A Radio-Over-Fiber Link with Hybrid Optical Fiber-Ceramic Multilayer Technology

The ongoing progress and countless possibilities of the low-temperature co-fired ceramics technology in combination with the fiber-optic technology will make future satellite payloads more flexible, lightweight, and economical. Therefore, we have combined these two technologies by developing a radio-over-fiber link where the alignment of fiber with respect to the optical source or detector is aided by the ceramic multilayer technology. The performance of the radio-over-fiber link has been evaluated by means of gain, noise figure, and spurious-free dynamic range at frequencies up to 10 GHz. A functional proof of this optical link has been demonstrated by the transmission and reception of digital video broadcasting signals over fiber.