This RFoF Transmitter Prototype design, development and characterisation project was undertaken in the final year of my undergraduate electronic engineering degree. One prominent motivation for selecting this project was to gain exposure into the electronics workflow.
The purpose of this project was to mitigate the signal loss due to large distance coaxial cables in RF context. Converting the electrical signal to travel through an optical fibre medium was experimentally proven to reduce the signal attenuation. I was excited to be involved with the development and testing in the Square Kilometre Array project.
RF Simulation was done in AWR to impedance match the laser diode. This was followed by PCB design in Altium Designer. After manufacturing and populating with selected 0402/0603 components by hand, the transmitter prototype was tested in laboratory to confirm simulations.
