Optical Communication
Dr. S. K. Das, Dept. of EC
10/01/2023
Optical Communication
• Evolution
• Applications
• Need for Optical Fiber
• Optical Communication Systems
• Fiber-optic communication
• Optical Fiber
• Advantages of Optical Fiber
• Fiber Optic Cable
• Optical Fiber Construction
• Five Generations of Light wave Systems
Optical Communication Systems
Optical Communication Systems
• Optical communication systems differ in principle from microwave systems only in the
frequency range of the carrier wave used to carry the information i.e. 200 THz & 1 GHz respectively.
• An increase in the information capacity is expected i.e. 10, 000 times.
• Optical communication system consists of a transmitter, a communication channel and a
receiver.
• Optical communication systems can be classified as guided and unguided.
• In the guided lightwave systems the optical beam emitted by the transmitter remains confined,
using optical fibers.
• In the unguided optical communication systems the optical beam emitted by the transmitter
spreads in space (FSO/LiFi), similar to spreading of microwaves.
• Unguided optical systems are less suitable for broadcasting applications than microwave
systems because optical beams spreads mainly in the forward direction because of their short
wavelength.
Fiber-optic communication
• This is a method of transmitting information from one place
to another by sending light through an optical fiber.
• The light forms an electromagnetic carrier wave that is
modulated to carry information.
Fiber-optic communication (Cont…)
The process of communicating using fiber-optics involves the
following basic steps:
Creating the optical signal using a transmitter.
Relaying the signal along the fiber, ensuring that the signal
does not become too distorted or weak.
Receiving the optical signal and converting it into an
electrical signal.
Optical Fiber
An optical fiber (or fiber) is a glass or plastic fiber that
carries light along its length.
Light is kept in the "core" of the optical fiber by total
internal reflection.
Advantages of Optical Fiber
Thinner
Less Expensive
Higher Carrying Capacity
Less Signal Degradation
Light Signals
Non-Flammable
Light Weight
Advantages of fiber optics (Cont…)
Much Higher Bandwidth (Gbps) - Thousands of channels
can be multiplexed together over one strand of fiber
Immunity to Noise - Immune to electromagnetic interference
(EMI).
Safety - Doesn’t transmit electrical signals, making it safe in
environments like a gas pipeline.
High Security - Impossible to “tap into.”
Advantages of fiber optics (Cont…)
Less Loss - Repeaters can be spaced 75 miles (one span)
apart (fibers can be made to have only 0.2 dB/km of
attenuation). 75 x 1.60934 = 120.7005 km.
Reliability - More resilient than copper in extreme
environmental conditions.
Size - Lighter and more compact than copper.
Flexibility - Unlike impure, brittle glass, fiber is physically
very flexible.
Fiber Optic Cable
Optical Fiber Construction
• Core – thin glass center
of the fiber where light
travels.
• Cladding – outer optical
material surrounding the
core
• Buffer Coating
Optical Fiber
• The core, and the lower-refractive-index cladding, are
typically made of high-quality silica glass, though they can
both be made of plastic as well.
Fiber Optic Layers
• Consists of three concentric sections
plastic jacket glass or plastic
cladding fiber core
Fiber Optic Cable
Application of Fiber Optic Cable
• Relatively new transmission medium used by telephone
companies in place of long-distance trunk lines
• Also used by private companies in implementing local data
networks
• It require a light source with injection laser diode (ILD) or
light-emitting diodes (LED)
Five Generations of Light wave Systems
First generation
• Operating near 800 nm and used GaAs semiconductor
laser, commercially available in 1980
• Operated at bit rate of 45 Mbps and repeater spacing of about
10 km (larger compared that of coaxial cable)
Five Generations of Light wave Systems
Second generation
• Operating near 1300 nm where fiber loss is 1 dB/km
• By 1987 commercially available systems were operating at
bit rates of up to 1.7 Gbps and repeater spacing of about 50
km(SMF).
Five Generations of Light wave Systems
Third generation
• Fiber has minimum loss at 1550.
• In 1990 commercially available systems were operating at
2.5Gbps and capable of operating at 10 Gbps. (DSF with
single-longitudinal-mode lasers)
• Typical repeaters spacing is around 60-70 km
Five Generations of Light wave Systems
Fourth generation
• A drawback of third generation 1.55µmis that the signal is
regenerated periodically by using electronic repeater.
• The fourth generation makes use of optical amplifiers (1989) for
increasing the repeater spacing and WDM for increasing the bit rate.
• It employs erbium-doped fiber amplifiers(1990), 60- 100 km apart.
• Several WDM systems were deployed across the Atlantic and
Pacific oceans during 1998-2001 in response to the Internet-
induced increase in the data traffic; they have increased the total
capacity by orders of magnitudes.
Five Generations of Light wave Systems
Fifth generation
• Concerned with finding the fiber dispersion problems
• Optical amplifiers have solved the loss problem but made
the dispersion problem worse.
• Solution is based on the concept of optical solitons - optical
pulses that preserve their shape during propagation by
counteracting the effect of dispersion through the fiber
nonlinearity.
