DAR ES SALAAM INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY (DIT)

• Module title: FIBER OPTIC COMMUNICATIONS

• Module code: CST 05212

• Tutorial Assistant: Mr Haroun Hashim

FIBER CABLE
Fiber Optic Communication
Systems
• Fiber-optic communication is a method of transmitting information from one
place to another by sending pulses of light through an optical fiber. The light
forms an electromagnetic carrier wave that is modulated to carry information.
Fiber is preferred over electrical cabling when high bandwidth, long distance,
or immunity to electromagnetic interference are required.
This type of communication can transmit voice, video, and telemetry through
local area networks, computer networks, or across long distances.
Optical fiber is used by many telecommunications companies to transmit
telephone signals, Internet communication, and cable television signals.
Researchers at Bell Labs have reached internet speeds of over 100 peta bit ×
kilometer per second using fiber-optic communication.
Fiber communication
• The process of communicating using fiber-optics involves the
following basic steps:

1) Creating the optical signal involving the use of a transmitter, usually

from an electrical signal
2) Relaying the signal along the fiber, ensuring that the signal does not
become too distorted or weak
3) Receiving the optical signal 4. converting it into an electrical signal
 Advantages of Fiber Optic Transmission

• Optical fibers have largely replaced copper wire communications in core

networks in the developed world, because of its advantages over electrical
transmission. Here are the main advantages of fiber optic transmission.
1. Extremely High Bandwidth: No other cable-based data transmission medium
offers the bandwidth that fiber does. The volume of data that fiber optic
cables transmit per unit time is far great than copper cables.
2. Longer Distance: in fiber optic transmission, optical cables are capable of
providing low power loss, which enables signals can be transmitted to a
longer distance than copper cables.
3. Resistance to Electromagnetic Interference: in practical cable deployment, it’s
inevitable to meet environments like power substations, heating, ventilating
and other industrial sources of interference. However, fiber has a very low
rate of bit error (10 EXP-13), as a result of fiber being so resistant to
electromagnetic interference. Fiber optic transmission is virtually noise free.
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4) Low Security Risk: the growth of the fiber optic communication market is
mainly driven by increasing awareness about data security concerns and
use of the alternative raw material. Data or signals are transmitted via light
in fiber optic transmission. Therefore there is no way to detect the data
being transmitted by "listening in" to the electromagnetic energy "leaking"
through the cable, which ensures the absolute security of information.
5) Small Size: fiber optic cable has a very small diameter. For instance, the
cable diameter of a single OM3 multimode fiber is about 2mm, which is
smaller than that of coaxial copper cable. Small size saves more space in
fiber optic transmission.
6) Light Weight: fiber optic cables are made of glass or plastic, and they are
thinner than copper cables. These make them lighter and easy to install.
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7) Easy to Accommodate Increasing Bandwidth: with the use of fiber optic
cable, new equipment can be added to existing cable infrastructure.
Because optical cable can provide vastly expanded capacity over the
originally laid cable. And WDM (wavelength division multiplexing)
technology, including CWDM and DWDM, enables fiber cables the
ability to accommodate more bandwidth.
Disadvantages of Fiber Optic
Transmission

• Though fiber optic transmission brings lots of convenience, its

disadvantages also cannot be ignored.
1) Fragility: usually optical fiber cables are made of glass, which lends
to they are more fragile than electrical wires. In addition, glass can
be affected by various chemicals including hydrogen gas (a problem
in underwater cables), making them need more cares when
deployed under ground.
2) Difficult to Install: it’s not easy to splice fiber optic cable. And if you
bend them too much, they will break. And fiber cable is highly
susceptible to becoming cut or damaged during installation or
construction activities. All these make it difficult to install.
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3) Attenuation & Dispersion: as transmission distance getting longer, light will be
attenuated and dispersed, which requires extra optical components like EDFA to be
added.
4) Cost Is Higher Than Copper Cable: despite the fact that fiber optic installation costs
are dropping by as much as 60% a year, installing fiber optic cabling is still relatively
higher than copper cables. Because copper cable installation does not need extra
care like fiber cables. However, optical fiber is still moving into the local loop, and
through technologies such as FTTx (fiber to the home, premises, etc.) and PONs
(passive optical networks), enabling subscriber and end user broadband access.
5) Special Equipment Is Often Required: to ensure the quality of fiber optic
transmission, some special equipment is needed. For example, equipment such as
OTDR (optical time-domain reflectometry) is required and expensive, specialized
optical test equipment such as optical probes and power meter are needed at most
fiber endpoints to properly provide testing of optical fiber.
Application of optical fiber
• Fiber optic cables find many uses in a wide variety of industries and
applications. Some uses of fiber optic cables include:
In Medical,Used as light guides, imaging tools and also as lasers for
surgeries.
 Defense/Government,Used as hydrophones for seismic waves and
SONAR , as wiring in aircraft, submarines and other vehicles and also for
field networking
Data Storage, Used for data transmission
Telecommunications,Fiber is laid and used for transmitting and receiving
purposes
Networking,Used to connect users and servers in a variety of network
settings and help increase the speed and accuracy of data transmission
Industrial/Commercial, Used for imaging in hard to reach areas, as
wiring where EMI is an issue, as sensory devices to make temperature,
pressure and other measurements, and as wiring in automobiles and
in industrial settings
Broadcast/CATV , The Broadcast/cable companies are using fiber optic
cables for wiring CATV, HDTV, internet, video on demand and other
applications.Fiber optic cables are used for lighting and imaging and as
sensors to measure and monitor a vast array of variables. Fiber optic
cables are also used in research and development and testing across
all the above mentioned industries
Other applications
• The optical fibers have many applications. Some of them are as
follows −
• Used in telephone systems
• Used in sub-marine cable networks
• Used in data link for computer networks, CATV Systems
• Used in CCTV surveillance cameras
• Used for connecting fire, police, and other emergency services.
• Used in hospitals, schools, and traffic management systems.
• They have many industrial uses and also used for in heavy duty
constructions
Block Diagram of Optical Fiber
Communication System
Optical fiber communication system
Parts of optical fiber
communication system
• Message origin:
Generally message origin is from a transducer that converts a non-electrical
message into an electrical signal. Common examples include microphones for
converting sound waves into currents and video (TV) cameras for converting
images into current. For data transfer between computers, the message is
already in electrical form.
• Modulator:
The modulator has two main functions.
1) It converts the electrical message into proper format.
2) It impresses this signal onto the wave generated by the carrier source.
with distinct categories of modulation are used i.e. analog modulation and
digital modulation.
• Carrier source:
Carrier source generates the wave on which the information is
transmitted. This wave is called the carrier. For fiber optic system, a
laser diode (LD) or a light emitting diode (LED) is used. They can be
called as optic oscillators, they provide stable, single frequency waves
with sufficient power for long distance propagation.
• Channel coupler:
Coupler feeds the power into information channel. For an atmospheric
optic system, the channel coupler is a lens used for collimating the light
emitted by the source and directing this light towards the receiver. The
coupler must efficiently transfer the modulated light beam from the
source to the optic fiber. The channel coupler design is an important
part of fiber system because of possibility of high losses.
• Information channel:
The information channel is the path between the transmitter and receiver. In
fiber optic communications, a glass or plastic fiber is the channel. Desirable
characteristics of the information channel include low attenuation and large light
acceptance cone angle. Optical amplifiers boost the power levels of weak signals.
Amplifiers are needed in very long links to provide sufficient power to the
receiver.
 Repeaters can be used only for digital systems. They convert weak and
distorted optical signals to electrical ones and then regenerate the original
digital pulse trains for further transmission.
 Another important property of the information channel is the propagation
time of the waves travelling along it. A signal propagating along a fiber
normally contains a range of fiber optic frequencies and divides its power
along several ray paths. This results in a distortion of the propagation signal. In
a digital system, this distortion appears as a spreading and deforming of the
pulses. The spreading is so great that adjacent pulses begin to overlap and
become unrecognizable as separate bits of information.
• Optical detector:
The information begin transmitted is detected by detector. In the fiber
system the optic wave is converted into an electric current by a
photodetector. The current developed by the detector is proportional
to the power in the incident optic wave. Detector output current
contains the transmitted information. This detector output is then
filtered to remove the constant bias and then amplified.
The important properties of photodetectors are small size, economy,
long life, low power consumption, high sensitivity to optic signals and
fast response to quick variations in the optic power.

• Signal processing includes filtering, amplification. Proper filtering

maximizes the ratio of signal to unwanted power. For a digital system
decision circuit is an additional block. The bit error rate (BER) should
be very small for quality communications.
• Message output:
The electrical form of the message emerging from the signal processor
is transformed into a sound wave or visual image. Sometimes these
signals are directly usable when computers or other machines are
connected through a fiber system
• Electromagnetic Spectrum
-The range of electromagnetic signals encompassing all frequencies is referred
to as the electromagnetic spectrum
The radio waves and light are electromagnetic waves. The rate at which they
alternate in polarity is called their frequency (f) measured in hertz (Hz). The
speed of electromagnetic wave (c) in free space is approximately 3 x 108 m/sec.
The distance travelled during each cycle is called as wavelength (λ)

In fiber optics, it is more convenient to use the wavelength of light instead of

the frequency with light frequencies; wavelength is often stated in microns or
nanometers.
 1 micron (µ) = 1
 Micrometre (1 x 10-6) 1 nano (n) = 10-9 meter
Fiber optics uses visible and infrared light. Infrared light covers a fairly wide
range of wavelengths and is generally used for all fiber optic communications.
Visible light is normally used for very short range transmission using a plastic
fiber.
• Electromagnetic waves are signals that oscillate; i.e the amplitudes of the
electric and magnetic fields vary at a specific rate. The field intensities
fluctuate up and down, and the polarity reverses a given number of
times per second. The electromagnetic waves vary sinusoidally. Their
frequency is measured in cycles per second (cps) or hertz (Hz).
• These oscillations may occur at a very low frequency or at an extremely
high frequency. All electrical and electronic signals that radiate into free
space fall into the electro- magnetic spectrum.
• Not included are signals carried by cables. Signals carried by cable may
share the same frequencies of similar signals in the spectrum, but they
are not radio signals. Fig.shows the entire electromagnetic spectrum,
giving both frequency and wavelength. Within the middle ranges are
located the most commonly used radio frequencies for two-way
communication, TV, cell phones, wireless LANs, radar, and other
applications. At the upper end of the spectrum are infrared and visible
light.
Electromagnetic spectrum
Free space fiber communication
system
Types of Fiber-Optic Cables
• There are two basic 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. Usually these two methods of
classification are combined to determine the types of cable.
• 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 the
cladding interface. It means that the core has one constant index of refraction N1
and the cladding has another constant index of refraction N2. When the two
come together, there is a distinct step . If you were to plot a curve showing the
index of refraction as it varies vertically from left to right across the cross section
of the cable, you would see a sharp increase in the index of refraction as the core
is encountered and then a sharp decline in the index of refraction as the cladding
is encountered.
• Graded Index Cable. The other type of cable has a graded index. Here,
the index of refraction of the core is not constant. Instead, it varies
smoothly and continuously over the diameter of the core. As you get
closer to the center of the core, the index of refraction gradually
increases, reaching a peak at the center and then declining as the
other outer edge of the core is reached. The index of refraction of the
cladding is constant.
Cable Modes.
• Mode refers to the number of paths for the 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. Each
type of fiber-optic cable uses one of these methods of rating the index or
mode. In practice, there are three commonly used types of fiber-optic cable:
multimode step index, single-mode step index, and multimode graded index.
• Multimode Step Index Cable. The multimode step index fiber cable is probably
the most common and widely used type. It is also 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. Typical core diameters are in the 50- to
1000-µm range. Such large-diameter cores are excellent at gathering light and
transmitting it eficciently. This means that an inexpensive light source such as
an LED can be used to produce the light pulses.
Types of fiber
Single mode fiber
Step index
Graded index
Multi mode fiber