Multiplexed studio-quality video transmission by multimode fiber systems

A research program was carried out to study fiber-optic link designs leading to the ability to generate a request for quotation for fiber-optic terminal equipment which would: (1) transmit two multiplexed video signals along a fiber-optic link; (2) use the 50/125-μm multimode fiber installed at the Kennedy Space Center; (3) use 1300-nm LED transmitters and PINFET-based receivers; (4) reserve 12-MHz bandwidth for each channel; and (5) meet RS-250B short-haul specifications after reception. Three electrical multiplexing schemes for fulfilling those requirements were studied: (1) FM/FDM (frequency modulation/frequency division modulation); (2) AM/FDM (amplitude modulation/FDM); and (3) quadrature amplitude modulation. It is found that only one of the three electrical multiplexing schemes appears to have a good chance of transmitting two wideband video signals, on one multimode fiber, across the distances encountered at the Kennedy Space Center, meeting RS-250B short-haul standards and doing so relatively inexpensively. This is FM/FDM