Resonant-Cavity LEDs Fire Up In-Car Networks

by John Lambkin fibers.org News, 5 Apr 2006 Today's car owners are demanding more from their vehicles than just good looks. They now want models offering greater levels of comfort, safety, fuel efficiency and reliability, along with features such as in-car navigation systems, GPS telephones, satellite radios, DVD players and Internet browsing facilities. All of these features are implemented through the car's infotainment bus, which is a network of digital electronic devices operating at high data rates in an extremely harsh and electromagnetically noisy environment. The plastic optical fiber networks that feature in many of today's cars have data transmission rates that are limited by LED switching speeds. This barrier can be overcome, though, if these light sources are replaced with resonant-cavity LEDs. Read more