Full-Spectrum RF-over-Fiber Network

RF signals on submarines and ships are presently carried by coaxial cables and metal waveguides. These require a separate cable for each RF signal, which results in many cables as well as significant installation cost of new equipment. The RF cables and waveguides network must be customized to the specific set of RF equipment because coaxial cables and waveguides are extremely frequency-dependent. Conversely, optical fiber provides an almost ideal transmission medium for RF signals. It has very low loss, about 0.5dB/km, for all RF frequencies even up to 300GHz. It is dielectric, therefore immune to electromagnetic interference. The fiber itself is small, only 0.125mm diameter, so many fibers can be in a single cable. Additionally, wavelength division multiplexing can be used to put several signals on one fiber. Because fiber-optic cables have so much capacity, and they transmit all RF frequencies equally well, a fiber network can be installed during ship construction that accommodates all present and future RF transmission needs. We propose to develop a RF fiber optic system that has extended frequency coverage to 300GHz. The fiber optic system goal is to have better performance than its RF coaxial/waveguide counter-part, along with better SWAP over the system lifetime.