Military Aircraft To Get All-Fiber Network Gear 144
coondoggie writes "Looking to significantly reduce weight, improve on-board communications and make it easier to upgrade avionics, the US military is developing prototype phonic gear for use in all aircraft. Behind such a drastic shift is a Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency project with an ungainly moniker: Network Enabled by Wavelength division multiplexing Highly Integrated Photonics (NEW-HIP)."
Re:Prototype *phonic* gear?? (Score:2, Informative)
Yes, they meant photonic gear.
dom
Re:Hm... (Score:5, Informative)
Don't forget that the copper cables need to be shielded against interference, while fibre is much more robust.
Why optical over single-copper? (Score:4, Informative)
The F-22 and F-35 already use IEEE-1394 (aka "FireWire") as their primary data carriers between parts of the aircraft, over shielded copper wires. Is optical cabling really that much lighter that this matters?