AN INVERTED PASSIVE OPTICAL NETWORK/INVERTED PASSIVE ELECTRICAL NETWORK (IPON/IPEN) BASED DATA FUSION AND SYNCHRONIZATION SYSTEM

摘要

The invention is an apparatus, method and system for time synchronizing data from various sensor types (Sensor Node 1-Sensors Node 2) that enables data fusion and transport. To provide capability, the invention utilizes an inverted Passive Optical Network (iPON) approach (Fig.2B) for synchronous communication. The invention introduces an inverted Passive Electrical Network (iPEN) that extends the iPON approach (Fig. 2B). Data that are in a common format with embedded tune synchronization information can easily be integrated of fused and transported over such communication links. The invention provides the ability to merge and aggregate data from a wide range of disparate sensors (Sensor Nodel- Sensors Node 2) and systems while maintaining close synchronization. The invention is appropriate for synchronization of data, voice, and video onto a single network and/or multi-tiered networks and can also handle signal processing and control technologies at line rates well into the Gigabits per second (Gbps) range.