The FOL has a very simple interface and is capable of transmitting data at a rate of over 10 MBytes/sec while performing error detection. The optical part of the FOL uses industry standard components. This, combined with its simplicity of use, makes the FOL suitable to be reused in a wide range of applications, which is shown by its use outside the NA48 experiment.
Although the FOL uses Fibre Channel Optical Link Cards and the 8b10b coding, it does not use the full Fibre Channel protocol. This means that the FOL links cannot be used in conjunction with a Fibre Channel switch or standard interfaces.
A three-page paper that was presented at the Nuclear Science Symposium 1994 organised by IEEE describing the fibre optic link is available in Postscript (238 KB).
The FOL is available from the company Struck.
Contact: Dr. Bernd Struck, Baeckerbarg 6, 22889 Tangstedt, Germany
Tel: +49 4109 55-0, Fax: +49 4109 55 33, E-mail: sales@struck.de
Contact: Philippe Brodier-Yourstone. E-m: BRODIER@DXCERN.cern.ch, Tel: +41 22 767 3907