Fiber Optic Switching Systems

Dow-Key is excited to announce a new addition to their switching product line – Model 7001 – which is the first in Dow-Key Microwave's series of fiber optic switching systems.

System Highlights:
This model switches signals in pure optical domain with an operating wavelength of 1530-1565 nm in C-band and a data rate of 4 Gbps. The system is configured partially as crossbar and partially as fan-out, with 8x14 I/O ports using LC connectors. On the control side, the unit is equipped locally with a windows based touch screen and with a modern GUI (Graphical User Interface) on the front panel that allows the user to graphically set the desired paths.

Technology Highlights:
This pure optical switching is based on MEMS (Micro ElectroMechanical Systems) technology, where these switches utilize micro-mirrors to switch or reflect an optical channel or signal from one location to another depending on the relative angle of the micro-mirror. MEMS technology provides durability and reliability such that the life of the switches exceed 1,000,000,000 (one billion) cycles. Additionally, MEMS provide a technology of reduced size, power, and cost in comparison to electromechanical switches. As a result, the advantage at the system level for small optical matrices compared to a pure electromechanical system is that such systems cost much less, has lower insertion loss, and in general, has higher repeatability and higher production yield.