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Light-based data communication technology will replace cable or wireless communication in the future, especially in aircraft. Firstly, because the miles of cabling installed in planes is enormously heavy and, secondly, because wireless communication can disrupt the on-board electronics. At the heart of the system lies an optical interface for data-coded light signals emitted by semiconductor-based LEDs. The system ensures that the data communication is electromagnetically compatible under flight conditions.

The project at the Jacobs University Bremen is headed by Harald Haas, Professor of Electrical Engineering. The principle is simple. Light is produced when power flows through the semi-conducting crystal of the light-emitting diodes. Data-coded fluctuations in the power supply create light fluctuations that are invisible to the human eye, albeit that they can be registered by an appropriate detector.

This makes it possible to transmit large volumes of data at high speeds by a kind of light-based digital Morse code. At more than 100 megabits per second, this even exceeds DSL communication rates. Depending on the application in question, transmissions can range from between 1 and 10 metres and up to 100 metres.

Under an aeronautical research programme run by the German Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology (BMWi), the Jacobs University Bremen received some 673,000 euros to develop the technology. Airbus Germany has lead responsibility for the project. Besides the Jacobs University, other contributors are the German Aerospace Center, EADS Germany, the Fraunhofer Society, Diehl Air Cabin, Funkwerk Avionics, Kaefer Aerospace, Monogram Systems, and the Institute for Lightweight Engineering and Polymer Technology, TU Dresden.

Further information: http://www.jacobs-university.de/