Optical interconnect for modular avionics

It is becoming clear that optical interconnect will be essential for the next generation of avionics systems, known as Modular Avionics. High speed integrated processing systems are envisaged, consisting of a set of common functional modules, linked together by a standardised backplane fabric. This backplane must support data rates in excess of 2 Gbit/s per channel, provide up to 256 connections to a module, and offer reconfigurability and redundancy. Optical interconnect has strong benefits for such systems, because of its large bandwidth, excellent electromagnetic immunity and light weight. In this paper the specific requirements of optical interconnect for modular avionics are discussed. Illustrative examples will be given of the latest relevant optical technologies, including connectors, hybrids and backplanes