CNS-ST 2.2: SATELLITES AND FIBER OPTICS SATELLITE COMMUNICATIONS 1.

What are the

two types of communications satellite Passive and active A typical satellite co
mmunications operational link consists of a satellite and what other two compone
nts? Earth terminals What areas of the earth are not normally covered by satelli
tes? Extreme polar regions Satellite orientation in space is important for what
two reasons? To allow maximum solar exposure to the sun and satellite antenna ex
posure to earth terminals What types of antennas are generally used at earth ter
minals? Large, high-gain parabolic antennas Why do earth terminals require highl
y sensitive receivers? To overcome satellite transmitter low power and permit ex
traction of the desired information from the received signal Why is satellite ac
quisition and tracking important? To ensure earth terminal antennas are always p
ointed towards the satellite What are the two limitations to an active satellite
communications system? Satellite down-link transmitter and up-link receiver sen
sitivity If the line-of-sight distance for an optical beam is 12 km, what would
is be, approximately, for a microwave beam? 16 km The power in the downlink sign
al from a typical communications satellite is in the range of _____ per transpon
der. 10 to 250 watts The power level for an earth station to transmit to a satel
lite is in the order of: 10^3 watts Ku-band antennas can be _____ than C-band an
tennas. Smaller A geosynchronous orbit is about _____ km above the earth. 35,780
A Global Positioning System (GPS) or NAVSTAR is MEO
15. 16.
GPS or NAVSTAR height is 9500 miles An antenna's angular direction between east an
d west? Azimuth An antenna's vertical angle with respect to the earth's surface. Ele
vation An antenna's angle by which it is offset from the earth's axis Declination In
geostationary satellites, station-keeping means: Adjusting the orbits A reduction
of TWT power for linearity is called: Backoff The frequency bands used by Ku-ba
nd satellites are: 12 GHz and 14 GHz Satellite operating at 27 30 GHz Ka-band Th
e law that states that a satellite will orbit a primary body following an ellipt
ical path. 1st Law of Kepler Kepler's 2nd law is known as Law of areas Kepler's 3rd
law is also known as Harmonic law Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellite orbits around
the earth at a height of 370 miles Medium Earth Orbit (MEO) satellite orbits aro
und the earth at a height approximately _____. 6000 miles to 12,000 miles Geosyn
chronous satellites are highaltitude earth-orbit satellites with heights about _
____. 22,300 miles or 36,000 km Iridium is a LEOSAT that has a height of approxi
mately 480 miles MEO frequency band is 1.2 -1.66 GHz All satellites rotate aroun
d the earth in an orbit that forms a plane that passes through the center of gra
vity of earth called Geocenter The point on the surface of the earth directly be
low the satellite Subsatellite point (SSP) The minimum acceptance angle of eleva
tion 5 degrees
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30. 31.
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34.
The spatial separation of a satellite is between _____. 3 degrees to 6 degrees A
ntenna used with a rotating satellite whose main beam is continuously adjusted s
o that it will illuminate a given area on the earth's surface Despun Satellite's rad
iation pattern that typically target up to 20% of the Earth's surface Hemispherica
l beams The radiation pattern that has a satellite's antenna beamwidth of 17 degre
es and are capable of covering approximately 42% of the earth's surface Earth or g
lobal beams Geostats has an earth coverage of approximately 42.5% LNA stands for
: Low-noise amplifier LNA in satellite transponder commonly used Tunnel system
45.
35.
A receiving antenna with a gain of 40 dBi looks at at a sky with a noise tempera
ture of 15K. The loss between the antenna and the LNA input, due to the feedhorn
, is 0.4 dB, and the LNA has a noise temperature of 40K. Calculate G/T. 20.6 dB
36.
37.
46.
A receiver has a noise figure of 1.5 dB. Find its equivalent noise temperature.
119K
38.
47.
39. 40.
SATELLITE 41. Find the velocity of a satellite in a circular orbit (a) 500 km ab
ove the earth's surface (b) 36,000 km above the earth's surface (approximately the h
eight of geosynchronous satellite). (a) 7.6 km/s (b) 3.07 km/s 48.
The receiving installation whose G/T was found to be 20.6 dB is used as a ground
terminal to receive a signal from a satellite at a distance of 38,000 km. the s
atellite has transmitter power of 50 watts and an antenna gain of 30 dBi. Assume
losses between the satellite transmitter and its antenna is negligible. The fre
quency is 12 GHz. Calculate the carrier-to-noise ratio at the receiver, for a ba
ndwidth of 1 MHz. 30.6 dB
42.
Calculate the angle of declination for an antenna using a polar mount at latitud
e of 45 degrees. 6.81 degrees 49.
If a satellite has a total transmitter power (Pt) of 1000 W, determine the energ
y per bit (Eb) for a transmission rate of 50 Mbps. -47 dBW/bps or -47 dbJ
43.
Calculate the length of the path to a geosynchronous satellite from an earth sta
tion where the angle of elevation is 30 degrees. 39 x 10^3 km
For an equivalent noise bandwidth of 10 MHz and a total noise power of 0.00276 p
W, determine the noise density and equivalent noise temperature. 276 x 10^-23 W/
Hz or -205.6 dBW/Hz A typical TVRO installation for use with C-band satellite (d
ownlink at approximately 4 GHz) has a diameter of about 3 m and an efficiency of
about 55%. Calculate its gain and beamwidth. G = 39 dB, beamwidth = 1.75 degree
s
50.
44.
A satellite transmitter operates at a 4 GHz with a transmitter power of 7W and a
n antenna gain of 40 dBi. The receiver has antenna gain of 30 dBi and the path l
ength is 40,000 km. Calculate the signal strength at the receiver. -88 dBm
51.
For an earth station transmitter with an antenna output power of 40dB (10000 W),
a back-off loss of 3dB, a
total branching and feeder loss of 3dB, and a transmitter antenna gain of 40dB,
determine the EIRP 74 dBW FIBER OPTIC CONCEPTS 52. 53. Fiber optics is coined by
NS Kapany What are three means of producing light? Mechanical, electrical and c
hemical What is the smallest unit of radiant energy? A photon What unit is used
to measure the different wavelengths of light? Angstrom unit What are the three
primary colors of light? Red, green and blue What are the three secondary colors
of light? Magenta, yellow and cyan A substance that transmits light but through
which an object cannot be seen clearly is known as what kind of substance? Tran
slucent What type of wave motion is represented by motion of water? Transverse-w
ave motion A substance that transmits almost all of the light waves falling upon
it is known as what type of substance? Transparent A substance that is unable t
o transmit any light waves is known as what type of substance? Opaque What is th
e law of reflection The law of reflection states that the angle of incidence is
equal to the angle of reflection When a wave is reflected from a surface, energy
is reflected. When is the reflection of energy greatest? When the wave is nearl
y parallel to the reflecting surface When is the reflection energy the least? Wh
en the wave is perpendicular to the reflecting surface Light waves obey what law
? The law of reflection A light wave enters a sheet of glass at a perfect right
angle to the surface. Is the majority of the wave reflected, refracted, transmit
ted or absorbed?
Transmitted 67. When light strikes a white piece of paper, the light is reflecte
d in all directions. What do you call this scattering of light Diffusion What is
the basic optical-material property relevant to optical fiber light transmissio
n? The index of refraction What name is given to the angle where total internal
reflection occurs? Critical angle of incidence List the three parts of optical f
iber Core, cladding and coating or buffer Light transmission along an optical fi
ber is described by two theories. Which theory is used to approximate light acce
ptance and guiding properties of an optical fiber? The ray theory Light rays tha
t passes thru the longitudinal axis at the fiber core are called meridional rays
Meridional rays are classified as either bound or unbound rays. Bound rays prop
agate through the fiber according to what property? Total internal reflection Wh
at mechanisms in fiber waveguides weaken and distort the optical signals? Scatte
ring, absorption and dispersion How can loss be reduced during construction (or
fabrication) of optical fibers? By removing the impurities from the optical fibe
r What fiber property does numerical aperture (NA) measure? NA measures the ligh
t-gathering ability of the optical fiber Skew rays and meridional rays define di
fferent acceptance angles. Which acceptance angle is larger, the skew ray angle
or the meridional ray angle? Skew ray angle The mode theory uses electromagnetic
wave behavior to describe the propagation of light along the fiber. What is the
set of guided electromagnetic waves called? Modes of fiber Modes that are bound
at one wavelength may not exist at longer wavelengths. What is the wavelength a
t which a mode ceases to be bound is called?
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65. 66.
79.
Cutoff wavelength 92. 80. What type of optical fiber operates below cutoff wavel
ength? Multimode fiber The fiber's normalized frequency (V) determines how many mo
des a fiber can support. As the value of V increases, will the number of modes s
upported by the fiber increase or decrease? Increase The number of modes propaga
ted in a multimode fiber depends on the core size and numerical aperture (NA). I
f the core size and the NA decrease, will the number of modes propagated increas
e of decrease? Decrease What is the main loss mechanism between ultraviolet and
infrared absorption regions? Rayleigh scattering Name the two types of intramoda
l, or chromatic, dispersion. Material dispersion and waveguide dispersion 97. 85
. Which dispersion mechanism (material or waveguide) is a function of the sine o
f the fiber's core relative to the waveguide operation? Waveguide dispersion 98. 8
6. Modes of light pulse that enter the fiber at one time exit the fiber at diffe
rent times. This condition causes the light pulse to spread. What is this condit
ion called? Modal dispersion The reflective index of a fiber core is uniform and
undergoes an abrupt change at the core-cladding boundary. Is this fiber a step-
index or graded-index fiber? Step-index What happens to the fundamental mode as
the operating wavelength becomes longer than the single mode cutoff wavelength?
The fundamental mode becomes increasingly lossy Give two reasons why optical fib
er manufacturers depart from the traditional circular core cladding, low-loss gl
ass fiber design? To increase performance and reduce cost Why do cable manufactu
res introduce a controlled twist to the stacked ribbons during the cabling proce
ss? To minimize fiber stress when the cable is bent 104. 91. Which fiber optic c
omponent (splice, connector, or coupler) makes a permanent connection in a distr
ibuted system? Splice 93. What are the main causes of coupling loss? Poor fiber
end preparation and poor fiber alignment When the axes of two connected fibers a
re no longer in parallel, the two connected fibers are in what kind of misalignm
ent? Angular misalignment Which are more sensitive to alignment errors, single m
ode or multimode fibers? Single mode Quality fiber-end preparation is essential
for proper system operation. What property must an optical fiber-end face have t
o ensure proper fiber connection? Be flat, smooth, and perpendicular to the fibe
r axis What is the basic fiber cleaving technique for preparing optical fibers f
or coupling? Score-and-break Fiber splicing is divided into two broad categories
that describe the techniques used for fiber splicing. What are they? Mechanical
and fusion splicing What fiber property directly affects splice-loss in fusion
splicing? The angles and quality of the two fiber-end faces What is a short disc
harge of electric current that prepares the fiber ends for fusion is called? Pre
fusion Do small core distortions formed by arc fusion's self-alignment mechanism h
ave more of an affect on light propagating through multimode or single mode fibe
rs? Single mode fibers Which is the more critical parameter in maintaining total
insertion loss below the required level, fiber alignment of fiber mismatch? Fib
er alignment Fiber optic connectors can reduce system performance by increasing
what two types of noise? Modal and reflection Which type of fiber optic connecto
r (butt-jointed or expanded beam) brings the prepared ends of two optical fibers
into contact? Butt-jointed connectors Is coupling loss from fiber separation an
d lateral misalignment more critical in expanded beam or butt-jointed connectors
? Butt-jointed connectors
81.
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103. 90.
105.
Is coupling loss from angular misalignment more critical in expanded beam or but
t-jointed connectors? Expanded beam connectors Which type of optical splitter (Y
coupler or T-coupler) splits only a small amount of power from the input fiber t
o one of the output fibers? T-coupler What two properties of the launch conditio
n may affect multimode fiber attenuation measurements? Launch spot size and angu
lar distribution Does underfilling a multimode optical fiber excite mainly higho
rder of low-order modes? Low-order modes A mode filter is a device that attenuat
es specific modes propagating in the core of an optical fiber. What mode propaga
ting along single mode fibers do mode filters eliminate? Second-order mode What
are the two most common types of mode filters? Free-form loop and mandrel wrap T
he cutoff wavelength of matchedclad and depressed-clad single mode fibers varies
according to the fiber's radius of curvature and length. The cutoff wavelength of
which single mode fiber type is more sensitive to length? Depressed-clad What d
etermines the range of wavelengths over which meaningful data is obtained for ca
lculating the chromatic dispersion? The wavelength range of the optical source(s
) used Near-filed power distributions describe the emitted power per unit are in
the near-field region. Describe the near-field region. The near-field region is
the region close to the fiber0end face How is the core diameter defined? The co
re diameter is define as the diameter at which the near-filed intensity is 2.5 p
ercent of the maximum intensity Far-field power distributions describe the emitt
ed power per unit area as a function of angle theta in the far-field region. Des
cribe the far-field region. The far-field region is the region far from the fibe
r-end face Will fiber coupling loss generally increase of decrease if the mode f
ield diameter of a single mode fiber is decreased?
Increase 117. In multimode fibers, how do fiber joints increase fiber attenuatio
n following the joint? By disturbing the fiber's mode power distribution (MPD) Ref
lectance is given as what ration? The ratio of reflected optical power to incide
nt optical power When is an OTDR recommended for conducting field measurements o
n installed optical fibers or links? When installed optical fiber cables or link
s are 50 meters or more in length An OTDR measure the fraction of light that is
reflected back from the fiber or link under test. What causes light to be reflec
ted back into the OTDR? Rayleigh scattering and Fresnel reflection What is a tem
porary or permanent local deviation of the OTDR signal in the upward of downward
direction called? A point defect Why is dead-zone fiber placed between the test
fiber and OTDR when conducting attenuation measurements? To reduce the effect o
f the initial reflection at the OTDR The amount of backscattered optical power a
t each point depends on what two properties? Forward optical power and backscatt
er capture coefficient
106.
118.
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109.
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123.
112.
OPTICAL SOURCES AND FIBER OPTIC TRANSMITTERS 124. Semiconductor LEDs emit incohe
rent light. Define incoherent light. Light waves that lack a fixed-phase relatio
nship What are the two most common semiconductor materials used in electronic an
d electro-optic devices? Silicon and gallium arsenide Describe the stimulated em
ission. A photon initially produced by a spontaneous emission in the active regi
on interacts with the laser material to produce additional photons What are the
three basic LED types? Surface-emitting LEDs (SLEDs) edgeemitting LEDs (ELEDs) a
nd super luminescent diodes (SLDs) Which types of LEDs are the preferred optical
sources for shortdistance, low-data-rate fiber optic systems? SLEDs and ELEDs
113.
125.
114.
126.
115.
127.
128.
116.
129.
What are facets? Cut or polished surfaces at each end of the narrow active regio
n of an ELED What is the lowest current at which stimulated emission exceeds spo
ntaneous emission in a semiconductor laser called? Threshold current Which type
of optical source usually lacks reflective facets and in some cases is designed
to suppress reflections back into the active region? LED How does the source dri
ve circuit intensity modulate the source? By varying the current through the sou
rce What is a prebias? A current applied in the laser off state just less than t
he threshold current What are the two types of output interfaces for fiber optic
transmitters? Optical connectors and optical fiber pigtails What type of source
is typically used in low-data-rate digital applications? LED Why would a laser
diode be used in a low-data-rate digital application? When extremely high transm
itter output powers are required What type of source is generally used in high-d
ata-rate digital applications? Laser diode
142.
Define responsivity. The ratio of the optical detector's output photocurrent in am
peres to the incident optical power in watts How are PIN photodiodes usually bia
sed? Reverse-biased What is the dark current? The leakage current that continues
to flow through a photodetector when there is no incident light Will dark curre
nt increase or decrease as the temperature of the photodiode increases? Increase
Should the capacitance of the photodetector be kept small or large to prevent t
he RC time constant from limiting the response time? Small Trade-offs between co
mpeting effects are necessary for high speed response. Which competing effect (f
ast transit time, low capacitance, or high quantum efficiency) requires a thin a
ctive area? Fast Transit time Why is detector saturation not generally a problem
in fiber optic communications systems? Because fiber optic communications syste
ms operate at low optical power levels How can the gain of an APD be increased?
By increasing the reverse-bias voltage List the key operational parameters used
to define receiver performance. Receiver sensitivity, bandwidth, and dynamic ran
ge List the main types of receiver noise. Thermal noise, dark current noise, and
quantum noise What is the main factor that determines receiver sensitivity? Noi
se For a reduction in thermal noise, should the value of the detector's load resis
tor be increased or decreased? Increased What are two types of noise that manife
st themselves as shot noise? Dark current and quantum noise What are the two bas
ic types of preamplifiers used in fiber optic receivers? The high-impedance ampl
ifier and the transimpedance amplifier
130.
143.
144. 131.
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148.
136.
149.
137.
150.
OPTICAL DETECTORS AND FIBE OPTIC RECEIVERS 138. Which performance parameter is t
he minimum amount of optical power required to achieve a specific biterror rate
(BER) in digital systems or a given signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) in analog system
s? Receiver sensitivity List the two principal optical detectors used in fiber o
ptic systems. The semiconductor positiveintrinsic-negative (PIN) photodiode and
avalanche photodiode (APD) What are the four most common materials used in semic
onductor detector fabrication? Silicon, gallium arsenide, germanium and indium p
hosphide What is a photocurrent? The current produced when photons are incident
on the detector active area 151.
152.
139.
153.
140.
154.
155.
141.
156.
Which preamplifier design (highimpedance or transimpedance) provides improvement
s in bandwidth and greater dynamic range with some degradation in sensitivity fr
om an increase in noise? Transimpedance For what types of applications are APDs
generally used? For high-data-rate applications and for low- or moderate-data-ra
te applications where receivers with extremely low sensitivities are required Wh
at type of modulation do most analog fiber optic communications systems use? Int
ensity modulation What two analyses are performed to determine if a link design
is viable? Power budget and risetime budget Optical fibers or cables should neve
r be bent at a radius of curvature smaller than a certain value. Identify this r
adius of curvature. Minimum bend radius In fiber optics, the main disadvantage o
f plastic over glass fiber is high attenuation The wavelength of visible spectru
m is within the range of 0.4 to 0.8 microns Range of frequency used for fiber op
tic (FO) system is 100 1000 THz The bending of light rays due to change in veloc
ity as a result of traveling from one medium to the other. Refraction What is th
e infrared range used for fiber optics in Angstrom? 7,000 to 12,000 In fiber opt
ic system, the core of PCs fiber is Glass What is the primary specification of a
fiber cable usually expressed as the loss in dB/km? Attenuation What is the mos
t widely used light generator in fiber optic system? Injection laser diode A mor
e widely used and most sensitive photosensor is _____. Avalanche photodiode Atte
nuation null is fiber optic occurs at what wavelength? 1.3 microns
171.
1 angstrom is equal to how many microns? 0.0001 microns 1 angstrom is equal to h
ow many nanometers? 10 ns A measure of quality of a fiber optic system. Maximum
distance between repeaters The average maximum distance between repeaters in a f
iber optic system. 10 - 30 km Fiber optics performance is usually indicated by p
roduct of bit rate and distance The external incident angle for which light will
propagate in the fiber is known as _____. Acceptance angle In fiber optics, the
dominant loss mechanisms in silica fiber are _____. Absorption and Rayleigh Sca
ttering Loss Rayleigh Scattering Loss at 8020 nm has a typical value of _____. 2
.5 dB Loss due to valence electron: UV absorption Laser used in fiber optic comm
unications. Semiconductor laser What is the maximum data rate for fiber optics?
10 Gbps What is the typical bandwidth of the single-mode step-index fiber? 50 to
100 GHz/km What is the achievable rate of single-mode step-index fiber as used
in digital communication? 2 Gigabytes What is the typical margin of safety in dB
used in preparing the power budget for fiber-optic system? 5 10 dB
172.
157.
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159.
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177.
178. 161.
179. 180.
162.
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164.
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183. 165.
166.
184.
167.
FIBER OPTIC PROBLEMS 185. A fiber has an index of refraction of 1.6 for the core
and 1.4 for the cladding. Calculate: (a) critical angle (b) angle of refraction
for angle of incidence of 30 degrees (c) angle of refraction for angle of incid
ence of 70 degrees. (a) 61 degrees (b) 34.8 degrees (c) 70 degrees
168.
169.
170.
186.
Calculae the numerical aperture and the maximum angle of acceptance for the fibe
r that has an index of refraction of 1.6 for the core and 1.4 for the cladding.
N.A. = 0.775 / 50.8 degrees
connector losses at the two ends is 4 dB. Calculate the available system margin.
7.01 dB 194. A 45 km length of fiber must not lengthen pulses by more than 100
ns. Find the maximum permissible value for the pulse spreading contrast. 2.22 ns
/km A fiber is rated as having a bandwidth-distance product of 500 MHz-km. Find
its dispersion in ns/km, and the rise time of a pulse in a 5 km length of this c
able. 5 ns
187.
A single-mode fiber has a numerical aperture of 0.15. what is the maximum core d
iameter it could have for use with infrared light with a wavelength of 820 nm? 4
.2 um
195.
188.
An optical fiber has a bandwidthdistance product of 500 MHz-km. if a bandwidth o
f 85 MHz is required for a particular mode of transmission, what is the maximum
distance that can be used between repeaters? 5.88 km
189.
The fiber has zero dispersion at a wavelength of 1310 nm and has a zero-dispersi
on slope of 0.05 ps(nm2-km). calculate the total dispersion of 50 km of this fib
er when it is used with a source having a linewidth of 2 nm at a wavelength of 1
550 nm. 949 ps
190.
Find the bandwidth and bandwidth distance product for the fiber with total dispe
rsion of 949 ps and a total length of 50km. B = 526.8 MHz, Bandwidth-Distance pr
oduct = 26.3 GHz-km
191.
Find the energy in electronvolts, in one photon at a wavelength of 1 um. E = 1.2
4 eV
192.
A typical photodiode has an input optical power of 500 nW. Calculate the diode c
urrent. 150 nA
193.
A fiber optic link extends for 40 km. The laser diode emitter has an output powe
r of 1.5 mW, and the receiver requires a signal strength of -25 dBm for a satisf
actory signal-to-noise ratio. The fiber is available in lengths of 2.5 km and ca
n be spliced with a loss of 0.25 dB per slice. The fiber has a loss of 0.3 dB/km
. The total of all the