Experiment 1 – An introduction to fiber optic signal transmission and reception

Point of the experiment

This experiment provides an introduction to fiber optic signal transmission and reception. At the end of
the experiment you should know more about the basic operation of optical fibers. You should also know
the basic function of optical communications devices including transmitters and receivers. And finally,
you should have an increased understanding of optical fiber communications by using these devices to
transmit an analog signal instead of using conventional electrical means.

Preliminary discussion

At its most basic level, transmitting information over metal conductors (wires and cables) involves
sending an electrical signal that varies in potential difference (ie size) with time. This signal travels along
the wires and is available at the other end a short time later. Importantly, only one independent signal
can be carried by a wire pair at a time (ignoring bandwidth). In contrast, transmitting information over
optical fibers involves sending a light signal that varies in light intensity with time. This signal travels
through the core of the optical fiber and is available at the other end a very short time later.
Importantly, and in stark contrast to wires, different signals can be carried in opposite directions along a
fiber without affecting each other (as long as their light intensities aren’t extremely high). Optical fibers
have several advantages and disadvantages when compared to wires. For example, optical fibers can
carry signals much further without the need for regeneration. And, they have a much better strength-to-
weight ratio. However, optical fibers tend to be brittle, are difficult to join and typically cost more.
Optical fibers have such superior performance over wires in terms of bandwidth that they have gone
from laboratory experiments to completely replacing wires for long, medium and many short haul
communications applications in only a few decades. In wires, different signals are carried by different
electrical frequencies. In fibers, a large number of different signals can be carried by a single wavelength.
Moreover, by utilizing light of different wavelength (or color) the number of signals that can be
transmitted by an optical fiber can be further increased by at least 2 orders of magnitude. To quantify
this advantage, commercially available fiber optic communications systems have bandwidths of
terahertz (that is 1,000,000,000,000Hz) allowing up to 500 million conversations to be simultaneously
carried over a fiber and in both directions! When the only data traffic in the past was occasional
telephone conversations and telegraphy, laying optical fiber would not have been economically justified
because of the relatively high component cost. However, with the advent of computers and the
requirement for high data transfer rates, because of the relatively low bandwidth of wires and the
resulting high ‘cost per bit’, fiber communications with its very high bandwidth and thus low ‘cost per
bit’ has clear economic advantages. (The development actually happened the other way around;
compared to current fibers, optical fibers with modest bandwidth were developed initially, bandwidth
demands grew to fill the available fiber bandwidth leading to the development of higher bandwidth
fiber systems which in turn facilitated the high data rates associated with the development of the
internet and high speed video and computer data communication systems we enjoy today.)
Procedure

Part A – Observations of the operation of optical fiber

For Part A you will experiment with optical fiber transmission and think about the implications of your
findings in terms of fiber optic communications systems.

1. Point one end of a medium or long optical fiber patch lead towards a ceiling light.

2. Point the other “free” end of the patch lead towards a piece of clean white paper. Note: If you cannot
see a spot of light on the paper then the light out of the fiber is sufficiently low to be safe to perform the
next step in this case.

3. Look directly into the free end of the optical fiber patch lead and note what you see.

4. Use your finger to cover the end of the patch lead pointed towards the ceiling light while continuing
to look into the free end and note the effect.

Question 1 What can you infer from your observations?

Question 2 How can optical fiber be used for communications?

5. Point one end of the optical fiber patch lead towards a variety of objects including white, brightly
colored and dark objects and objects in deep shadow.

6. Look directly into the free end of the optical fiber patch as you perform the step above and note what
you see.

Question 3 What can you infer from your observations?

7. Pass one end of the optical fiber patch lead over the intersection of objects with different colors.

8. Look directly into the free end of the optical fiber patch as you perform the step above and note what
you see. Note: Pay close attention to the color of the light out of the fiber.

Question 4 What can you infer from your observations?

Question 5 How might this property of optical fiber be useful in optical fiber communications systems?

9. Point both ends of the optical fiber patch lead towards a ceiling light in such a way that allows you
look into both ends at the same time without blocking the light.

10. Note what you see.

11. Use your finger to cover one end of the patch lead then the other and note what you see.

Question 6 What can you infer from your observations?

Question 7 How might this property of optical fiber be useful in optical fiber communications systems?

12. Pass one end of the optical fiber patch lead over a variety of images such as text (on white paper) or
a distant scene.
13. Look directly into the free end of the optical fiber patch lead as you perform the step above and note
what you see. Note: Pay close attention to any detail in the light out of the fiber.

Question 8 Can you see a copy of the image on the input to the fiber at the output

Question 9 Why do you think this is case?

Question 10 How then can images such as still pictures be transmitted along fiber?

Part B – Observations of the operation of light sources

The next part of the experiment lets you investigate the basic operation of the ETT-101-30 board’s
Transmitter modules. 14. Locate the red LED Transmitter module on the ETT-101-30 and set its Mode
control to DIGITAL. 15. Connect an optical fiber patch lead as shown in Figure 1 below. Note: Don’t
worry that one end of the optical patch leads isn’t connected to anything.

16. Point the free end of the optical patch lead towards a sheet of clean white paper.

17. Switch the Transmitter module’s Mode control back and forth between ANALOG and DIGITAL. Note:
Doing this changes the operational performance of the transmitter in a way not explained here. What’s
important at this point is that you understand that the switch is not an ON/OFF control. Instead, the
Transmitter module is responding differently to its input in a way that causes the module’s LED to turn
on and back off.

18. Note the effect of the light out of the free end of the patch lead on the paper. Note: This is a safe but
useful method of indirectly observing the output of optical fiber patch leads when connected to visible
light sources. To avoid developing bad habits, from here on it is preferred that you use this method
rather than looking directly into the end of the fiber.

19. Return the Transmitter module’s Mode control to DIGITAL.

20. Locate the green LED Transmitter module and set its Mode control to DIGITAL.

21. Repeat Steps 15 to 18 using the green LED Transmitter module.

22. Return the Transmitter module’s Mode control to DIGITAL.

Question 11 What can these red and green light sources be used for in terms of the optical experiments
in this manual?
Question 12 Steps 19 and 22 asked you to return the Transmitter modules’ Mode control to DIGITAL to
turn them off. Why is it good practice to turn off the light source before putting the patch lead down to
write your answers to these questions?

Part C – Observations of the operation of light detectors

The next part of the experiment lets you investigate the basic operation of the ETT-101-30 board’s
Receiver module.

23. Locate the Receiver module on the ETT-101-30 and set its Gain Range control to HI.

24. Set the Receiver module’s gain to maximum by turning its Variable Gain control fully clockwise.

25. Set up the scope per the procedure in Appendix 1 with the following changes:  the Scale (Vertical
Attenuation) control set to the 200mV position  the Timebase control set to the 10ms position  the
Channel 1 Input Coupling control set to the DC position

26. Connect the set-up shown in Figure 2 below.

27. Take the free end of the fiber patch lead that is connected to the Receiver module and point it
towards a bright source of light (either the room lights or a window).
28. While keeping the free end of the fiber pointed towards your light source, watch what happens on
the scope when you cover and uncover it with your finger.

Question 13 Why does the scope’s trace behave the way that it does?

Question 14 Will the Receiver module respond to red light only, green light only, or both? How do your
observations support your answer?

Question 15 What can this receiver be used for in terms of the optical experiments in this manual?

Part D – Analog transmission using a model message

This part of the experiment lets you observe the operation of the Transmitter and Receiver modules
together by transmitting a model analog message over fiber.

29. Set the red LED Transmitter module’s Mode control to ANALOG.

30. Set the Receiver module’s Gain Range control to LO.

31. Turn the Receiver module’s Variable Gain control fully counter-clockwise.

32. Connect the set-up shown in Figure 3 below. Note: Insert the black plugs of the oscilloscope leads
into a ground (GND) socket.

This set-up can be represented by the block diagram in Figure 4 on the next page. The Master Signals
module’s 2kHz SINE output is used to model an analog message. It’s connected to the red Transmitter
module via the Buffer module to allow control over the message’s amplitude. The Transmitter module
converts the message to light and transmits it along an optical fiber cable to the Receiver module where
it is converted back to an electrical signal.
33. Adjust the scope’s controls as follows:  the Timebase control set to the 200µs/div position  the
Vertical Attenuation control of both channels set to the 1V/div position  the Channel 1 and Channel 2
Vertical Position controls set so the signals are not overlayed.

34. Use the Buffer module’s Gain control to set the amplitude of the Transmitter module’s input signal
to 2Vpp.

35. Compare the transmitted and received message signals. They should be the same shape but not the
same amplitude.

36. Vary the Buffer module’s gain down and up by small amounts and compare the original and
recovered message signals.

37. Increase the Buffer module’s gain to maximum and observe what happens to the recovered message
signal. Question 16 Summarize your observations at Steps 36 and 37.

Question 17 What’s the name of the distortion you observed at Step 37?

Question 18 Explain why you think this distortion occurs.

38. Use the Buffer module’s Gain control to return the amplitude of the Transmitter module’s input
signal to 2Vpp.

39. Slowly turn the Receiver module’s Gain control clockwise to increase its gain to maximum and
compare the original and recovered message signals.

40. Return the Receiver module’s gain to minimum and set its Gain Range control to HI.

41. Slowly increase the Receiver module’s gain to the new maximum and observe what happens to the
recovered message signal.

Question 19 Summarize your observations at Steps 39 to 41.

Question 20 If you observe a signal on the Receiver module’s output that is clipped, what two things can
you do to try to remove the distortion?
Part E – Transmitting a complex message (speech) over fiber

This part of the experiment lets you transmit speech over a fiber optic link.

42. Turn the Receiver module’s Gain control fully counter-clockwise and set its Gain Range control to LO.
43. Modify the set-up as shown in Figure 5 below. Remember: Dotted lines show leads already in place.

This set-up can be represented by the block diagram in Figure 6 on the next page. The Speech module is
used to model a complex analog message. The red Transmitter module converts the message to light
and transmits it along an optical fiber cable to the Receiver module where the message is recovered.
44. Adjust the scope’s controls as follows:  the Timebase control set to the 2ms/div position  the
Channel 1 Vertical Attenuation control set to the 200mV/div position  the Channel 2 Vertical
Attenuation control set to the 2V/div position  the Channel 1 and Channel 2 Vertical Position controls
set so the signals are not overlayed.

45. Speak into the Speech module’s microphone while watching the scope’s display and compare the
transmitted and received message signals.

46. Hum high and low frequency tones, loudly and softly and compare the original and recovered
message signals.

47. Modify the set-up by adding the Buffer module as shown in Figure 7 below.
48. Turn the Buffer module’s Gain control fully counter-clockwise.

49. Without wearing the headphones, plug them into the Buffer module’s headphone socket.

50. Put the headphones on.

51. As you repeat Step 45 and 46, adjust the Buffer module’s Gain control for a comfortable sound level.

Question 21 How does the sound of the received speech message compare to the sound of the original
speech?

Question 22 Describe all of the energy transforms involved in transmitting speech to a listener at the
other end of the set-up in Figure 7?