A FUNDAMENTAL THEORY OF UNWINDING OPTICAL-FIBER MOTION WITH FIBER OPTIC DATA LINK BOBBIN

Recent progress in manufacturing techniques for optical fibers has bee n instrumental in the construction of mobile communication systems usi ng fiber optical data link (FODL) bobbins that have extremely fine and lightweight optical fibers of high tensile strength and low transmiss ion loss capable of being wound for a long distance data link. To cons truct such mobile communication systems using this optical fiber, reli able motion analysis of the unwinding of the optical fiber from the FO DL bobbin is essential. A fundamental theory of fiber unwinding motion from the FODL bobbin is derived here, which is essential in the desig n of a reliable FODL bobbin. This theory can analyze simultaneously th e unwinding dynamics of the optical fiber on the FODL bobbin and in th e air. Computer simulation results using the current theory show that the unwinding dynamics of the optical fiber from the FODL bobbin can b e effectively analyzed.