E/O Transceivers
From electricity to light
Pigtail-type E/O transceiver
E/O stands for electrical/optical. An E/O transceiver is a device that converts electric signals to optical signals, and vise versa.
One of its applications is conversion of aircraft flight control signals.
On a conventional aircraft, control sticks and pedals are connected to control surfaces through mechanical linkages such as metallic cables and pulleys. The pilot's inputs mechanically and directly drive the control surfaces.
In a Fly-By-Wire (FBW) system, pilot inputs are detected by sensors as electric signals and transmitted to each control surface via wires.
Today FBW is being further advanced to Fly-By-Light (FBL), which replaces the flight control system wiring with optical fibers. An FBL aircraft needs to convert electric signals of the pilot inputs into optical signals so that they can be transmitted through optical fibers, as well as to re-convert those optical signals into electric signals to make them compatible with equipment like FCCs and ACCs. E/O transceivers are used for such conversion.
Compared to FBW, FBL has advantages including reduced aircraft weight, less susceptibility to electromagnetic interference, and greatly increased transmission capacity.
Specialized for aircraft environments
Our E/O transceivers feature high environment resistance compliant to ARINC804 standard to endure extreme usage conditions of aircraft, such as vibration and temperature.
We developed a 10 Gbps E/O transceiver in a collaborative R&D program in FY 2013 through 2017 with a leading American aircraft manufacturer, and received a positive evaluation from the OEM, especially for its excellent performance under high temperatures. We are now on the way to putting it into commercial use.
Besides flight control systems, E/O transceivers may be utilized for applications requiring high-speed communications in large volumes like in-flight entertainment and real-time transmission of video from inboard/outboard cameras.
