Power requirements and operation of amplified optical networks for future aerospace applications

The past 10 years has witnessed a significant rise in the interest in optical networks for the next generation of avionic communications. Although an optical network onboard an aircraft will be relatively short, with lengths up to hundreds of metres rather than kilometres, the backbone loss can still be high. There may be many interconnections through bulkheads, for installation and maintenance with high losses over the operating environment. Also, slip-rings, wavelength filters and splitters are other sources of attenuation. In many cases, amplification will be required to overcome these losses. Semiconductor Optical Amplifiers (SOAs) provide a cost effective means for this amplification over a wavelength range of between 850 nm and 1600 nm [1].