Reducing SWaP for Military and Aerospace Applications

For any technology project, there are some key questions that need answering. How big will it be, and how much will it weigh? How much power will my solution need? And how much will it cost? These factors all need to be balanced by design engineers, but in many applications, the size, weight and power (SWaP) are equally important as cost. This is particularly true in the military and aerospace sectors, for example, low weight is vital in drones, aerospace and remote applications.
For military and aerospace communications and networking, SWaP is often a key focus.While copper wires have traditionally been used, they are increasingly being replaced by fiber optics and by wireless connections.This article will look at how fiber can provide the high throughput required – while delivering the combination of low SWaP per bit of digital data, and has the ability to meet tough environmental and operational demands.