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We are very active in SBIR
programs, which provide seed funding for new technology
development. We are constantly seeking system integrator
partnership for these programs.
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Built In Test in a Ruggedized Transceiver |
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During
the development and deployment of fiber optic
systems, the fiber cable plant is susceptible to
damage (especially at connectors). We are
addressing this problem with Built-in-Test
features:
Today: We have incorporated a
method of optically measuring end-to-end link
loss within the Phantom X20. The average
optical power transmitted and received is
available for digital read-out.
In Development: We are
developing optical time domain reflectrometry
(OTDR) capability within the transceiver.
This isolates the location of a fiber faults
throughout the cable plant to less than 10 cm
resolution.
(Navy Phase III — TPOC Mark
Beranek, NAVAIR) |
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Space Based Fiber Optic Components / Photonics
Manufacturing |
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The Photonics
Manufacturing program creates a fabrication
platform for technologies developed under
UltraComm SBIR programs: built-in-test,
radiation tolerant circuitry, hermitically
sealed removable pigtail interface, and single
channel board-to-board components. The
lead vehicle for this platform is a
JSF-footprint compatible quad transceiver with a
removable pigtail.
(Air Force Phase II SBIR - TPOC Keith Avery,
AFRL) |
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Board to Board Optical Interconnects |
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As high performance,
stacked PCB systems adopt higher-data rate bus
standards, such as PCI-Express, the stacked
electrical connectors pose density, signal
integrity and EMI issues. We are developing
novel optical board-to-board and thru-board
optical interconnects to solve these issues.
(Army Phase IIE SBIR— TPOC Michael Gerhold, ARL) |
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Multi-Channel DWDM Tunable Transmitter |
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We are teamed with West
Virginia High Technology Consortium to develop a
multi-channel DWDM transmitter (MCTX) with eight
individual data channels, each of which can be
assigned a wavelength from the nine available
defined by the 1550 nm C-Band ITU Grid (32-40).
Each channel of the transmitter operates at a
data rate between 2.5 Gbps. The goal is a
robust package suitable for military aerospace
applications.
(Navy Phase II SBIR— TPOC Brian McDermott,
NAVAIR) |
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Wafer Bonding Technology for BiCMOS on Sapphire |
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We
identified a process for producing very high
performance RF silicon circuitry in a manner
that enables unprecedented levels of RF
integration. This program began with an
investigation into a general wafer substrate
substitution process for optimizing the
substrate in silicon fabrication processes,
called silicon-on-X (SOX), where X is a
substrate material that optimizes the silicon
circuitry for a target applications (high-power,
thermal expansion coefficients, isolation,
optical, etc.). The near-term benefit of this
technology is its application to BiCMOS RF
circuitry.
(DARPA Phase I SBIR— TPOC Michael Fritze, DARPA) |
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RF Photonics with Multi-Mode Devices |
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We examined the use of
commercial 850 nm Vertical Cavity Surface
Emitting Lasers (VCSEL) and multimode optical
fiber for analog RF communication applications.
We found phase noise performance better than
-120 dBc/Hz in the frequency range from 100 MHz
to 5 GHz (10 kHz offset). This performance
meets the needs of a wide range of RF photonic
applications, offering extreme isolation,
compact size, low power consumption, and
flexible cabling. See
white paper or contact us for more
information.
(Air Force Phase I SBIR— TPOC Lt. Matthew White,
WPAFRL) |
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Embedded Equalizers for High Speed Metallic
Interconnect |
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We
developed a technology to cost-effectively
extend the rate/reach/density performance of
FR-4 PWB technology far beyond the current state
of the art. The maxim achievable lengths of a
board interconnect is inversely proportional to
the data rate. Current industry efforts to
integrate equalizers at the IC level will not
overcome this trend. Next-generation systems
will require 10’s of ICs having 1000’s of
high-speed (>10 Gbps) I/O. Under these
conditions, high frequency attenuation will
limit the maximum length of a trace to just a
few inches, even with the use of equalization.
Our solution is to embed passive equalization
and active repeater functionality within the PWB
core.
(DARPA Phase II SBIR— TPOC Michael Fritze,
DARPA) |
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