Military avionics optical fiber data buses with active-coupler configurations

Military avionics optical fiber data buses of high reliability are discussed. Because Light Emitting Diodes (LED's) have better temperature performance and require less complex driver circuits than laser diodes, the former is normally chosen as an optical source in the severe aircraft environment at present. In this case, optical power budget becomes a critical factor which can significantly limit the number of terminals in a data bus. To effectively solve this problem while maintaining a high reliability, we present several configurations of all-active couplers and hybrid passive/active couplers for avionics optical fiber data buses using PIN photodiodes and LED's. The system design is also described, which incorporates a modulation scheme called partial trilevel Manchester II bi-phase coding.