The development process of a high-reliability undersea lightwave repeater is described. The final product of the process is an SL560 repeater that will be a part of an undersea system operating at an optical transmission rate of 560 Mb/s, and will meet a reliability requirement of less than three ship repairs in 25 years. The repeater contains laser-powered transmitters, high-speed silicon circuits, low-sensitivity receivers, and optical relays high-integrated within individual units. After presenting the preliminary SL560 repeater physical design, the refinement of this design and the enhanced qualification techniques used to achieve these improvements are described. The development and status of the environmental stress screening (ESS) program for the SL560 repeaters is then described.
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