Progress in the development of a mil/aero WDM backbone standard

The US military is investing heavily to integrate established optical component designs into packages which survive in the aerospace environment, as well as reduce the weight, space, and cost. The objective of an aerospace WDM backbone standard is to define the minimum set of hardware functions and networking protocols necessary at each node to allow the set up and establishment of connections to the network. The intent is to create a standard with the broadest applicability, hopefully including both commercial and military aerospace, as well as a potential variant to datacom. Today´s military/aerospace LANs are characterised by lengths of a few hundred meters at most. Many connections are needed to make the links practical, with the associated variability in loss. Tailoring a WDM solution from the existing telecommunications industry solution is a complex task, but sorely needed to accommodate future needs to military and aerospace communications.