Advanced avionics optical network

The following paper describes an advanced avionics optical network developed by L-3 PHOTONICS. This network is built around single mode fibers that carry traffic simultaneously in both directions, and on many wavelengths. As a result, it is protocol independent, scalable, and takes advantage of the rapid growth in commercial optical technologies. The technique of carrying many wavelengths simultaneously, known in telecommunications as dense wavelength division multiplexing (DWDM), when applied to military platforms such as aircraft, ships, unmanned and other vehicles, provides a cost effective, low weight, high speed, and high noise immune data distribution system.