DiCon Announces Successful Participation of All-Optical Switch in Boeing’s Test Flight

DiCon Fiberoptics, manufacturer of optical switches, announced that its Secure Switching Unit (SSU) has successfully participated in Boeing’s test flight of the P-8A Poseidon aircraft.

The Secure Switching Unit is an all-optical switch, which permits secure optical fiber signals to be routed using DiCon’s microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) optical switch.

The SSU is a fully passive unit that routes secure optical fiber signals as an automatic fiber patch panel. It also includes DiCon’s MEMS optical fiber switches. The DiCon MEMS units consume less power and have the potential to withstand adverse environments. These features make the devices suitable for military applications. The devices also feature a frictionless design that enables them to function for numerous switch cycles.

DiCon’s Vice-President of Product Development, Robert Schleicher stated that the company has utilized its COTS fiber-optic switch parts and combined them with SSU to provide Boeing a dependable way to route the fiber-optic signals in the aircraft.