A cable assembly is provided. The cable assembly includes a cable element, a plug element to which a terminal end of the cable element is connected and which is configured to be plugged into a plug receptor, a sensor and an analysis engine. The sensor is disposed along the cable element or in the plug element and is configured to sense a manipulation of at least one of the cable element and the plug element relative to the plug receptor and to issue signals indicative of sensing results. The analysis engine is receptive of the signals and is configured to analyze the signals to determine a type of the manipulation and to determine whether to take an action responsive to the manipulation.

A system is provided for connecting a plurality of different enclosures within rack. Enclosures can be stacked and contain a plurality of articulating arm assemblies configured to mate with each other. Each articulating arm assembling may comprise a side plenum, arm plenum, plenum pivot, and at least one knuckle housing. One or more knuckle housings of each articulating arm assembly configured to connect with one or more knuckle housing of a different articulating arm assembly. Each articulating arm assembly configured to move to at least a open and an closed position. Each knuckle housing of each articulating arm assembly includes a plurality of optical connector arrays configured to mate with corresponding optical connector arrays of a different articulating arm assembly. Each knuckle housing may further include at least one retention feature configured to retain coupling of a knuckle housing with a corresponding knuckle housing.

A linear N×N robotic fiber optic switch is described. Notably, fiber adapters for connecting the input and output fibers are arranged linearly. Moreover, each fiber adaptor is driven by a push-pull mechanism such that it can be positioned to a front, center, or back position, with which the private plane of a fiber port can be separated from the other fiber ports and fiber connection can be configured using a simple linear translation robotic pickup free of interference in a compact space. Furthermore, a large scale fabric switch comprises 3 stages of N linear N×N robotic switches connected using fiber shuffles. Each stage or all three stages can share one robot to reduce cost. Scalability to large port counts may be accomplished proportional to N, the number of ports, rather than N.sup.2.

A highly scalable and modular automated optical cross connect switch devices which exhibit low loss and scalability to high port counts. A device for the programmable interconnection of large numbers of optical fibers (100s-1000s) is provided, whereby a two-dimensional array of fiber optic connections is mapped in an ordered and rule-based fashion into a one-dimensional array with tensioned fiber optic circuit elements tracing substantially straight lines there between. Fiber optic elements are terminated in a stacked arrangement of flexible fiber optic circuit elements with a capacity to retain excess fiber lengths while maintaining an adequate bend radius. The combination of these elements partitions the switch volume into multiple independent, non-interfering zones, which retain their independence for arbitrary and unlimited numbers of reconfigurations. The separation into spaced-apart zones provides clearance for one or more robotic actuators to enter the free volume substantially adjacent to the two-dimensional array of connectors and mechanically reconfigure connectors without interrupting other circuits.

A cable assembly is provided. The cable assembly includes a cable element, a plug element to which a terminal end of the cable element is connected and which is configured to be plugged into a plug receptor, a sensor and an analysis engine. The sensor is disposed along the cable element or in the plug element and is configured to sense a manipulation of at least one of the cable element and the plug element relative to the plug receptor and to issue signals indicative of sensing results. The analysis engine is receptive of the signals and is configured to analyze the signals to determine a type of the manipulation and to determine whether to take an action responsive to the manipulation.

Photonic devices are disclosed including a first cladding layer, a first electrical contact comprising a first lead coupled to a first dielectric portion, a second electrical contact comprising a second lead coupled to a second dielectric portion, a waveguide structure comprising a slab layer comprising a first material, and a second cladding layer. The slab layer may be coupled to the first dielectric portion of the first electrical contact and the second dielectric portion of the second electrical contact. The first dielectric portion and the second dielectric portion may have a dielectric constant greater than a dielectric constant of the first material.

A light source module includes a light source; an optical fiber configured to guide light output from the light source; a pair of holding members configured to hold both ends of a first portion of the optical fiber such that the first portion extends linearly; a first vibrator configured to vibrate the first portion along a first direction intersecting an extending direction of the first portion; and a second vibrator configured to vibrate the first portion along a second direction intersecting the extending direction and differing from the first direction.

The present disclosure is generally directed to an optical demultiplexer for use in an optical transceiver module having a truncated profile/shape to increase tolerance and accommodate adjacent optical components. In more detail, the optical demultiplexer comprises a body with at least one truncated corner at the input end. The at least one truncated corner allows the optical demultiplexer to be disposed/mounted, e.g., directly, on a densely populated transceiver substrate, e.g., a printed circuit board (PBC), and provide additional tolerance/space for mounting of circuitry and/or components within the region that would normally be occupied by corner(s) of the optical demultiplexer body. The at least one truncated corner may be introduced in a post-production step, e.g., via cut & polishing, or introduced during formation of the optical demultiplexer using, for instance, photolithography techniques.

A projector includes a cantilever position detection system. The projector also includes a chassis, an actuator mounted to the chassis, and a cantilever light source having a longitudinal axis and mechanically coupled to the actuator. The projector also includes a position measurement region including an aperture, wherein the cantilever light source extends through the aperture, and a plurality of optical source/photodetector pairs disposed in a lateral plane orthogonal to the longitudinal axis.

A fiber optic strand distribution system utilizing a fiber optic reconfiguration robot moving in xyz directions within a fiber interconnect zone. The system includes a multiplicity of substantially equal length, substantially straight-line fiber strands in an x-z plane within the fiber interconnect zone; each fiber strand having a fixed, central point that lies in proximity to adjacent fiber strands at a distal end located within a linear, central backbone oriented parallel to a y axis; and each fiber strand having a moveable endpoint at a proximal end when engaged by the reconfiguration robot, wherein said moveable endpoint it is moveable between rearrangeable terminal locations along a partial spherical surface that is substantially equidistant from a midpoint of the linear, central backbone, and wherein the robot carries the moveable endpoint of the fiber strand according to a non-repeating braid algorithm and between terminal locations.