Reflex Photonics will proudly demonstrate its new LightCONEX 12+12 Active Blind Mate Optical Interconnect solution at the upcoming Embedded Tech Trends 2018 forum. This new module features 12 full-duplex lanes offering an aggregated bandwidth of up to 300G in a unique, rugged, small-SWaP, low-cost module, as specified in current and upcoming VITA 66 standards.
LightCONEX is a backplane interconnect solution that integrates a multilane optical transceiver into a small, rugged board-edge plug-in module connector to enable easy circuit card replacement and simplify system upgrades. This connector reduces system cost and complexity as it requires no onboard optical cables handling or routing.

The LightCONEX solution frees up board space by integrating the optical transceiver into the board edge connector. The backplane connector, also part of the LightCONEX solution, has a spring-loaded mechanism ensuring optimal optical mating meeting VITA 66.0 requirements. The rugged construction of these connectors ensures error free data transmission under severe shock, vibration, and temperature extremes.

The new LightCONEX 12-lane full-duplex transceiver operates at up to 12.5 Gbps per lane over a temperature from –40°C to 100°C and occupies a very small volume and a footprint of (L×W×H) 32 × 14 × 5 mm. The LightCONEX is also offered as a 12-lane transmitter or receiver, as well as a 4-lane full-duplex transceiver.

The LightCONEX finds applications in optical backplanes, routers, switches and VPX systems, like those deployed in high-performance embedded computing systems for civilian and military command and control monitoring (C4ISR) systems.