Modelling the power budget of amplified optical networks for future aerospace applications

The demand for high-speed photonic networks on civil and military aircraft has rapidly increased, with the use of optical components and fibres allowing significant achievements in helping to reduce weight, power consumption and cost. Commercial Off-The Shelf (COTS) components have become increasingly attractive to network designers. These offer a variety of transceivers, connectors and multiplexing devices that are inexpensive and easily sourced [1]. However, appropriate packaging will be required for the operating environment. Course Wavelength Division Multiplexing (CWDM) is an attractive technique for further weight reduction [2]. A major concern for an extended network with numerous nodes and interconnectivity is the available power budget for any given link. Amplification would enable such a network to be viable, but would need to be
both inexpensive and have low power consumption. One solution to this is to use a Semiconductor Optical Amplifier (SOA). This report looks at how best to utilise such devices in avionics networks.