIBILITY STUDY PROPOSED WILL CONSIDER NETWORK ARCHITECTURES, MULTIPLEXING HARDWARE AND FORMATS, PROTOCOLS, SWITCHING AND RECONFIGURATION REQUIREMENTS, AND INTERFACING TO SENSORS ANDSIGNAL PROCESSING DEVICES IN PRESENT AND FUTURE SPACECRAFT AND SPACE PLATFORMS.