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3.Problems of Electrical
Communication systems
Affected by EMI
Low bandwidth (4 kHz telephone,
100-500 MHz per km coaxial cable )
High attenuation (20 dB/km typically)
High system cost (due to too many
repeaters for a given Bandwidth/ data rate)
Prone to tapping
Bulky
History of Opt.Commn..contd
1966 light confinement using sequence of gas
lenses
1966 suggestion to use optical fiber (Kao &
Hockham)
1970 Corning Glass optical fiber with 20 dB/km
near 1 m
1970 - Semiconductor Laser with CW operation
at room temp.
1980 onwards wide spread use of Optical
Fiber Communication
7. Optical Fiber
Cross section and refractive-index profile for step-index and gradedindex fibers
(source: Chapter 1 - GP Agrawal, Fiber-Optic Communication Systems, 3rd
edition, John Wiley & Sons., Inc., New York, 2002)
Attenuation Characteristics
Single Mode Fiber
Transmittercontd.
LEDs - used for low to medium bit rate applications (less
than 100 Mbits/sec) and lower optical link lengths.
- are cheap and rugged
- can be switched on and off (for digital modulation)
using simple logic drivers.
Laser diodes are used for high bit rate and longer optical
link applications.
- are very sensitive to temperature changes
- require sophisticated circuits for their field use.
- Most commonly used circuits monitor the average
optical power and adjust the drive current
automatically to maintain the required optical
power.
Transmittercontd.
Generally laser diodes come with fiber pigtails,
which are aligned in factory for optimum power
coupling.
An optical transmitter consists of an optical
source (LED or LD) and a drive circuit which
drives the required amount of current through
the LED or LD.
LED transmitters typically have output powers of
10 50 W at the end of a fiber MMF pigtail.
LDs typically give anywhere from 1mW 20mW
on a SMF pigtail.
9. Receiver
An optical receiver is an optical-to-electrical converter +
amplifier and decision circuits.
Photodetectors are used for O/E conversion.
Two types - PIN and Avalanche Photodetector (APD)
Principle generation of photo current using the light
from the fiber falling on the depletion region of a photo
detector
PIN used for modest applications, no internal gain
mechanism, cheap and rugged
APD used for applications requiring high sensitivity;
provide internal optical gain of several tens. They require
high bias voltages (>200V). Quite expensive.
Receiver..contd.
The photodetector (PIN or APD) followed by a
low noise amplifier.
The optical power detected is typically 1W or
less.
front end amplifier must be a low noise
amplifier.
The bandwidth required at the receiver is
generally very high (several hundreds of
MHz).
Design of a fiber optic receiver circuit is quite
a challenge.
Receiver..contd.
Most of the noise in the low noise amplifier is introduced
by the first device.
For high frequency applications a matching MESFET
device is chosen as the front end amplifier device.
For simple, low bit rate applications a simple current-tovoltage converter (using an opamp) is good enough.
Low noise preamplifer circuit will be followed by a Post
amplifier (to raise the electrical signal to the required
levels)
For digital applications a high-speed comparator
employed to finally convert the signal to the required
logic levels.
Undersea cables.contd.
By 1983 TAT cable capacity increased
to 4200 voice circuits using Frequency
Division Multiplexing (FDM)
From 1956 to 1983 the capacity of the
TAT increased at an annual rate of 20%
1988-89 the first undersea fiber optic
communication system with a capacity of
280 Mb/s on each of the three fiber pairs.