Fiber Optics

Aurora Optics wins $4M contract from NAVAIR for explosion-proof fiber-optic splicing

Nov. 29, 2012

Broad Axe, PA--Aurora Optics received a 2-year, $4M contract from the Naval Air Warfare Center for fiber-optic repair sets for the E-2D Advanced Hawkeye aircraft.

Gail Overton

Content Dam Lfw Online Articles 2012 11 Aurora Splicer

Broad Axe, PA--Fiber-optic instrumentation manufacturer Aurora Optics received a new two-year, $4M contract from the Naval Air Warfare Center for Fiber Optic Repair Sets for the E-2D Advanced Hawkeye aircraft. This latest contract award, from NAVAIR-Lakehurst, represents the second phase of a multi-year contract for comprehensive development of aerospace fiber-optic cable repair solutions. The two-year work order will complete development of Aurora's exclusive Explosion-Proof Fusion Splicer (EPFS), which Aurora says is the only fusion splicer that poses no threat of spark hazard when used in fueled aircraft and other vapor-laden environments.

Since Aurora completed initial prototypes of the EPFS earlier, the largest tasks in the new phase are improving the splicer and redesigning the Controller. Already one of the smallest fully-automatic fusion splicers on the market—second only to Aurora’s own MiniMod miniature fusion splicer—Aurora Optics says it aims to go even smaller while still improving performance and adding functionality. The final design, expected to be complete early in 2013, will undergo rigorous environmental testing, including explosion-proofing, thermal shock, high humidity, and MIL-STD-461 and MIL-STD-464 electromagnetic compatibility (EMC), to ensure that the EPFS meets the highest standards of safety and durability and will perform well even under harsh conditions.

The end goal is to provide military and aerospace customers with a complete, state-of-the-art, ruggedized field cable splicing kit. Every process involved in restoring cable--from fiber preparation to cable restoration--will be covered to deliver an optimal fiber cable splicing solution in terms of accuracy, reliability, ease of use, and price.

The accelerated timeframe for this phase (Aurora Optics will be in full production mode before the end of the two-year project) is due in part to the high demand for Aurora’s EPFS. Aurora says interest is not limited to military aircraft; other demanding applications include commercial aviation, UAVs, military ground vehicles, mining, oil & gas, refineries, and underground utilities.

SOURCE: Aurora Optics; www.aurora-optics.com

About the Author

Gail Overton | Senior Editor (2004-2020)

Gail has more than 30 years of engineering, marketing, product management, and editorial experience in the photonics and optical communications industry. Before joining the staff at Laser Focus World in 2004, she held many product management and product marketing roles in the fiber-optics industry, most notably at Hughes (El Segundo, CA), GTE Labs (Waltham, MA), Corning (Corning, NY), Photon Kinetics (Beaverton, OR), and Newport Corporation (Irvine, CA). During her marketing career, Gail published articles in WDM Solutions and Sensors magazine and traveled internationally to conduct product and sales training. Gail received her BS degree in physics, with an emphasis in optics, from San Diego State University in San Diego, CA in May 1986.