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Customer
Spotlight
 Optium Corporation provides a
superior end-to-end solution for US defense Radio
Frequency distribution
system.
Optium Corporation recently selected the
Polatis DirectLight switch for use in a dynamic
Radio Frequency distribution system. The
DirectLight all-optical switch, in conjunction
with high performance RF to optical conversion
products from Optium, provided a superior end to
end solution for Optium’s US defense
customer.
The benefits of optically
distributing RF signals include immunity from
Electrormagnetic Interference (EMI), reduced cable
size/weight/cost, and the ability to provide
longer cable runs with improved RF link
performance, as compared to more traditional
coaxial based distribution systems.
In a
photonic RF distribution system, RF-to-optical
converters are located close to the antennae and
fiber optic cables are used to distribute the RF
signals. The low loss of the fiber optic cables,
as compared to more traditional coaxial cables,
allow antennae to be located much larger distances
from receivers, with great reduction in the size,
weight and cost of the distribution
cabling.
The performance characteristics of the
DirectLight switch make it a very high performance
RF switch that works across an extremely broad
frequency range (DC to 30+ GHz), thus allowing one
switch to handle HF, UHF, VHF and even microwave
frequencies. Traditional RF switches can only
handle small portions of the total frequency band,
suffer from much greater levels of interference
from neighboring signals, and have greater signal
loss.
In addition, traditional RF switches
are only available in small port counts, are
physically larger as compared to DirectLight
optical switches, require more electrical power,
and weigh more.
Applications that require
high fidelity and dynamic distribution of RF
signals while achieving minimum size, weight and
power, can achieve great benefit from a photonic
distribution system using the Optium RF to optical
conversion products coupled with the Polatis
DirectLight switch.
The ultra low insertion
loss of the DirectLight switch products ensures
that RF link performance is not compromised by
signal loss. The unique non-dithered alignment
technique employed in DirectLight products
provides the only all-optical matrix switch that
does not impose amplitude modulation on the signal
as it traverses the switch. The low back
reflection of DirectLight also ensures that the
low noise lasers used in RF over fiber systems are
not destabilized thus preserving low link noise
margins.
“The Polatis switch is a high
performance, all-optical matrix switch that offers
all the characteristics required for photonic RF
link distribution,” said John DeAndrea, Director
of Optical Systems for Optium Corporation.
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Copyright © 2007
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