Flight Guide

Features and Benefits

  •     
    Operates optimally with low modal dispersion at both 850 & 1300 nm
  •     Radiation resistant
  •     Available with dual, hermetic-carbon & either PYROCOAT or high-temperature silicon coatings
  •     Available with tight tolerance on coating diameter to meet stringent military applications

 

Typical Applications

  •    Aircraft communications
  •     Military and space applications

 The FLIGHTGUIDE family of aerospace cables provides high temperature and strength capabilities for a range of fiber types including Singlemode, 62.5 u and 100u core graded-index fibers. Proven success with 100/140u fiber based cable on F-22 aircraft and Comanche helicopters has been extended to meet the growing requirements for Singlemode and 62.5u fibers in stringent military and commercial environments.

For each of these base line fiber types, hermetic and PYROCOAT coating options are available. All fibers utilize the standard silicone/Tsfzel upbuffer configuration.

The Premium FLIGHTGUIDE configuration proven on F-22 aircraft has a guaranteed minimum bandwidth of 200 MHz-km at operating windows of both 850nm and 1300nm, and the PYROCOAT coating diameter has a high tolerance of +/- 1u. The higher bandwidth of the premium grade of FLIGHTGUIDE allows for the higher rate of transmission required for applications such as target acquisition, navigational system starus and high speed communications to and from mission computers. The special cable design of FLIGHTGUIDE allows for fiber optic harnesses to be deployed throughout an airframe without degradation to the optical signal.

Data by PN

BF05202

BF04673

BF05687

Dimensions/Geometric Properties

 

 

 

Core diameter

100 +/- 3um

100 +/- 3um

62.5 +/- 3um

Cladding diameter

140 +/-2um

140 +/-2um

125 +/-2um

Coating diameter

171.5 +/- 1um

171.5 +/- 1um

155 +/- 5um

Silicon buffer diameter

N/A

450 +/- 25um

450 +/- 25um

Jacket diameter

N/A

900 +/- 50um

900 +/- 50um

Coating concentricity

> 80 %

> 85 %

> 80 %

Core/Cladding offset

< 3um

< 2um

< 3um

Core non-circularity

< 2 %

< 2 %

< 5 %

Clad non-circularity

< 2 %

< 2 %

< 2 %

Optical Properties

 

 

 

Numerical Aperture

0.29

0.29

0.275

Bandwidth @ 850nm

> 200 MHz-km

> 200 MHz-km

> 160 MHz-km

Bandwidth @ 1300nm

> 200 MHz-km

> 200 MHz-km

> 300 MHz-km

Attenuation @ 850nm

< 5 dB/km

< 5 dB/km

< 4.5 dB/km

Attenuation @ 1300nm

< 3 dB/km

< 3 dB/km

< 2.5 dB/km

Buffer and/or Coating Descriptions

 

 

 

Cladding material

Hermetic/Pyrocoat

Hermetic/Pyrocoat

Pyrocoat

Buffer material

Silicone

Silicone

Silicone

Jacket material

N/A

Tefzel (ETFE)

Tefzel (ETFE)

Operating temperature

-65 to +300 oC

-65 to +165 oC

-55 to +165 oC

Mechanical and Testing Data

 

 

 

Short-term bend radius

> 5 mm

> 5 mm

> 10 mm

Long-term bend radius

> 6 mm

> 6 mm

> 17 mm

Proof test level

> 100 kpsi

(1.378 GPa)

> 150 kpsi

(1.378 GPa)

> 100 kpsi

(0.689 GPa)

  Spectral Attenuation (typical)