ELEMENTS OF OPTICAL

FIBER TRANSMISSION LINK

Presented by,
Saina Ancy Simon
M.Tech AECE
KEY ELEMENTS OF OPTICAL FIBER
SYSTEMS

Fig 1: Main constituents of an optical fiber communication link

 Main constituents of an optical fiber
communication link
• Transmitter - consisting of a light source and
its associated circuitry
• Cable -Mechanical and environmental
protection to the optical fiber contained inside
• Receiver- Photodetector plus amplification
and signal restoring circuitry
 Additional components
• Optical amplifiers
• Connectors
• Splices
• Couplers
• Regenerators
• Passive components
• Active photonic devices
 1.Cabled fiber
• Protecting the glass fibers during installation
and service
• Contains copper wires for powering optical
amplifiers or signal generators
 Installation of optical fiber cable
• Aerial- Long cables are used
• In ducts-Shorter segment cables are used
• Undersea- Long cables are used
• Buried directly in the ground- Long cables are
used
 Set of precautions during installation
• Avoiding sharp bends of the cable
• Minimizing stresses on the installed cable
• Periodically allowing extra slack along the
cable route for unexpected repairs
• Avoid excessive pulling on the cable
 2.Transmitter
• Used to launch a light signal into the fiber
• It consists of :
i)Light source dimensionally compactible
with the fiber core
ii)Associated electronic control
iii)Modulation circuitry
• Semiconductor LEDs and laser diodes are
suitable for this purpose
Contd….
• Light output can be modulated by varying the
current at the desired transmission rate,
thereby produce an optical signal
• The electric input signals to the transmitter
circuitry for driving the optical source can be
either of an analog or digital form
• Function of the associated transmitter
electronics are to set and stabilize the source
operating point and output power level
Contd
• For high rate systems external modulator is
used to vary the amplitude of a continuous
light output from a laser diode source
• In 770 to 910 nm region light source are alloy
of GaAlAs for longer wavelength 1260 to 1675
nm InGaAsP alloy is the principal optical
source material
 3.Receiver
• Receiver device interprets the information
contained in the optical signal
• Receiver consists of
1.Photodiode - detects the weakened and
distorted optical signal emerging from the
end of an optical fiber it converts it into
electrical signal
2.Electronic amplification devices and
circuitary to restore signal fidelity
Contd..
• Silicon photodiodes are used in 770 to 910 nm
• In the 1260 to 1675 nm InGaAs alloy material
photodiodes are used
• The design of a receiver involves the
requirement to correctly interpret the content
of the weakened and degraded signal received
by the photodetector
 Additional components
• Passive optical components
Optical components that require no electronic
control for their operation
1.Optical filter- Select only a narrow spectrum of
desire light
2.Optical splitters-divide the power in an optical
signal into a number of different branches
3.Optical multipliers-combines signals from two
or more distinct wavelengths onto the same fiber in
multiple wavelength optical fiber network
Contd…
4.Couplers-used to tap off a certain percentage of
light, usually for performance monitoring purpose
• Active optical components
Requirea an electronic control for their operation
1.Light signal modulators
2.Tunable optical filters
3.Reconfigurable elements for adding and
dropping wavelength at intermediate nodes
4.Variable optical attenuators
5.Optical switches
Contd…
• Repeaters
Optical signal has travelled a certain distance
along a fiber it becomes greatly weakened due
to power loss along the fiber
The periodically placed repeaters merely
give the optical signal a power boost also
attempt to restore the signal to its original
shape