Fiber Optic Communication within the F-35 Mission Systems

The F-35, joint strike fighter (JSF), aircraft is designed with a highly capable and flexible mission systems architecture. At the heart of this architecture is the integrated core processor (ICP) system that contains a significant portion of the total processing and information sharing required on this next generation fighter aircraft. The processing capabilities contained within the ICP are varied to support diverse sensor and mission processing needs. Providing sufficient communication bandwidth is a key element of this architecture. Fiber optic interfaces are used to provide the necessary bandwidth between the sensors subsystems and the ICP. In addition to the performance benefits of using fiber optic interconnects there other significant benefits including; EMI immunity, scalability, flexibility, protocol independence, and a lower total ownership cost (TOC). The F-35 was conceived and designed as a multi-service multi-role strike fighter. To ensure affordability, the development has focused on the use of open standards and commercial off the shelf (COTS) components when appropriate. When required to develop new technology in support of JSF, first generation products were initially integrated into legacy programs, providing lessons learned for improving the products for the F-35