A novel and additional feature of the sat-nms LFTX/RX system is the capability to switch complete optical links and restore operation within a second if one of the optical links gets defective. This can effectively increase the availability of optical transmission systems. In order to provide this feature the LFTX/RX chassis can be equipped with a different internal back-plane which includes the necessary L-band switches and the software with redundancy switching capability.
A common application example is a connection of a Ku-Band antenna which normally provides 4 L-band outputs from 4 LNCs (11/12GHz and Horizontal/Vertical) to a central building or a teleport. In this case a 5th module will be integrated in both the optical transmitter and the optical receiver chassis on both sides of the link. All 5 links will be monitored and controlled via the M&C module in the master chassis. The two M&C modules talk to each other via TCP/IP and one is the master module which initiates the redundancy switching. The master module provides also the M&C information for the slave module so that the operator does have all information available from both if he is in front of the units or if he operates the unit via the web browser interface. If one optical link gets defective - for what ever reason, e.g. a faulty module or the optical fibre cable is cut - the redundancy switching will be initiated in both chassis from the master M&C module.
The redundancy switching capability is defined by the back plane in the sat-nms LFTX/RX chassis and how the switches are route internally in the backplane. There are in general four different redundancy configuration available. This configuration will be defined in the setup page of the M&C software via the web browser interface. So per 19" chassis with its maximum of 10 modules you can realize two independent redundancy configurations.