Description
The objective of the activity is to develop very low power analogue photonic interconnects for linking antennas to the on-board digital processor in high throughput satellites, also in view of an all-optical satellite implementationTargeted Improvements:Increase connector density by 100% through the replacement of the coaxial cable connectors with multi-fibre connectors, more than halvingthe harness mass and volume linking the antennas to the on-board digital processor in high throughput satellites.Description:Modern payload designs employ phased array antennas with hundreds of elements that need to be linked to the on-board digital processor with high frequency, phase stable cables. As the number of radiating elements increases, so does the number of cable connectors, with the associated mass and volume of the cabling eventually becoming prohibitively large. The replacement of the cables by an active connection over very thin and lightweight fibre optic links using multi-fibre connectors would remove this constraint. The penaltyto be paid for this reduction in mass and volume, is the additional power required by the active links and the effort required to package these connections in such a way so as to also reduce the assembly and integration time and effort. The activity shall develop an test the complete multi-fibre link, including the transmitter and receiver designs, to demonstrate a complete analogue photoniclink at the appropriate frequency band, for use in high throughput satellites. Initial studies suggests that such linkscan be performed with power consumption significantly less than one watt, since the need for a thermoelectric collar is alleviated. Efficient co-packaging of several lasers and modulators at the transmit side as well as photodetectors and amplifiers at the receive side could result in further power reduction while maintaining minimum mass and volume. "