Optical Multi-Format Transmitter (OMFT) for Defence & Secure Communication

Why Secure Communication Links Need a Trusted Transmitter

Secure communication in defence is moving firmly to coherent optical links, where information travels in the phase and polarisation of light, not just its intensity.

That raises the bar on the transmit side. A simple modulated source can no longer prove a link works. The signal launched into the link has to be known and repeatable, so that any damage seen at the far end can be blamed on the channel or receiver, not on the transmitter.

In other words, the transmitter itself becomes a measuring instrument.

The Optical Multi-Format Transmitter as a Transmit-Side Benchmark

The Optical Multi-Format Transmitter is the reference signal source for defence photonics labs. It generates high-quality modulated optical signals in the formats these programmes need, for developing and qualifying secure high-capacity links, Radio Frequency over Glass transport and terahertz communication.

Why Multi-Format Generation Speeds Up Secure Link Decisions

Defence programmes rarely know their final modulation scheme at the start. Each format trades spectral efficiency, sensitivity, impairment tolerance and processing load differently.

• Like-for-like trials: candidate formats run through one transmit chain and are measured under identical conditions.
• No rebuilds between tests: switching format does not mean changing hardware, so the comparison stays clean.
• One instrument, whole programme: the same OMFT serves early feasibility and the final, defended specification.

Keeping Sensitive Link Testing In House

Classified or sensitive hardware often cannot leave the lab, and review boards expect documented, repeatable evidence across campaigns that can run for years.

Full links on your own bench

With the OMFT launching a known signal and a coherent receiver recovering it, a lab can apply the channel conditions it wants to study and measure exactly how the signal degrades.

Faults pinned to one side

A prototype transmitter can be tested against a reference receiver, and a prototype receiver against the OMFT, so a rising error rate is traced to one end instead of debated.

Stable through long unattended runs

Automatic bias control holds the Mach-Zehnder modulators at their correct operating points over temperature and time, so extinction ratio and constellation shape do not slowly degrade during qualification runs.

Comparable from feasibility to field trial

Keeping transmit and receive equipment in one instrument family means consistent control and calibration, so early results still compare directly with field-trial data.

Building a Secure-Link Reference Chain

The OMFT is the centre of a complete chain. A Narrow Linewidth Tunable Laser Source provides the optical carrier, keeping phase noise low enough that constellation quality reflects the modulator and the link, not the laser. The CORX Coherent Optical IQ Receiver recovers the in-phase and quadrature signals with calibrated coherent detection, closing the loop in your own lab, and the ID OSA Optical Spectrum Analyser records channel placement and OSNR for each test. The standalone Automatic Bias Control System brings the same bias locking the OMFT has built in to the discrete modulators in a team’s own prototype transmitter.

For terahertz research the same rule applies: a terahertz carrier made with light can only be as clean as the optical signals that created it.

Who Uses It

• Defence research laboratories
• Strategic-sector organisations
• Academic institutions supporting defence-related photonics

Supply and Support in India

United Spectrum Instruments (USI), Chennai, is the authorised distributor for ID Photonics GmbH in India, supplying the OMFT together with the CORX receiver, Narrow Linewidth Tunable Laser Source and Automatic Bias Control System.

For programmes that buy in stages over several years, one supplier for the whole chain means one point of contact for compatibility, calibration, documentation and support from first purchase to field trial.

Request a Configuration

Download the brochure from this page, use the Enquire Now button, write to sales@unitedspectrum.in, or call +91 93631 83748 / +91 97899 04948. Please mention:

• Modulation formats and symbol rates required
• Application: secure coherent links, RFoG or terahertz
• Receiver and carrier hardware you already have
• Current programme stage