LED transceivers bring plastic optical fiber home
Visible spectrum data transmission is now simpler, thanks to Optolock, Firecomms plugless rival to copper, conventional fiber-optics and wireless systems for short-range network applications.
The Cork, Ireland, based company is licensing the plastic optical fiber (POF) technology to Taiwanese connector and cable assembly firm Comoss, including the sale of 650 nm RCLED-based transceivers.
A second deal replaces all existing transceivers in the renowned interconnect maker Molex s small multimedia interface form factor with Firecomms transceivers.
“We estimate that there's several hundred million euros of transceiver business staring us in the face right now,” said Firecomms CEO Declan O Mahoney, “and there's a growing market for fast ethernet and long distance over fiber.”
Light from a red-emitting GaAs RCLED, passed down an easily-cut plastic fiber, is safer and more straightforward to use than infra-red laser light used to transmit signals in glass fiber.
Also, unlike copper, it can't be shorted out, electrocute anyone, or damage the boxes it goes into "“ all of which allows the direct attachment of the plastic fiber into the transceiver used in Optolock.
“This technology is enabling us to do this with 100 or 200 Mbits/s networks,” said O'Mahoney. “It completely simplifies fiber-optic communications "“ it s really a home do-it-yourself solution, if you like.”
Absolutely fabless
Firecomms is confident in its ability to meet the supply needs of the new deals, as its devices are made by “state of the art epitaxy and fabrication vendors”, with packaging and testing performed in Asia.
“We re not at all capacity restrained "“ we use some of the biggest vendors in the world. We re a fabless company, so we ve got ample capacity,” said O Mahoney.
“We're operating in very low cost, high-end environments in facilities where they're making hundreds of millions of emitter devices a month.”
The current transceiver deals use the same RCLED technology that Firecomms has exploited in the automotive industry, but the benefits are still being realized in other plastic fiber networks operating up to and over 100 Mbit/s.
“650 nm is one of the sweet spots for plastic fiber,” said Mahoney, “up until the creation of RCLEDs, plastic fiber wasn't being driven at its optimum speeds.”
As well as predicting strong sales for its existing products, Firecomms is optimistic about how its ongoing research efforts, with its Cork neighbor the Tyndall Institute, will push POF into the future.
“We've got major research and development going on at the moment into the development of our VCSELs,” O Mahoney explained.
“Firecomms is the only company in the world making visible VCSELs right now. This thing is capable of doing 3.2, 3.5 Gbit/s over plastic fiber, which obviously just drives it to completely new heights.”
• In the wake of these deals, Firecomms has also moved to strengthen its distributor stable.
The Irish company has signed agreements with Prohubs, an optical component vendor based in Taiwan, and MEV Elektronik Service, who will distribute its products in Austria, Germany and Switzerland.
