OPTICAL

COMMUNICATIONS
Lecture notes for LE426
by
Urachada Ketprom
June 2012 October 2012
1
Todays Agenda
Who is who?
Instructor: Urachada Ketprom in a nutshell
Who are you?
Syllabus
Course Schedule
Course Homework and Project
Add/Drop/Withdraw
Overview of optical communications
Optical transmission
Optical components
Optical communication
Optical network


2
Who am I in a nutshell?
3
Educational background
4
Education
Ph.D., Electrical Engineering, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, September
2005
Dissertation: Line-of-sight propagation of optical wave through multiple-scatter
channel in
optical wireless communication system
MSEE, Electrical Engineering, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, June 1999
BSEE, Electrical Engineering, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, June 1997

Research Interest
RFID applications, Traceability system, Electromagnetics theory and devices
Channel characterization for free space optics (FSO) communication, Optical
communication, Optical wireless communication,
Current Workplace www.etda.or.th
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6
6
Optical Wireless Communication(OWC)
Free space optics (FSO)
Line-of-sight propagation
Fiberless optics transmission
Solution of Last mile problem
Advantages
Low cost
Easy installation
High security
Freedom from FCC

www. freespaceoptics.org
Disadvantage
Poor performance in
adverse weather
Fog, rain, snow, low
clouds

Effect of fog is dominant: its size is the most comparable to optical wavelength
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7
OWC Links in Fog
Bloom et.al
[2003]
Design engineer
Truly understanding the effect of fog
Channel modeling
Who are you?
5 Ws questions
WHO?
WHAT?
WHEN?
WHERE?
WHY?


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Syllabus time!!!
LE 426 OPTICAL COMMUNICATIONS

Instructor: Urachada Ketprom

Prerequisite: LE 200

Textbook: Harry J. R. Dutton, Understanding Optical Communications, International
Technical Support Organization, http://www.redbooks.ibm.com.

Objective: The course objective is to provide a basic understanding of present optical
communication systems as well as future engineering challenges

Course Description:
This course contains an introduction to the fundamental principles and components of optical
communications. The course objective is to provide a basic understanding of present optical
communication systems as well as future engineering challenges. The course covers the
basic concepts of light transmission in optical fiber channels, channel multiplexing,
wavelength division multiplexing, and fiber optics. The course also includes the basic
function principles of optical components such as optical fiber, light emitting diodes, lasers,
optical amplifiers, optical filters, and optical receivers

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LE 426 Optical Communications
Lecture Time: Tuesday 1:30 pm - 4:30 pm

Evaluation: Midterm (25 points)
Final Exam (35 points)
Attendant and Assignment (20 points)
Project (20 points)
Lecture Schedule:
Start: June 26
th
,2012
End: October 4
th
,2012
10
15 weeks of lectures
Week 1: Chapter 1 Introduction
Week 2: Chapter 2 Optical Fiber (part I)
Week 3: Chapter 2 Optical Fiber (part II)
Week 4: Chapter 3 Optical Sources
Week 5: Chapter 4 and 5 Optical Detectors and Optical Devices
Week 6: Midterm Examination
Week 7: Chapter 5 Optical Devices
Week 8: Chapter 6 Fiber Manufacture, Cables and Connectors
Week 9: Chapter 7 Optical Communication Systems (part I)
Week 10: Chapter 7 Optical Communication Systems (part II)
Week 11: Chapter 8 Optical Link Connections in Electronic Networks
Week 12: Chapter 9 Wavelength Division Multiplexing
Week 13: Chapter 10 Lightwave Networks
Week 14: Chapter 11 Fiber in the (Local) Loop-FITL
Week 15: Chapter 12 Research Directions
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Chapter 1 Introduction
THEN
Man and fire signal
(beacon)
source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beacon
NOW
High Speed Communication
source: http://2.bp.blogspot.com
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Milestones of optical communications
The invention of the LASER (in the late 1950's)
LASER = Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission Radiation
The development of low loss optical fiber (1970's)
The attenuation of the optical fiber drops from 2-3dB/km at 0.8m
down to 0.4dB/km at 1.3m. Silica fibers have a local minima at 1.3m.
The invention of the optical fiber amplifier (1980's)
Erbium Doped Fiber Amplifier (EDFA) works in 1550 nm band
The invention of the in-fiber Bragg grating (1990's)
Fiber Bragg gratings are used to stabilize the output of a laser
and to filter out wavelengths in a WDM system.
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Why Optical Communications?

Bandwidth, bandwidth, bandwidth...

One fiber can carry up to 6.4 Tb/s (10
12
b/s) or 100 million conversations simultaneously

Optical frequencies are much higher than electronic frequencies
Much higher modulation frequencies greater transmission rates
In optical links, bandwidth is much less dependent on link length than
in baseband electronic links
Optical attenuation is independent of modulation frequency
An optical communication system can be upgraded to higher bandwidth
by replacing the transmitters and receivers, but not the cable (using
Wave Division Multiplexing = WDM)



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Advantages outweighs disadvantages
Main Advantages
Weight and size
Material cost
Information capacity
No electrical connection
No electromagnetic
interference
Distances between
regenerators
Open ended capacity
Better security

Main Disadvantages
Installation cost
Joining cables: Pigtailing
Bending cables: Light
Escaping
Slow standards development
Gamma radiation

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Wavelength, not frequency
Light can be characterized in terms of its wavelength
Analogous to the frequency of a radio signal
The wavelength of light is expressed in microns or
nanometers
The visible light spectrum ranges from ultraviolet to infrared
Optical fiber systems operate in three IR windows around
800 nm,1310 nm and 1550 nm

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Optical Transmission
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Optical components
Source: Laser
Channel: Fiber optics
Receiver: Detectors
Others
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Optical communication system
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Media in the fiber
optical channel

1.Voice(SONET/Te
lephony) -The
largest traffic

2. Video(TV)
over Hybrid Fiber
Coaxial (HFC) or
Fiber-Twisted
Pair/Digital
Subscriber Loops
(DSL)

3. DataInternet
traffic

Optical Network
Networks may be characterized by their geographic
extent such as:
. Local Area Network (LAN)
. Metropolitan Area Network (MAN)
. Wide Area Network (WAN)
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Optical communication conclusion
Coaxial cable is made of copper, fiber optics is made of
glass
Most popular wavelengths for fiber optic waveguide:
0.8 microns, 1.3 microns, 1.55 microns
- Optical communication has advantages over radio wave
communication in weight and size but has disadvantages
in installation cost.
- Optical wireless communication is best operating when
the weather is clear.





21
Next class
Please review your old physics book
Snells law? Reflection , Refraction, Diffraction
Chapter 2 : Optical Fibers
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