NOVEMBER 21, 2006 -- Stratos Optical Technologies (search for Stratos) reveals that certain elements of the U.S. Armed Forces will be purchasing the company's HMA series fiber-optic Expanded Beam (EB) connectors to link tactical optical communications cables in the battlefield. According to the company, a critical element leading to these decisions was the ability to interface the new Stratos HMA optical connectors with existing TFOCA and TFOCAII connectors via the use of the patent-pending, inter-series TFOCA-to-HMA Expanded Beam adaptors.
With these low loss ruggedized compact adaptors, Stratos's HMA Expanded Beam connector series is now compatible with TFOCA and TFOCAII technology, the legacy standards used by Army and Marine Corp elements of the U.S. military for battlefield communications. Legacy physical contact (PC) optical mating conventions intrinsic to TFOCAII connector technologies, for example, are problematic in tactical harsh environments. By offering a migration path from TFOCAII to Expanded Beam, the Stratos products bring to U.S. battlefield operations the performance and reliability benefits of the Expanded Beam technology that Stratos pioneered for harsh environments.
After a relatively low number of mating cycles, TFOCA connectors must be serviced or replaced due to performance degradation as a result of ferrule surface imperfections and/or contamination. In contrast, the optical lens system of the HMA connector series provides immunity from water, mud, dust, oil, and other contaminants that can damage the fiber end-face of TFOCA connectors, Stratos asserts. Further, the HMA Expanded Beam series can be installed and repaired in the field with limited training for a rapid and real-time upgrade. A single part number for the entire adapter unit (connector, backshell, termini, and dust cap w/lanyard) simplifies purchasing for users.
One of the appealing characteristics of Expanded Beam technology is that the optical fiber is fully enclosed and sealed behind a hard-coated lens, Stratos says. The lens is a highly ruggedized non-contact connection interface. The expanded light transmission is less sensitive to mechanical misalignments and end-face contamination common in tactical deployments. Inherently resilient to environmental abuse, the HMA Expanded Beam connector lens can be easily cleaned with the wipe of a cloth, reconnected, and the optical communication link quickly restored. The hermaphroditic design allows simple, rapid rigging and daisy chaining of deployment.
The HMA Expanded Beam series of connectors and their related HMA-to-TFOCA or TFOCAII adaptors (two separate adaptors) are currently available.