The military market for fiber-optic components, subsystems, and systems is just starting to take off, according to reports by IGI Consulting. And budgets for military and aerospace continue to remain strong despite cutbacks in major programs.
Reasons for the climb include:
-After many years of research, development, and trials, the barriers to acceptance of fiber optics as a new, untried technology are coming down due to wide acceptance in the telecom industry;
-There is a continuing need for lower weight, size, and power consumption wiring infrastructure by all aircraft platforms, including unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs);
-There is an ever-increasing need for more bandwidth;
-More flexibility needs to be built into smart wiring systems to reduce cost of retrofits and upgrades and maintenance by using built-in test equipment; and
-Continued research is needed in standards, test equipment, integrated optical components, manufacturing technology, testing, and hardening of fiber-optic systems.
Also on the rise is an equally large market for fiber optics in large commercial aircraft, regional jets, private jets, helicopters, and small aircraft of all types. The complete infrastructure of installation, maintenance, retrofits, etc. has yet to be developed by the major carriers for fiber optics. Much of the commercial needs will be drawn from the military market, but special requirements such as in-flight entertainment systems (IFEs), electronic flight bags (EFBs), and many others will have to be developed at a much lower cost than for military and aerospace systems.
For more information, please visit www.igigroup.com.
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