SMART SKIN ARRAY WOVEN FIBER OPTIC RIBBON AND ARRAYS AND PACKAGING THEREOF

摘要

A woven structure is described in which opticalfibers are positioned and held in the structure in a mannerto maximize their optical efficiency. The structureconsists of non-optical fibers extending in both the warpand woof direction, the optical fibers are positioned inchannels between supporting fibers in the warp direction.Selected ones of the non-optical fibers in the warpdirection may be electrical conductors. The structure ismanufactured using conventional weaving equipment bypositioning both the optical fibers and the non-optical warpfibers, and then weaving the woof fibers into place withoutcausing micro-bends or discontinuities in the opticalfibers. The structure is woven with the optical fiberspositioned in zero warp. The woven grid-like mat can becoated with a protective material that either enables it toform a flexible sheet or a rigid, hard, grid-like mat whichhas aligned zero warp optical fibers embedded therein. Thestructure shown can be used to provide sensing, imaging orcommunications. It can be utilized for optical backplanesfor opto-electronic systems or a housing for opto-electroniccomponents. Several types of interconnects or connectorscan be fabricated according to the present invention capableof interfacing with the woven structure in an array-based,optical or opto-electronic, active or passiveinterconnect/connector scenario. The invention may also beused in highly parallel, high performance computer systemsand sensing systems.