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In just five years, DAS Photonics has become a leading company in the field of nanophotonics, primarily in technology developed for aerospace and defense. Since its creation in 2005, the Valencia-based company has focused its efforts on new technologies that rely on photonic solutions that offer greater processing capacity than electronic systems.
“The use of light, compared to electronics or radiofrequency, offers a reduction in weight, size, and energy consumption, as well as being unaffected by electromagnetic interference,” says Javier Martí, DAS Photonics president and a professor at the Telecommunications Engineers' College of the Universidad Politécnica de Valencia. “This is particularly useful in onboard satellites or for defense technology platforms.”
DAS Photonics has four main business lines: radio-fiber systems, such as high performance digital receivers; optical forming for antennae and radio-fiber links for remote antennae; the design of high performance photonic systems and devices for telecommunications; and high capacity parallel optical interconnections.
Fiber optics for satellites
Satellites make up one of DAS Photonics’ most important markets: the European Space Agency (ESA) commissioned the company to design the calibration and flight modules for the Alphasat telecommunications satellite, which ESA will put into orbit in 2012.
Once Alphasat is in space, the fiber optic interconnections system created by DAS Photonics will be put to the test. According to Martí, these could revolutionize new generation telecommunications satellites, as the system is “the first experimental demonstration of an active optic cable,” he points out, and also represents a reduction in weight compared to conventional metal cable technology.
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