Demonstration of a GB/S transceiver with otdr built-in-test for avionics local area networks

The motivations for development of an integrated BITed transceiver have been described in previous DASC papers [ 1], [2] and [3]. One of the challenges in developing BIT capabilities in avionics local area networks is implementing the BITed transceiver functionality without degrading the transceiver's electro-optic performance characteristics, or increasing its size, or changing its multi-source agreement (MSA) standard footprint format. We have successfully demonstrated the first prototype: Gb/s fiber optic transceiver with integrated built-in test 10-cm resolution OTDR capability in a small-form-factor (SFF) package. This OTDR BITed transceiver operates at 850 run with high output power and good electro-optic characteristics over 2 Gb/s. The 10-cin optical time domain reflectometry (OTDR) resolution requires the transceiver to have total rise time (t(r)) and fall time (t(f)) less than 1 ns. This rise and fall time requirement indicates the intrinsic transceiver has to support a 2.5 Gb/s data rate.