A Portable Fiber Optic Local Area Network

A portable fiber optic local area network has been implemented for emergency command center communications. This network operates under a carrier sense multiple-access (CSMA) protocol and employs an architecture based on a unique active star node. The node consists of a transmissive optical star coupler and active electro-optical transceivers. Terminal-to-node or node-to-node links may be as long as 1 km. An architecture developed around this node design is capable of modular expansion to accommodate a large number (several hundread) of data subscribers. In addition to data services, this network can support broadcast video and integrated technical control.