Higher technological institute

Electrical Engineering Department

Communications 3
EEC 242

Presented BY

Dr. Kareem Ahmed Badawi

 Grading

Activity Grade
Attendance 10
Assignments 10
Mid Term Examination 20
Quiz (1) 5
Quiz (2) 5
Tutorial 10
Final Examination 40
Total 100

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 Contents

1 Chapter 1: Transmission Media

2 Chapter 2: OFC systems

3 Chapter 3: Optical Fiber classifications

4 Chapter 4: Losses in optical fiber systems

5 Chapter 5: Semiconductor light source/detectors

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 Chapter 3

Optical fiber classifications

 Optical fiber classifications
1. According to the number of modes:
A. Single mode fiber (SMF).
B. Multi mode fiber (MMF).

2. According to the Refractive index profile:

A. Step index (SI).
B. Graded index (GI).

3. According to the number of modes of refractive index profile:

A. Single mode fiber - Step index (SMF-SI).
B. Multi mode fiber - Step index (MMF-SI).
C. Multi mode fiber - Graded index (MMF-GI).

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 Modes classification
1. Single mode fiber (SMF):
• A fiber cable featuring a small light-carrying core of about 9 micrometers (µm) in diameter.
• Single mode fiber has a smaller core than multimode and is suitable for long haul
installations.
• Single mode systems are generally more expensive.

2. Multi-mode fiber (MMF):

• A fiber cable with a core of 50 µm or above, the larger core means multiple modes
(or rays of light) can travel down the core simultaneously.
• Multimode fiber has a larger core and is recommended for fiber runs less than 400 m.
• Multimode systems are generally less expensive.

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 Refractive index classification
1. Step index (SI):
• Step index fiber is a fiber in which the core is of a uniform refractive index and there is a sharp
decrease in the index of refraction at the cladding.
• In a step index fiber, the light rays propagate in zig-zag manner inside the core., i.e. the rays travel in
the fiber as meridional rays and they cross the fiber axis for every reflection.

2. Graded index (GI):

• Graded index fiber is a type of fiber where the refractive index of the core is maximum at the center
core and then it decreases towards core-cladding interface.
• The light rays in graded index fiber, propagate in the form of skew rays or helical rays, i.e. they will not
cross the fiber axis.
• It is important to note that inside the fiber, signal distortion is very low even though the rays travel
with different speeds.

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number of modes of refractive index Classification
Single Mode Fiber – Step Index (SMF-SI)
Description
1. Core diameter is between 8 – 12 µm.
2. Cladding diameter is 125 µm.
3. Support only one mode.
4. Uses laser diode as a source.

Advantages
1. Low attenuation ( 0.25 – 0.5 dB/km).
2. Support high data rate.
3. It has low dispersion.
4. Support high capacity (i.e. bandwidth distance product 5 GHz . Km).

Disadvantages Applications
1. Expensive. 1. Long distance communications
2. It is difficult to manufacture and to maintain.
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.
number of modes of refractive index Classification
Multi-Mode Fiber – Step Index (MMF-SI)

Description
1. Core diameter is 50 – 62.5 µm.
2. Cladding diameter is 125 µm.
3. Support multiple modes.
4. Uses Light Emitting Diode (LED) as a source.

Advantages
1. It is cheap since it uses LED as photo source.
2. It is simple to manufacture it and easy to couple light into it.

Disadvantages
1. High attenuation. Applications
2. High dispersion. 1. Short distance communications
3. Low data rate.
4. Low capacity (i.e. bandwidth distance product 200 MHz . Km).
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number of modes of refractive index Classification
Multi-Mode Fiber – Graded Index (MMF-GI)
Description
1. Core diameter is 50 – 62.5 µm.
2. Cladding diameter is 125 µm.
3. Support multiple modes.
4. Uses Light Emitting Diode (LED) as a source.

Advantages
1. It is cheap since it uses LED as photo source.
2. It has a lower dispersion than MMF-SI.

Disadvantages
1. High attenuation.
2. Low data rate.
3. Low capacity (i.e. bandwidth distance product 200 MHz . Km).

Applications
1. Long distance communications compared to MMF-SI, however Lower than SMF-SI. 10/17
 The normalized frequency (v)

• It is a dimensionless parameter.
• It represents the merit that determine how many modes can support into the fiber.

2𝜋𝑎 2𝜋𝑎
𝑉= × NA = 𝑛1 2∆
𝜆 𝜆

• Where,
• a … is the core radius.
• ∆ … is the relative refractive index difference.
• 𝜆 … is the operating wavelength. Note
• NA … is the numerical aperture. For SMF, V≤ 2.405
• 𝑛1 … is the core refractive index.

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 The number of modes (M)

• The number of modes represents the total number of light rays traveling in an optical
fiber cable.

𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝑺𝑴𝑭 − 𝑺𝑰 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝑴𝑴𝑭 − 𝑮𝑰

𝑉2 ∝ ∝
𝑀𝑆𝐼 = = 𝑘 2 𝑎2 𝑛12 ∆ 𝑀𝐺𝐼 = × 𝑀𝑆𝐼 = 𝑘 2 𝑎2 𝑛12 ∆
2 ∝ +2 ∝ +2

• Where,
• ∝ … is the parabolic refractive index (∝ =2).
2𝜋
• 𝑘…= .
𝜆
• ∆ … is the relative refractive index difference.
• 𝜆 … is the operating wavelength.
• V … is the normalized frequency.
• 𝑛1 … is the core refractive index.
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 Optical fiber cable power losses

• Cladding power losses

• It is the ratio between the power wasted in the OFC cladding to the total power.

𝑃𝑐𝑙𝑎𝑑𝑑𝑖𝑛𝑔 4
=
𝑃𝑡𝑜𝑡𝑎𝑙 3 𝑀

• Attenuation if optical fiber

• It is the ratio of optical input power (Pin) to the optical output power (Pout) from a fiber of
length (L).
• It does not change the signal shape.
• It can be enhanced by using repeater.
• Signal attenuation is also known by fiber loss or signal loss.

𝑑𝐵 𝑃𝑖𝑛
∝. 𝐿 = 10 log Where,
𝐾𝑚 𝑃𝑜𝑢𝑡
∝ … is the attenuation
L … is the cable length in Km 13/17
Signal attenuation in Optical Fiber

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 Assignment No. 1

For an optical fiber cable that has an attenuation of 0.5 dB/Km at a wavelength of 1.55 µm,
if Pin= 1mw and Pout= 0.01 mw. Calculate the length of the cable.

Solution :
L = 40 Km

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 Assignment No. 2
If the mean optical power launched into an 8 Km length of fiber is 120 µw and the mean
optical power at the output is 3 µw .

Determine:
A. The overall signal attenuation in dB through the fiber assuming there are no connector
or splices.
B. The signal attenuation per kilometer for the fiber.
C. The overall signal attenuation for a 10 Km optical fiber using the same fiber with splices
( i.e. fiber connectors , at 1 Km intervals, each giving an attenuation of 1 dB).
D. The output/input power ratio in C.
Note
𝑃𝑖𝑛
Solution : • dB = 10 log
𝑃𝑜𝑢𝑡
(16 dB , 2 dB/Km , 29 dB, 0.0013 w)
𝑃
• dBm = 10 log … relative to 1mw
1𝑚𝑤
𝑃
• dBw = 10 log … relative to 1w
1𝑤

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Thanks