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LIGHT WAVE COMMUNICATIONS

A REVIEW
Dr. M. Kulkarni
Professor, Dept of E & C
NITK, Surathkal
mkuldce@gmail.com
02/01/17

Topics Un_Covered
Introduction
Types

of fiber
Fiber material & fabrication
Optical communication system design
Losses & dispersion
Advancement in optical communication
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INTRODUCTION

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OVERVIEW
Information

Systems Evolution & What is

it ?
Why there is Demand of Large bandwidth ?
Why Optical Fiber Technology ?
Optical Transmission fundamentals.
How to Explode the optical fiber bandwidth ?
Optical Fiber Solutions for todays Systems
& Networks.

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Trends
Internet: A Deriving

force

SOME ACTUAL FACTS


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Million email messages in next minute


0.5 Million voice mail messages in next minute
3.7 Million people log on the net today
Next 100 days, Internet traffic doubles
100 Million additional internet users every year
Data based on the survey at Bell Laboratories, USA in Nov., 2000.

DEMAND FOR MORE BANDWIDTH


ONLY SOLUTION IS

OPTICAL COMMUNICATION

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Needs For Todays Optical Systems


Increase capacity of transmission
(bit/sec).
Minimize losses
Minimize temperature dependence
of the optical performance (a
thermal solutions).
Minimize component packaging
size (integrability).
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Exploding Demands for Bandwidth

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Facts Regarding Optical Transmission

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The optical world is approaching towards

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1. 50 THz Transmission Window


1000 Channel WDM
100 Gb/s TDM
1000 km Repeater less transmission
If Nonlinearities can be controlled,
transmission window will be 300THz
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Optical Fiber Applications

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Electromagnetic Spectrum

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Fiber links offer over 1,000 times as


much bandwidth and distances over
100 times

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Distance

Bandwidth

Voice
Channels

Copper

2.5 km

1.5 Mb/s

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Fiber

200 KM

2.5+ Gb/s

32,000 +
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OFC Backbone Capacity

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Copper Versus Fiber:


Repeaters

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Optical Technology - Advantages


High

data rate, low transmission loss and low bit


error rates
High immunity from electromagnetic
interference
Bi-directional signal transmission
High temperature capability, and high reliability
Electrical isolation
Signal security
Small size, light weight
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Major Advantages of FOC

Large Bandwidth (Extremely high information carrying capacity)


Carrier frequency Light 10 14 Hz
Makes possible widespread long distance communication of high
bandwidth signals
Color video
High speed network
High degree of Multiplexing, without much interference among
them.
Low Loss (Long repeaterless link length/repeater spacing)
Loss as low as 0.1 dB/Km
Repeater spacing of over 100 Km possible over land & under sea
EMI immunity (Even in noisy or harsh environments-Lightning,
factory floor, high voltage lines, broadcast towers)

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Major Advantages of FOC (Contd..)

Compact and light weight


Single fiber can easily replace 1000 pair copper
cable of 10 cm dia.
Security (impossible to tap)
Safety (insulator & no sparks ideal for hazardous
environment)
Can be used in
Oil exploration
Oil refineries
Mines
Explosives
Petrochemical
Other hazardous chemical

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Applications

Electronics and Computers


Broad Optoelectronic
Medical Application
Instrumentation

Optical Communication Systems


High Speed Long Haul Networks
(Challenges are transmission type)
Metropolitan Area Network (MAN) .
Access Network (AN).
Challenges are:
- Protocol
- Multi-service capability
- Cost
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Some practical disadvantages of FOC


Fiber is expensive
Connectors very expensive (due to degree of
precision involved)
Connector installation time consuming & highly
skilled operation
Joining (splicing) of fibers requires expensive
equipment & skilled operators
Connections & joints are relatively lossy
Difficult to tap in & out (for bus architectures)
need expensive couplers
Relatively careful handling required
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TYPES OF FIBERS

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Fiber Structure

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Optical Fiber

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Optical Fiber

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Types of Optical Fiber


On

the basis of Refractive Index

Step Index Fiber


Graded Index Fiber

On

the basis of Modes

Single mode Fiber


Multimode Fiber
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Fiber Structure

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A Core Carries most of the light, surrounded by


A Cladding, Which bends the light and confines it to the
core, covered by
A primary buffer coating which provides mechanical
protection, covered by
A secondary buffer coating, which protects primary
coating and the underlying fiber.

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Types Of Optical Fibre


Light
ray
Single-mode step-index fibre

Multimode step-index fibre

n1 core
n2 cladding
no air
n1 core
n2 cladding
no air
Variable
n

Multimode graded-index fibre


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Index porfile

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Multimode Step Index Fiber


Core

diameter range from 50-1000m


Light propagate in many different ray paths, or
modes, hence the name multimode
Index of refraction is same all across the core of
the fiber
Bandwidth range 20-30 MHz

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Multimode Graded Index Fiber


The

index of refraction across the core is


gradually changed from a maximum at the
center to a minimum near the edges, hence the
name Graded Index
Bandwidth ranges from 100MHz-Km to
1GHz-Km

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Single-Mode Graded Index Fiber


The

Core diameter is 8 to 9m
All the multiple-mode or multimode
effects are eliminated
However, pulse spreading remains
Bandwidth range 100GHz-Km

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Typical Core and Cladding


Diameters (mm)

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Multiple OFC

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Standard Optical Core Size


The

standard telecommunications core sizes in


use today are:
8.3 m (single-mode),
50-62.5 m (multimode)

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Since the cladding must have a lower index than the


core, examples of fiber composition are:

1.

GeO2 SiO2 core; SiO2 cladding

2.

P2O5 SiO2 core; SiO2 cladding

3.

SiO2 core; B2O3 SiO2 cladding

4.

GeO2 B2O3 SiO2 core; B2O3 SiO2 cladding

Here the notation GeO2 SiO2, e.g., denotes a GeO2


doped silica glass.
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The principle raw material for silica is sand. Glass composed of


pure silica is called silica glass, fused silica, or vitreous silica.
Some of its desirable properties are:

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A resistance to deformation at temperatures as high as 1000 oC.

A high resistance to breakage from thermal shock because of its low thermal expansion.

Good chemical durability, and high transparency in both the visible and infrared
regions of interest to fiber optic communication systems.

Its high melting temperature is a disadvantage if the glass is prepared from the molten
state. This problem is partially avoided when using vapour deposition techniques.

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Formation of Preform

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Fiber Drawing Process

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Glass Fibers

Glass is made by fusing mixtures of metallic oxides,


sulphides or selenides.

The largest category of optically transparent glasses from


which optical fibers are made consists of the oxide glasses.
Of these, the most common is silica, which has a refractive
index of 1.458 at 850 nm.

To produce two similar materials having slightly different


indices of refraction for the core and cladding, either
fluorine or various oxides (referred to as dopants) such as
B2O3, GeO2 or P2O5 are added to the silica. The addition of
GeO2 or P2O5 increases the refractive index whereas doping
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the silica with fluorine or B2O3 decreases it.

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Halide Glass
Fiber

MATERIAL

MOLECULAR %age

ZrF4

54

BaF2

20

LaF3

4.5

AlF3

3.5

NaF

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Fluoride glasses have extremely low transmission losses at mid infrared


wavelengths (0.2 to 8 m) with the lowest loss being around 2.55 m.

Heavy metal fluoride glass, which uses ZrF4 as a major component and glass
network former.

Moderate resistance to crystallization by adding more constituents such as


ZABLAN (after its elements ZrF4, BaF2, LaF3, AlF3 and NaF), as shown in
table.This material forms the core of the glass fiber.

To make a lower refractive index glass, one partially replaces ZrF 4 by HaF4 to
get a ZHBLAN cladding.

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Although these glasses potentially offer


intrinsic minimum losses of 0.01 to 0.001
dB/Km, fabricating long lengths of these fibers
is difficult because

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Ultra pure materials must be used to reach this low loss


level.
Fluoride glass is prone to divitrification.
Fiber making techniques have to take this into account to
avoid the formation of micro crystalloids, which have a
drastic effect on scattering losses.

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OPTICAL COMMUNICATION
SYSTEM DESIGN

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Basics of Fiber Optic Communication


Fiber Optics is a revolutionary development

that has changed the face of


telecommunications around the world
Transmission of data as a light pulses through
optical fiber (first converting electronic binary
signals to light and then finally converting back
to electronic signals)

Elements

of Fiber Optics

Transmission

Light Source (such as Infrared LED converts pulses


and sends into optical fiber)

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850 nm, 1300 nm


Low cost, easy to use
Used for multi mode fiber
Special edge emitting LEDs for single mode fiber
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Basics of Fiber Optic Communication

Laser Source having properties

Coherence
Monochromaticity
Directionality
High Specific Intensity
850 nm, 1300 nm, 1550 nm
Very high power output
Very high speed operation
Very expensive
Need specialized power supply & circuitry

Reception

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Photo detector converts back to electrical pulses


PIN DIODES
850, 1300, 1550 nm
Low cost
APDs (Avalanche Photodiodes)
850, 1300, 1500 nm
High sensitivity, can operate at very low power levels
expensive

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Basics of Fiber Optic Communication


Propagation in Fiber
Light propagates by mans of total internal reflection.
Optical Fiber consists of two concentric layers
Core inner layer
Cladding outer layer

Refractive index of core is greater than cladding,


necessary for total internal reflection

Light entering with acceptance angle propagates through


fiber
Strikes core cladding interface > critical angle and gets reflected
completely.
Zig-zags down length of core through repeated reflections.
Fairly lossless propagation through bends also.

Optical fiber
Multimode (Graded Index 50/125 & 62.5/125 )
Single mode (8.7 /125 )
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Fiber Optic Communication System Design


System Requirements
Point-to-Point Communication
Signal In

E/O

Fibre Link

EE/O
/O

O/E

Signal Out

O/E
PD

LD

(SHORT-HAUL)
Signal
Input

Driver

Fibre Link

Tx
E/O

Repeater 1

O/E

E/O

O/E

SM or MM

Fibre Link

E/O

E/O

LED/LD

Output

Decision &
Decision
Timing &

Amplifier

Timing

Amplifiers

O/E

O/E
More Repeaters
Rx
PIN/APD

(LONG-HAUL)
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Specifications

Transmission distance
Type of transmitted signal, voice, video or data : analog or digital
format
Data rate or channel bandwidth
Minimum bit error rate (for digital systems) or the allowable signal
degradation in term of S.N.R. (for analog transmission systems)
Required repeater spacing
Cost, reliability, expandability and other such factors

Selection of components

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Choice is an interactive process based on


Compromise
Availability of components
Reasonable engineering trade-off between non-ideal device parameters
Original system specification

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Parameters to be considered
Optical sources

Emission wavelength
Output power
Response time
Spectral width (purity)
Radiation pattern
Reliability
Structure, edge or surface emitting with or without pigtail
Shelf life and operating life
Bias and modulation circuits

Optical Fibers

Material-plastic or silica or plastic clad silica


Multimode or single mode
Core size
Core refractive index profile-step index or graded index or customised index profile
Attenuation
Dispersion
Numerical Aperture

Structural characteristics-strength of cable, resistance to environmental conditions, ease o


installation etc

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Photo detectors
Operating wavelength (range)

Responsivity

Speed ( frequency response)

Senstivity

Noise

Amplifier circuit details


Note :
Plastic fibers are multi moded and very lossy

LEDs are low speed devices and less efficient in terms of power coupling

Above combination is applicable for low data rate, short-haul communication

For medium performance LEDs and G.I.fiber

For High data-rate, Long haul links-require Laser diodes and single mode-fibers

Generally p-i-n diodes are used in receiver circuits

Use of APD provides internal gain enabling detection of weak signals

System Design

Link losses
Output from source(PS dBm)

Minimum threshold to the detectable optical power (PR dBm) due to noise consideratio

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Book keeping techniques (first design check)

Power budgeting to ensure that the components of the link do not cause
a cummulative loss higher than (PS-PR)dB

Slowest component in the system will ultimately control the system


bandwidth since the system response time cannot be faster than the
response time of this (slowest) component
Rise time analysis or rise time budgeting to ensure system response
time criteria are adequately met.

Following points emerge for practical systems

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Sources LED, Laser diode(Output power & operating wave length)


Choice of operating wavelength 850nm, 1300nm, 1550nm
Receiver sensitivity based on detectors and amplifier noise
Design and analysis make use of power margin and bandwidth; fiber
attenuation and dispersion; accordingly loss limited or dispersion
limited

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Example
Given:

LED

1mw power (0 dBm)


rise time 20 ns
Spectral width 20 nm.

p-i-n. diode

rise time 1 ns.


Sensitivity 30 dBm.

Fiber

Step index, multimode


core index 1.46
NA=0.2
Length 2 km.

Assume :

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Source coupling loss is 3dB.


Detector coupling loss is 1dB.
System margin 5dB
Splice loss 0.2 dB/splice.
Atternuation 2dB/km
Operating wavelength of 850 nm.
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LOSSES & DISPERSION

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Fiberoptic Communication
Systems
What

limits the transmission


capability?
Attenuation
Dispersion
Non- Linearities in fibers
Curve &Bending losses
Radiation & Leaky Modes

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Optical fiber attenuation vs.


wavelength

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Wavelength Windows
Attenuation
~ 200 ppb OH

Attenuation

db

Infra-red
Absorbtion

Rayleigh
scattering
1

( 4)

Km

OH
Peaks

First
Window
Second
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Third
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Absorption Loss

z=0

z=L

Attenuation

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Light Ray Scattering

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Reflection of light by splices

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Macro- & Micro-bending Loss

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Dispersion

Dispersion cause pulse broadening and distortion.

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Fiber Dispersion
Fiber

Loss
- 0.35 dB/Km at 1.3m
- 0.2 dB/Km at 1.5m
- Minimum Reduction Expected in future is
0.01dB/Km
Fiber Dispersion
-Material dispersion
- Waveguide Dispersion
- Multimode group Delay Dispersion
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Pulse Spreading due to


Dispersion
z=0

z=L

Dispersion

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Dispersion
Bit 1

Bit 2

Bit 1

Bit 2

Bit 1

Bit 2

Bit 1

Bit 2

Bit 1

Bit 2

The

optical pulse tend to spread as it propagates down the fiber


generating Inter-Symbol-Interference (ISI) and therefore limiting either
the bit rate or the maximum achievable distance at a specific bit rate
Physics behind the effect
The refractive index has a wavelength dependent factor, so the
different frequency-components of the optical pulses are traveling at
different speeds

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Types of Dispersion in
Optical Fiber

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Chromatic Dispersion in
Optical Fiber
A high-speed pulse contains a spectrum of l components

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Slide 10 of 53
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Chromatic Dispersion
Problem

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Polarization Mode Dispersion


(PMD)

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PMD
PMD

affects fiber optics communication by


spreading the pulse over the distance.

PMD

increases the bit error rate hence


limits the transmission distance and
bandwidth of the system.
It causes distortion and limits the no. of
channels transmitted.
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Nonlinear Effect in the Fiber


Stimulated

Brillouin scattering
Stimulated Raman scattering
Self-phase modulation
Cross-phase modulation
Four-wave mixing

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Dispersion
Compensating Fiber
(DCF)

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ADVANCEMENTS IN OPTICAL
COMMUNICATION

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Advances in Optical Communication


First Generation Support:

Second

Third

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Operating at: 850 nm


Bit Rates: 50 -100 Mbps
Repeater Spans: 10 Kms
Sources & Detectors made of InGaAsP compound semiconductor

Generation Support:
Operating at: 1300 nm
Bit Rates: 1-2 Gbps
Repeater Spans: 40 -50 Kms
Sources & Detectors made of InGaAsP compound semiconductor

Generation Support:
Operating at: 1550 nm
Bit Rates: 2.4 Gbps
Repeater Spans: 100 Kms

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Advances in Optical Communication


Present Standards Supported:
Various multiplexing techniques for enhanced
capacity utilization, use of optical amplifiers & Soliton
based transmission systems developed.
Speed & Repeater spacing due to fiber optic systems,
newer standards such as:
FDDI (Fiber Distributed Data Interface)
DQDB (Dual Queue Distributed Bus)
SONET (Synchronous Optical Network)
SDH (Synchronous Digital Hierarchy)

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Advances in Optical Communication


More Advanced Systems:
Era of high capacity Trans Atlantic Telecommunication (TAT)
began as under:
TAT - 2 in 1959
TAT 6 in 1976
TAT 7 in 1983 (offered a capacity of about 4000 analog
circuits)
Optical fiber based TAT 8 in 1989 (offered 40,000
circuits, 64,000 Km long, 280 Mbps, 40 Km repeater
distance )
TAT - 12/13 with many new features is now operational
Some other fiber systems include HAW 4 (Hawaiian
Cable 4), TPC 3(Trans Pacific Cable 3)

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Advances in Optical Communication


Further

achievements include
Fiber losses 0.16 dB/Km (at 1550 nm)
Laser with threshold currents of few milli-amperes and
life time of over a million hours
Repeater spans of more than 200 Kms.
Transmission rates in excess of 2 Gbps
Advent of EDOFA (Erbium-Doped optical fiber amplifier),
using dispersion compensating Soliton transmission
techniques or the use of dispersion compensating fibers
(DCF) and the improvements made in the attenuation &
dispersion characteristics of the modern optical fiber have
led to the demonstration of data transmission in
experiments with repeaterless spans of over 10,000 Km
and bit rates in excess of 10 Gbps
More complex coherent optical communication,
wavelength routed, dense wavelength division
multiplexing (DWDM) links are available.

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Advances in Optical Communication

Coherent communication systems make use of:


Sources & detectors made of quantum well
structures with high directional properties.
Single mode single polarization optical fiber having
very low loss and very low dispersion.
Has superior SNR capabilities, long repeater spans
& high bit rates.
WDM (Wavelength Division Multiplexing)
Provides an easy way to increase the utilization of
the high channel channel capacity of the optical fiber.
Integrated Optics
Deals with the miniaturization & integration on a
single substrate optical components such as
- electro optic modulator
- polarization controller
- splitters / combiners
- directional couplers
- lenses
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Advances in Optical Communication


-Optical MEMs make use of silicon micro
machining to realize micro-opto-mechanical
elements
-Soliton Propagation in Optical Fibers
-Initially launched pulse may propagate with
ultra-low dispersion over thousands of
Kilometers
-Active devices within fibers EDFA (Erbium
Doped Fiber Amplifiers) are now available.
-Photonic switching architectures (which
use integrated optic switches) & optical
MEMs provides data rate transparent
switching services to optical fiber based
trunks
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Problems with Data Increase

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Users are not getting required bandwidth


Internet carriers must balance between upgrading
infrastructure to meet internet traffic growth and
making a profit
TDM to increase transfer of data is expensive and
disruptive

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Possible Solutions
Install

more optical fiber


Increase TDM speed (shorter pulses)
Wavelength Division Multiplexing (WDM)
Optical Code Division Multiplexing(OCDMA)

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Multiple Access Techniques for


Wireless Communication
FDMA (Frequency

Division Multiple Access)


TDMA (Time Division Multiple Access)
CDMA (Code Division Multiple Access)

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More Bandwidth Means...


Increasing the number of channels
Extended transmission bands
Increased channel density
2.5 Gb/s

TDM
Mux
TDM
Mux
TDM
Mux
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Fiber 10Gb/s

fiber 10 Gb/s

fiber 30 Gb/s

WDM
MUX

Fiber 10 Gb/s

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Wavelength Division
Multiplexing (WDM)

What is Wavelength Division Multiplexing?

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Transmit multiple data signals using different


wavelengths of light through a single optical
fiber
Incoming optical signal is assigned a specific
frequency
The capacity of the fiber is increased by a
multiple of the wavelengths
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WDM System

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WDM Block Diagram


1

Transmitters

Receivers

Multiplexer

5
6
7
8
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Demultiplexer

Transmission Fiber
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

Add/Drop
Multiplexer

7
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Client
Equipment

Wavelength Division
Multiplexing Systems
1
3

Pump

Pump

EDFA
OEO

Mux/DeMux

OEO

Transponder-Based
WDM System
850nm

OEO

1310nm

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Advantages of WDM
Use

current physical optical fiber


Dispersion is not an issue when increasing
the bandwidth
Passive amplification
Flexibility
Relatively low cost
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The CDMA Revolution


The

great attraction of CDMA technology from


the beginning has been the promise of the
extraordinary capacity increase over narrowband
multiple access wireless technologies.
Simple models suggest that the capacity
improvements may be more than 20 times that of
the existing narrowband cellular standards, such as
AMPS in North America , NMT in Scandinavia
,TACS in the United Kingdom.
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Features of CDMA

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In a CDMA system , the narrowband message signal is


multiplied by a very large bandwidth signal.
Many users of the CDMA system share the same frequency.
Unlike TDMA or FDMA , CDMA has a soft capacity limit.
Increasing the number of users in a CDMA system raises
the noise in a linear manner.
Multipath fading may be substantially reduces because the
signal is spread over a large spectrum.
Channel data rates are very high in a CDMA systems. A
rake receiver can be used to improve reception by collecting
time delayed versions of the required signal.
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Optical CDMA
Data Source # 1

Optical CDMA
Encoder

Optical CDMA
Decoder

Data Recovery

Optical CDMA
Decoder

Data Recovery

Optical Star
Coupler

Data Source # N

Optical CDMA
Encoder

<----Transmitters--
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<----Receivers--
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The Future of CDMA

CDMA has overcome most cynicism to dominate the


worldwide wireless voice market
What about data services? Scheduling vs. Inteference
Averaging
Ongoing research on CDMA
Increase capacity by joint decoding (multiuser
detection &
interference cancellation)
Applying CDMA to other applications: optical CDMA,
ad
hoc networks, dense wireless LANs
MultiCDMA: multiple antenna CDMA, multicarrier
CDMA, multicode CDMA
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PROBLEM ARISES DUE THE DIFFERENT


FREQUENCY COMPONENTS
As the signal propagates through the medium, the different
frequency components propagate with different speeds. This
effect known as group velocity dispersion (GVD), results in a
spreading or deformation of the pulse.
The amplitude of the various components introduce nonlinearities
that also distort the shape of the pulse.
For many applications, the distance of transmission is so small
that the effect is never seen. However for long distance
transmission such as transoceanic cable the length can be the order
of thousands of kms and the distortion becomes significant.
The soliton wave appears to be a solution to many of the
problem
facing optical fiber technology.
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Latest Discoveries
Optical Fibers Found in Deep-Sea Sponges

02/01/17

MURRAY HILL, N.J., August 21 -- Scientists from Lucent Technologies' Bell Labs have
found that a deep-sea sponge contains optical fiber that is remarkably similar to the optical
fiber found in today's state-of-the-art telecommunications networks.

The deep-sea sponge's glass fiber, designed through the course of evolution, may possess
certain technological advantages over industrial optical fiber, the scientists report in today's
issue of the journal Nature.

"We believe this novel biological opticl fiber may shed light on new bio-inspired processes
that may lead to better fiber optic materials and networks," said Joanna Aizenberg, the Bell
Labs materials scientist who led the research team. "Mother Nature's ability to perfect
materials is amazing, and the more we study biological organisms, the more we realize how
much we can learn from them."

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The discovery of marine


optical fiber is the latest Bell
Labs contribution in the
emerging field of science
known as biomimetics,
which takes engineering
principles from the natural
world and applies them to
manmade materials and
technologies.

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Holey Fiber Supports


Megawatt Pulses

02/01/17

Scientists at Corning Inc. in Corning, N.Y., have developed a hollow-core


photonic bandgap fiber that supports ultrashort pulses of infrared
radiation with peak powers more than 100 times greater than those
tolerated by conventional optical fiber. Such fibers promise applications
across a variety of fields, including telecommunications.

The researchers produced the fiber by the stack-and-draw method,


bundling capillaries to create a preform that they draw into a fiber while
monitoring the exterior diameter of the pulled product.

The fiber in cross section features a 12.7-m-diameter central hole


surrounded by eight rings of hexagonal airholes with a pitch of 4.7 m, a
structure that offers a transmission window from 1395 to 1510 nm and an
attenuation of 13 dB/km at 1500 nm.

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Origin of 'Fiber Fuse' Is


Revealed

02/01/17

In the argot of fiber optics engineers, a "fiber fuse" occurs


when a fiber, overloaded with optical power, fails
catastrophically.

In a fiber fuse, a brilliant, highly visible intrafiber burn


propagates backward from the original damage site toward
the optical source at speeds that can reach several meters
per second.

Measurement of the burn's color temperature indicates


that the fiber core reaches temperatures as high as 5400 K,
sufficient to vaporize the glass.
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Free Space Optical Communication

2 Transmitter projects the carefully


aimed light pulses into the air

3 A receiver at the other end of the link


collects the light using lenses and/or
mirrors

5 Reverse direction data transported


the same way.
Full duplex

1 Network traffic
converted into
pulses of invisible
light representing
1s and 0s

02/01/17

4 Received signal
converted back into
fiber or copper and
connected to the
network

Anything that can be done in fiber can


be done with FSO

100

Any Qs?
Thank You All For Patience!!

02/01/17

101

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