AOptix awarded Air Force Research Laboratory contract for high-speed FSO/RF demo

SEPTEMBER 9, 2008 -- AOptix Technologies Inc. (search for Aoptix), a developer of ultra-high bandwidth laser communication solutions, under contract to the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) Information Directorate, Rome, NY, has announced a program to test and evaluate the performance of a long-distance combined optical and RF link system.

AOptix will oversee the design and preparation for the optical portion of the combined hybrid optical/RF terminals. The contract will include local testing at their 10-km Campbell, CA, range along with a mountaintop-to-mountaintop test at 150 km. The objective of the long-distance link test will be to evaluate the performance of a simulated, high-altitude, air-to-air communications link.

"What's remarkable is the enormous amount of data capable of being sent through this ultra-high bandwidth optical link. At data rates of 10 Gbits/sec, the optical link is capable of sending a full-length standard-definition DVD movie in less than 5 seconds; and all of this at under 200 mW, less power than a cell phone. To bridge 150 km with a secure 10-Gbit/sec communications link is unprecedented," says Dean Senner, president and CEO of AOptix.

The AOptix terminals utilize a bi-directional, adaptive optics method of beam control to compensate for real-time atmospheric turbulence. Video, voice and data is transmitted through the air over an invisible, extremely low power, eye-safe, free-space optical laser link.

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