WILMINGTON, Massachusetts, (September 28, 2005) – To support the US Navy’s migration to fiber optic technology in fail-safe aeronautical applications, kSARIA Corporation has been awarded an STTR (Small Business Technology Transfer) contract that will lead to the development of two high-performance, low-cost product solutions for testing and repairing fiber optic cables deployed in harsh military environments. These innovative new products include Measurement Quality Jumpers (MQJs) to test fiber optic links and military-grade splicing tools to repair broken fiber optic cables – both manufactured to the Navy’s exacting standards.
The Navy selected kSARIA as the exclusive recipient of this contract based on the company’s fully automated, lean manufacturing approach to fiber optic cable production. kSARIA’s automation technology has revolutionized the fiber optic cable industry by eliminating all human influence in the assembly process – resulting in fiber optic solutions with the consistently high quality and performance characteristics demanded in military-grade applications.
“As the US Navy expands its use of fiber optic cables in mission-critical aircraft systems, it needs to service them in the field quickly and easily with high-precision test and repair solutions,” said Tony Christopher, Vice President of Engineering at kSARIA. “Existing commercial-grade versions of these solutions are not field hardened, and subsequently fall short on performance and reliability. Furthermore, these devices demand extensive technician training which increases the cost to the Navy. kSARIA is proud to be the Navy’s fiber optic cable manufacturer-of-choice to advance the state-of-the-art in fiber optic test and repair equipment by leveraging the precision, speed and cost advantages of our fully automated manufacturing processes.”
Measurement Quality Jumpers (MQJs) to meet exacting standards at lower costs
Used in a variety of different test configurations, Measurement Quality Jumpers (MQJs) assess the performance parameters of fiber optic cables. Like other pieces of calibrated test equipment, MQJs are used as reference standards to root out inferior interconnect components. To succeed in this job, MQJs require the highest quality surface finish on the end faces of their optical fibers. Even the slightest variation in end-face geometry can cause detrimental back reflection and optical loss – triggering faulty measurements that can jeopardize the performance of mission-critical fiber optic systems. kSARIA’s fully automated fiber optic manufacturing process features high-precision polishing which finishes these end faces to exacting optical specifications. By leveraging this automated polishing process with its automated cable assembly, epoxy cure and test systems, kSARIA plans to deliver cost-effective, military-grade MQJs that set the gold standard in performance and accuracy.
Military-grade Splicing Tools manufactured for high precision and ease-of-use
When repairing avionics-grade fiber optic cable, technicians must cleave and finish the two broken ends with the utmost precision to ensure the high surface quality necessary to maximize optical transmission. Today’s commercial cleaving tools are too imprecise to meet the Navy’s quality and repeatability demands. In addition, they are not suitable to address the space limitations, wide temperature ranges, and extreme environmental challenges of military and aeronautical system applications. By integrating the automation and high precision of its end-face polishing technology, kSARIA plans to provide the Navy with an easy-to-use, military-grade cleaving tool that consistently produces the quality surfaces needed to ensure that damaged cables are fully restored to their original integrity.
About kSARIA
kSARIA Corporation (www.ksaria.com) is the industry leader in manufacturing ultrahigh quality fiber optic cables for mission-critical military, aeronautical and harsh environment applications. In collaboration with the US Department of Defense, kSARIA leads the state-of-the-art in fiber optic cable production with the world’s only fully automated manufacturing processes and equipment. This unique, end-to-end, automated approach to manufacturing enables kSARIA to produce higher quality fiber optic cables that deliver superior performance and value to customers in shorter lead times. Today kSARIA is continuing to develop advanced manufacturing technologies to set even higher standards of excellence in fiber optic cable solutions.
Contact:
Doug Dillon
Director Business Development
kSARIA Corporation
+1-978-933-0000
ddillon@ksaria.com