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1 Principles of Electronic Communication Systems Third Edition Louis E. Frenzel, Jr. © 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies 2 Chapter 19 Optical Communication © 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies 3 Topics Covered in Chapter 19 19-1: Optical Principles 19-2: Optical Communication Systems 19-3: Fiber-Optic Cables 19-4: Optical Transmitters and Receivers 19-5: Wavelength-Division Multiplexing 19-6: Passive Optical Networks © 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies 4 19-1: Optical Principles Optical communication systems use light to transmit information from one place to another. Light is a type of electromagnetic radiation like radio waves. Today, infrared light is being used increasingly as the carrier for information in communication systems. The transmission medium is either free space or a light-carrying cable called a fiber-optic cable. Because the frequency of light is extremely high, it can accommodate very high rates of data transmission with excellent reliability. © 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies 5 19-1: Optical Principles Light Light, radio waves, and microwaves are all forms of electromagnetic radiation. Light frequencies fall between microwaves and x-rays. The optical spectrum is made up of infrared, visible, and ultraviolet light. © 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies 6 19-1: Optical Principles Figure 19-1: The optical spectrum. (a) Electromagnetic frequency spectrum showing the optical spectrum. © 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies 7 19-1: Optical Principles Figure 19-1: The optical spectrum. (b) Optical spectrum details. © 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies 8 19-1: Optical Principles Light Light waves are very short and are usually expressed in nanometers or micrometers. Visible light is in the 400- to 700-nm range. Another unit of measure for light wavelength is the angstrom (Ǻ). One angstrom is equal to 10-10 m. © 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies 9 19-1: Optical Principles Light: Speed of Light Light waves travel in a straight line as microwaves do. The speed of light is approximately 300,000,000 m/s, or about 186,000 mi/s, in free space (in air or a vacuum). The speed of light depends upon the medium through which the light passes. © 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies 10 19-1: Optical Principles Physical Optics Physical optics refers to the ways that light can be processed. Light can be processed or manipulated in many ways. Lenses are widely used to focus, enlarge, or decrease the size of light waves from some source. © 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies 11 19-1: Optical Principles Physical Optics: Reflection The simplest way of manipulating light is to reflect it. When light rays strike a reflective surface, the light waves are thrown back or reflected. By using mirrors, the direction of a light beam can be changed. © 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies 12 19-1: Optical Principles Physical Optics: Reflection The law of reflection states that if the light ray strikes a mirror at some angle A from the normal, the reflected light ray will leave the mirror at the same angle B to the normal. In other words, the angle of incidence is equal to the angle of reflection. A light ray from the light source is called an incident ray. © 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies 13 19-1: Optical Principles Figure 19-2: Illustrating reflection and refraction at the interface of two optical materials. © 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies 14 19-1: Optical Principles Physical Optics: Refraction The direction of the light ray can also be changed by refraction, which is the bending of a light ray that occurs when the light rays pass from one medium to another. Refraction occurs when light passes through transparent material such as air, water, and glass. Refraction takes place at the point where two different substances come together. Refraction occurs because light travels at different speeds in different materials. © 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies 15 19-1: Optical Principles Figure 19-3: Examples of the effect of refraction. © 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies 16 19-1: Optical Principles Physical Optics: Refraction The amount of refraction of the light of a material is usually expressed in terms of the index of refraction n. This is the ratio of the speed of light in air to the speed of light in the substance. It is also a function of the light wavelength. © 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies 19-2: Optical Communication Systems 17 Optical communication systems use light as the carrier of the information to be transmitted. The medium may be free space as with radio waves or a special light “pipe” or waveguide known as fiberoptic cable. Using light as a transmission medium provides vastly increased bandwidths. © 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies 19-2: Optical Communication Systems 18 Light Wave Communication in Free Space An optical communication system consists of: A light source modulated by the signal to be transmitted. A photodetector to pick up the light and convert it back into an electrical signal. An amplifier. A demodulator to recover the original information signal. © 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies 19-2: Optical Communication Systems 19 Figure 19-6: Free-space optical communication system. © 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies 19-2: Optical Communication Systems 20 Light Wave Communication in Free Space: Light Sources A transmitter is a light source. Other common light sources are light-emitting diodes (LEDs) and lasers. These sources can follow electrical signal changes as fast as 10 GHz or more. Lasers generate monochromatic, or single-frequency, light that is fully coherent; that is, all the light waves are lined up in sync with one another and as a result produce a very narrow and intense light beam. © 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies 19-2: Optical Communication Systems 21 Light Wave Communication in Free Space: Modulator A modulator is used to vary the intensity of the light beam in accordance with the modulating baseband signal. Amplitude modulation, also referred to as intensity modulation, is used where the information or intelligence signal controls the brightness of the light. A modulator for analog signals can be a power transistor in series with the light source and its dc power supply. © 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies 19-2: Optical Communication Systems 22 Figure 19-7: A simple light transmitter with series amplitude modulator. Analog signals: transistor varies its conduction and acts as a variable resistance. Pulse signals: Transistor acts as a saturated on/off switch. © 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies 19-2: Optical Communication Systems 23 Light Wave Communication in Free Space: Receiver The modulated light wave is picked up by a photodetector. This usually a photodiode or transistor whose conduction is varied by the light. The small signal is amplified and then demodulated to recover the originally transmitted signal. Light beam communication has become far more practical with the invention of the laser. Lasers can penetrate through atmospheric obstacles, making light beam communication more reliable over long distances. © 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies 19-2: Optical Communication Systems 24 Fiber-Optic Communication System Fiber-optic cables many miles long can be constructed and interconnected for the purpose of transmitting information. Fiber-optic cables have immense information-carrying capacity (wide bandwidth). Many thousands of signals can be carried on a light beam through a fiber-optic cable. © 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies 19-2: Optical Communication Systems 25 Fiber-Optic Communication System The information signal to be transmitted may be voice, video, or computer data. Information must be first converted to a form compatible with the communication medium, usually by converting analog signals to digital pulses. These digital pulses are then used to flash a light source off and on very rapidly. The light beam pulses are then fed into a fiber-optic cable, which can transmit them over long distances. © 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies 19-2: Optical Communication Systems 26 Fiber-Optic Communication System At the receiving end, a light-sensitive device known as a photocell, or light detector, is used to detect the light pulses. The photocell converts the light pulses into an electrical signal. The electrical signals are amplified and reshaped back into digital form. They are fed to a decoder, such as a D/A converter, where the original voice or video is recovered. © 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies 19-2: Optical Communication Systems 27 Figure 19-8: Basic elements of a fiber-optic communication system. © 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies 19-2: Optical Communication Systems 28 Applications of Fiber Optics The primary use of fiber optics is in long-distance telephone systems and cable TV systems. Fiber-optic networks also form the core or backbone of the Internet. Fiber-optic communication systems are used to interconnect computers in networks within a large building, to carry control signals in airplanes and in ships, and in TV systems because of the wide bandwidth. © 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies 19-2: Optical Communication Systems 29 Figure 19-10: Benefits of fiber-optic cables over conventional electrical cables. © 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies 30 19-3: Fiber-Optic Cables A fiber-optic cable is thin glass or plastic cable that acts as a light “pipe.” Fiber cables have a circular cross section with a diameter of only a fraction of an inch. A light source is placed at the end of the fiber, and light passes through it and exits at the other end of the cable. Light propagates through the fiber based upon the laws of optics. © 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies 31 19-3: Fiber-Optic Cables Fiber-Optic Cable Construction Fiber-optic cables come in a variety of sizes, shapes, and types. The portion of a fiber-optic cable that carries the light is made from either glass, sometimes called silica, or plastic. Plastic fiber-optic cables are less expensive and more flexible than glass, but the optical characteristics of glass are superior. The glass or plastic optical fiber is contained within an outer cladding. © 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies 32 19-3: Fiber-Optic Cables Fiber-Optic Cable Construction The fiber, which is called the core, is usually surrounded by a protective cladding. In addition to protecting the fiber core from nicks and scratches, the cladding gives strength. Plastic-clad silica (PCS) cable is a glass core with a plastic cladding. Over the cladding is usually a plastic jacket similar to the outer insulation on an electrical cable. Fiber-optic cables are also available in flat ribbon form. © 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies 33 19-3: Fiber-Optic Cables Figure 19-12: Basic construction of a fiber-optic cable. © 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies 34 19-3: Fiber-Optic Cables Figure 19-13: Typical layers in a fiber-optic cable. © 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies 35 19-3: Fiber-Optic Cables Types of Fiber-Optic Cables There are two ways of classifying fiber-optic cables. The first method is by the index of refraction, which varies across the cross section of the cable. The second method of classification is by mode, which refers to the various paths the light rays can take in passing through the fiber. © 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies 36 19-3: Fiber-Optic Cables Types of Fiber-Optic Cables The two ways to define the index of refraction variation across a cable are the step index and the graded index. Step index refers to the fact that there is a sharply defined step in the index of refraction where the fiber core and cladding interface. With the graded index cable, the index of refraction of the core is not constant. It varies smoothly and continuously over the diameter of the core. © 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies 37 19-3: Fiber-Optic Cables Figure 19-15: A step index cable cross section. Figure 19-16: Graded index cable cross section. © 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies 38 19-3: Fiber-Optic Cables Types of Fiber-Optic Cables: Cable Mode Mode refers to the number of paths for light rays in the cable. There are two classifications: single mode and multimode. In single mode, light follows a single path through the core. In multimode, the light takes many paths. © 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies 39 19-3: Fiber-Optic Cables Types of Fiber-Optic Cables In practice, there are three commonly used types of fiber-optic cable: 1. Multimode step index 2. Single-mode step index 3. Multimode graded index © 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies 40 19-3: Fiber-Optic Cables Types of Fiber-Optic Cables: Multimode Step Index Cable The multimode step index fiber cable is probably the most common and widely used type. It is the easiest to make and therefore the least expensive. It is widely used for short to medium distances at relatively low pulse frequencies. The main advantage of a multimode stepped index fiber is its large size. © 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies 41 19-3: Fiber-Optic Cables Figure 19-17: A multimode step index cable. © 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies 42 19-3: Fiber-Optic Cables Types of Fiber-Optic Cables: Single-Mode Step Index Cable A single-mode or monomode step index fiber cable eliminates modal dispersion by making the core so small that the total number of modes or paths through the core is minimized. Typical core sizes are 2 to 15 μm. The pulse repetition rate can be high and the maximum amount of information can be carried in this type cable. They are preferred for long-distance transmission and maximum information content. © 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies 43 19-3: Fiber-Optic Cables Types of Fiber-Optic Cables: Single-Mode Step Index Cable This type of cable is extremely small, difficult to make, and therefore very expensive. It is also more difficult to handle. Splicing and making interconnections are more difficult. For proper operation, an expensive, super-intense light source such as a laser must be used. © 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies 44 19-3: Fiber-Optic Cables Figure 19-19: Single-mode step index cable. © 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies 45 19-3: Fiber-Optic Cables Types of Fiber-Optic Cables: Multimode Graded Index Cable Multimode graded index fiber cables have several modes, or paths, of transmission through the cable, but they are much more orderly and predictable. These cables can be used at very high pulse rates and a considerable amount of information can be carried. This type of cable is much wider in diameter, with core sizes in the 50- to 100-μm range. It is easier to splice and interconnect, and cheaper, less intense light sources can be used. © 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies 46 19-3: Fiber-Optic Cables Figure 19-20: A multimode graded index cable. © 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies 47 19-3: Fiber-Optic Cables Fiber-Optic Cable Specifications The most important specifications of a fiber-optic cable are: Size Attenuation Bandwidth © 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies 48 19-3: Fiber-Optic Cables Fiber-Optic Cable Specifications: Cable Size Fiber-optic cable comes in a variety of sizes and configurations. Size is normally specified as the diameter of the core, and cladding is given in micrometers (μm). Cables come in two common varieties, simplex and duplex. Simplex cable is a single-fiber core cable. In a common duplex cable, two cables are combined within a single outer cladding. © 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies 49 19-3: Fiber-Optic Cables Fiber-Optic Cable Specifications: Attenuation The most important specification of a fiber-optic cable is its attenuation. Attenuation refers to the loss of light energy as the light pulse travels from one end of the cable to the other. Absorption refers to how light energy is converted to heat in the core material because of the impurity of the glass or plastic. Scattering refers to the light lost due to light waves entering at the wrong angle and being lost in the cladding because of refraction. © 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies 50 19-3: Fiber-Optic Cables Fiber-Optic Cable Specifications: Bandwidth The bandwidth of a fiber-optic cable determines the maximum speed of the data pulses the cable can handle. The bandwidth is normally stated in terms of megahertz-kilometers (MHz-km). A common 62.5/125-μm cable has a bandwidth in the 100- to 300-MHz∙km range. As the length of the cable is increased, the bandwidth decreases in proportion. © 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies 51 19-3: Fiber-Optic Cables Fiber-Optic Cable Specifications: Frequency Range Most fiber-optic cable operates over a relatively wide light frequency range, although it is normally optimized for a narrow range of light frequencies. The most commonly used light frequencies are 850, 1310, and 1550 nm. © 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies 52 19-3: Fiber-Optic Cables Connectors and Splicing When long fiber-optic cables are needed, two or more cables can be spliced together. A variety of connectors are available that provide a convenient way to splice cables and attach them to transmitters, receivers, and repeaters. © 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies 53 19-3: Fiber-Optic Cables Connectors and Splicing Connectors are special mechanical assemblies that allow fiber-optic cables to be connected to one another. Most fiber-optic connectors either snap or twist together or screw together with threaded ends. Connectors ensure precise alignment of the cables to ensure maximum light transfer between cables. Dozens of different kinds of connectors are available for different applications. The two most common connector designations are ST (bayonet connectors) and SMA. © 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies 54 19-3: Fiber-Optic Cables Connectors and Splicing Splicing fiber-optic cable means permanently attaching the end of one cable to another. This is usually done without a connector. The first step is to cut the cable, called cleaving the cable, so that it is perfectly square on the end. The two cables to be spliced are then permanently bonded together by heating them instantaneously to high temperatures so that they fuse or melt together. Special tools and machines must be used in cleaving and splicing to ensure clean cuts and perfect alignment. © 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies 55 19-3: Fiber-Optic Cables Figure 19-26: Details of a fiber cable connector. © 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies 19-4: Optical Transmitters and Receivers 56 In an optical communication system, transmission begins with the transmitter, which consists of a carrier generator and a modulator. The carrier is a light beam that is modulated by turning it on and off with digital pulses. The basic transmitter is essentially a light source. The receiver is a light or photodetector that converts the received light back into an electrical signal. © 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies 19-4: Optical Transmitters and Receivers 57 Light Sources Conventional light sources such as incandescent lamps cannot be used in fiber-optic systems because they are too slow. The two most commonly used light sources are lightemitting diodes (LEDs) and semiconductor lasers. A light-emitting diode is a PN-junction semiconductor device that emits light when forward-biased. Semiconductor lasers emit coherent monochromatic light. © 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies 19-4: Optical Transmitters and Receivers 58 Light Transmitters: LED Transmitter An LED light transmitter consists of the LED and its associated driving circuitry. The binary data pulses are applied to a logic gate which operates a transistor switch that turns the LED off and on. Most LEDs are capable of generating power levels up to approximately several thousand microwatts. LED transmitters are good for only short distances. © 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies 19-4: Optical Transmitters and Receivers 59 Figure 19-30: Optical transmitter circuit using an LED. © 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies 19-4: Optical Transmitters and Receivers 60 Light Transmitters: Laser Transmitter Most of the circuitry is contained in a single IC. A multiplexer either passes the input data directly to the laser driver transistors or selects data that is clocked via a flip-flop and an external differential clock signal. Enable/disable signals turn the laser off or on. The laser diode connects to the driver by several resistors and a capacitor that set the current and switching response. Most laser packages also contain a photodiode that monitors the laser light output and provides feedback to the APC circuit. © 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies 19-4: Optical Transmitters and Receivers 61 Figure 19-31: A typical laser driver circuit. (Courtesy Vitesse Semiconductor Corp.) © 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies 19-4: Optical Transmitters and Receivers 62 Light Detectors The receiver part of the optical communication system consists of a detector that senses the light pulses and converts them into an electrical signal. This signal is amplified and shaped into the original serial digital data. The most critical component is the light sensor. The most widely used light sensor is a photodiode. It is a silicon PN-junction diode that is sensitive to light. © 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies 19-4: Optical Transmitters and Receivers 63 Light Detectors The phototransistor amplifies the small leakage current into a larger, more useful output. PIN diodes are more sensitive than the PN-junction photodiode. The avalanche photodiode (APD) is widely used and is the fastest and most sensitive photodiode, but it is expensive and its circuitry is complex. © 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies 19-4: Optical Transmitters and Receivers 64 Figure 19-35: Structure of a PIN photodiode. © 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies 19-4: Optical Transmitters and Receivers 65 A typical light receiver circuit is an IC using an external PIN or APD photodiode. It can operate at rates to 3.125 Gbps. Optical transceivers or transponders are assemblies called optical modules into which both the light transmitter and light receiver are packaged to form a single module. These modules form the interface between the optical transmission medium and the electrical interface to the computer or other networking equipment. © 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies 19-4: Optical Transmitters and Receivers 66 Power Budget A power budget, sometimes called a flux budget, is an accounting of all the attenuation and gains in a fiberoptic system. There are numerous sources of losses in a fiber-optic cable system: Cable losses Connections between cable and light source and photodetector. Connectors Splices Cable bends © 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies 19-4: Optical Transmitters and Receivers 67 Power Budget To calculate the power budget: First, calculate all the losses; add all the decibel loss factors. Also add a 4-dB contingency factor. Calculate the power gain needed to overcome the loss: dB = 10 log Pt / Pr where Pt is the transmitted power and Pr is the received power. © 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies 19-4: Optical Transmitters and Receivers 68 Power Budget: Regeneration and Amplification There are several ways to overcome the attenuation experienced by a signal as it travels over fiber-optic cable. 1. Use newer types of cable that inherently have lower losses and fewer dispersion effects. © 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies 19-4: Optical Transmitters and Receivers 69 Power Budget: Regeneration and Amplification 2. Use regeneration. Regeneration is the process of converting the weak optical signal to its electrical equivalent, then amplifying and reshaping it electronically, and retransmitting it on another laser. This process is generally known as optical-electrical- optical (OEO) conversion. 3. Use an optical amplifier (the best option). Optical amplifiers boost signal level without OEO conversion. © 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies 19-4: Optical Transmitters and Receivers 70 Figure 19-39: An erbium-doped fiber amplifier. © 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies 19-5: Wavelength-Division Multiplexing 71 Data is most easily multiplexed on fiber-optic cable by using time-division multiplexing (TDM). Developments in optical components make it possible to use frequency-division multiplexing (FDM) on fiberoptic cable (called wavelength-division multiplexing, or WDM), which permits multiple channels of data to operate over the cable’s light-wave bandwidth. WDM has been widely used in radio, TV, and telephone systems. © 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies 19-5: Wavelength-Division Multiplexing 72 The first coarse WDM (CWDM) systems used two channels operating on 1310 and 1550 nm. Later, four channels of data were multiplexed. Dense wavelength-division multiplexing (DWDM) refers to the use of 8, 16, 32, 64, or more data channels on a single fiber. Arrayed waveguide grating (AWG) is an array of optical waveguides of different lengths made with silica on a silicon chip. It can be used for both multiplexing and demultiplexing. © 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies 73 19-6: Passive Optical Networks The primary applications for fiber-optic networks are in wide-area networks such as long-distance telephone service and the Internet backbone. As speeds have increased and prices have declined, fiber-optic technology has been adopted into MANs, storage-area networks (SANs), and LANs. © 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies 74 19-6: Passive Optical Networks A newer and growing fiber-optic system is the passive optical network (PON), a type of MAN technology. This technology is also referred to as fiber to the home (FTTH). Similar terms are fiber to the premises or fiber to the curb, designated as FTTP or FTTC. © 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies 75 19-6: Passive Optical Networks The PON Concept Most optical networking uses active components to perform optical-to-electrical and electrical-to-optical (OEO) conversions during transmission and reception. This is an expensive and problematic structure. One solution to this problem is to use a passive optical network. The term passive implies no OEO repeaters, amplifiers, or any other device that uses power. © 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies 76 19-6: Passive Optical Networks The PON Concept In a PON, the transmitter sends the signal out over the network cable, and a receiver at the destination picks it up. There are no intervening repeaters or amplifiers. Only passive optical devices such as splitters and combiners are used. By using low-attenuation fiber-optic cable, powerful lasers, and sensitive receivers, it is possible to achieve distances of up to about 20 km without intervening active equipment. © 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies 77 19-6: Passive Optical Networks Figure 19-42: A passive optical network (PON) used as a high-speed Internet connection and for TV distribution in fiber to the home systems. © 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies