Opening of New Office

Photonic Systems, Inc. is pleased to announce it has opened a new office in Escondido, California to better meet the needs of our West Coast customers.  We encourage our customers and colleagues to call to arrange a visit with our California staff.

Ackerman and Cox author a 35-page guide to analog optical link design

Following the success of PSI president Charlie Cox’s thorough textbook Analog Optical Links, Theory and Practice, he and VP of R&D Ed Ackerman have extended and updated selected key areas of that book’s content for a stand-alone chapter in Microwave Photonics, Devices and Applications, a 2009 joint publication of IEEE Press and John Wiley and Sons, edited by Stavros Iezekiel.

Following a brief introduction, the chapter, entitled “Analog Microwave Fiber-Optic Link Design,” defines and discusses the three key link parameters: gain, signal-to-noise ratio and dynamic range.  The rest of the chapter is dedicated to presenting link design options, beginning with such basic options as what optical wavelength to use and what type of fiber to use.  The chapter then goes on to explore in some detail the questions of what detection and modulation techniques to use and how to interface the link input and output ports.  The chapter concludes with discussions of techniques for improving the intrinsic gain, signal-to-noise ratio and dynamic range.

PSI employees to present two invited papers at MWP 2009

The 2009 International Topical Meeting on Microwave Photonics (MWP 2009), occurring this year in Valencia, Spain on October 14 – 16, will feature invited talks by two PSI employees.  Senior Staff Engineer Mary Phillips will present, “Using Optical Nonlinearities to Enhance Microwave Optical Links”, a description of how she leveraged the phenomenon of self-phase modulation to increase the gain of a broadband RF photonic link.  And in a second invited talk, “Optimization of Photonic Transmit/Receive Module Performance”, Edward Ackerman (VP of Research & Development) will present a Tx-Isolating Photonic Rx (TIPRX) photonic link that operates over many octaves or even decades of bandwidth while providing 40 dB or more of isolation between the transmit and receive signals.

PSI and Navy instructors to discuss STAR in DoD course

PSI president Charles Cox and Lt. Todd Sims of the Naval Information Operations Command, Suitland (NIOC-S) will present a joint invited lecture entitled “Photonic-enabled simultaneous transmit and receive (STAR)” at this year’s Classified Advanced Technology Update (CATU) at the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, CA.  The lecture will cover both 1) the potential mission applications enabled by the ability to transmit and receive simultaneously from the same aperture, and 2) the underlying technical approaches to addressing the myriad challenges raised by STAR.

A week-long course held annually at the Naval Postgraduate School,  CATU 2009 will take place July 27 -31.  CATU is intended for TOP SECRET/SCI-cleared military, DoD civilian, and industry technical personnel who are interested in refreshing and updating their knowledge in the areas of advanced technologies that support the mission of the Department of Defense. CATU presenters from both industry and government are selected based on their choice of topic, subject matter expertise, and their work in the relevant technical areas.

Introduction of the PSI-0204 Instrument Modulator Bias Controller

PSI has developed and delivered the PSI-0204 instrument modulator bias controller.  This laboratory instrument has the all features of the PSI-0204 chip bias controller, but comes in a configuration similar to the PSI-0303 for ease of use.  When operated with a lithium niobate Mach-Zehnder (MZ) modulator, the PSI-0204 provides automatic or manual bias control. The user may chose to operate at the quadrature +, quadrature -, minimum or maximum bias points of the MZ transfer using the automatic tracking feature.

Charles Cox to speak at 2008 Microwave Photonics Meeting

Charles Cox, President of Photonic Systems, Inc. (PSI),  will be a plenary speaker at the 2008 IEEE Topical Meeting on Microwave Photonics to be held in Gold Coast City, in the state of Queensland, Australia from the 1st-3rd of October, 2008. For more information, visit:  www.mwp2008.org.

Photonic Systems, Inc. (PSI) recently delivered a customized small form factor modulator bias controller to the Space and Naval Warfare Systems Center San Diego (SSC San Diego). Based on the PSI-0204-11 chip scale modulator bias controller, the customized controller enables operation from a single voltage power supply with very low power consumption. The customized controller measures 2.75” x 0.5” and consumes less than 65 mW.

Space and Naval Warfare Systems Center San Diego (SSC San Diego) is responsible for development of the technology to collect, transmit, process, display and manage information essential to successful military operations. The Center develops capabilities that allow decision-makers of the Navy to carry out their operational missions and protect their forces.

PSI offers comprehensive microwave photonics engineering and manufacturing capabilities. With decades of collective photonics experience, PSI brings best-in-class component and link solutions to customers in defense, communications, research and government.

Photonic Systems, Inc. recently completed deliveries of its PSI-1600 series microwave photonic links to several customers involved in the construction and operation of radio astronomy systems. Microwave photonic links are used to distribute broad segments of the radio spectrum from receiving antennas to processing stations.

Radio astronomy studies celestial objects in the radio frequency portion of the electromagnetic spectrum. The field originated from the discovery that most astronomical objects emit radiation in radio wavelengths as well as optical wavelengths. Organizations involved in radio astronomy include the SETI institute (www.seti.org), the Square Kilometer Array (www.skatelescope.org & www.ska.ac.za) & the Jodrell Bank Observatory (www.jb.man.ac.uk/observatory).

PSI offers comprehensive microwave photonics engineering and manufacturing capabilities. With decades of collective photonics experience, PSI brings best-in-class component and link solutions to customers in defense, communications, research and government.

2008 Product survey award winners.

Photonic Systems, Inc (PSI) is pleased to announce that Jim Assurian of Reactel, Inc and Rod Rippey of Argon ST were randomly drawn as winners in our 2008 product survey. As a means to gain understanding of market needs for microwave photonic components, PSI conducted the survey which polled participants on their view of various microwave components, related specifications and their cost sensitivity for enhanced performance. PSI will use this feedback to develop specifications for product development over the coming year.

PSI offers comprehensive microwave photonics engineering and manufacturing capabilities. With decades of collective photonics experience, PSI brings best-in-class component and link solutions to customers in defense, communications, research and government.

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