1

Optical Transmission
system
2
Point-to-point Link
It is the simplest optical link.
It has a transmitter at one end, a receiver on the other end.
An optical fiber connected between these two.
This places the least demand of the system.
It is the base of examining complex systems.
Figure 1. Simple Point-to-point link
3
System Requirements
The desired transmission distance.
The data rate/ bandwidth.
Acceptable bit error rate (BER).

Based on above designers choose the component to ensure
the desired performance level.
This performance should be maintained over the expected
lifetime of the system.
4
System Considerations
First the operation wavelength is selected.
Then the components in this wavelength region are taken.
In general procedure first the photodetector is taken.
Then we choose the optical source.
And see how far data can be transmitted over a particular fiber
without an amplifier to boost up the power level.
5
Selecting the Photodetector
The main feature is the minimum optical power that must fall
on detector to satisfy the acceptable BER at specified data rate.

Type of detector
PIN: Simpler, thermally stable, low bias voltage (5V or
less), less expensive, fast response but less sensitive.
APD: Highly sensitivity, complex, high bias voltage (40V
or more) and expensive.
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Sensitivity.
Speed of response.
Responsivity
Operating wavelength and spectral selectivity


PIN or Avalanche Photodiode
7
Selecting the Optical Source
Emission wavelength
Spectral line width
Output power
Stability
Emission pattern
Effective radiating area

LED or LASER
LED
LASER
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LED & LASER Bit rate Distance Product
Wavelength LED Systems LASER Systems.
800-900 nm (Typically
Multimode Fiber)
150 Mb/s.km 2500 Mb/s.km
1300 nm (Lowest
dispersion)
1500 Mb/s.km 25 Gb/s.km
(InGaAsP Laser)
1550 nm (Lowest
Attenuation)
1200 Mb/s.km Up to 500 Gb/s.km
9
Combination of Sources and Fibers For
Different Link Capacity And Distance
1-10m 10m-.1km .1-1km 1-3km 3-10km 10-50km 50-100km >100km
LD 10k
SLED MM 10-100K
MM 100K-1M
LD GI 1-10M
LED 10-50M
GI LD 50-500M
LD LD SM 500M-1G
MM GI >1G
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Lasers couple 10 to 15 dB more power into the fiber then an
LED.
Hence greater repeater less transmission is possible.
Laser diodes are expensive then LEDs.
Laser transmitter circuitry is also complex.
Lasers are used in long distance single mode operation.
LEDs are used in comparatively shorter distances and
multimode operation.
11
Selecting the Optical Fiber
Core size
Refractive index profile
Attenuation characteristics
Dispersion performance.
Numerical aperture.

Multimode or single mode
12
Link Power Budget
Optical power received at the photodetector depends on the
Amount of light coupled in to the fiber.
Losses occurring in the fiber.

The optical link power budget in a fiber-optic
communication link is the allocation of available optical power
(launched into a given fiber by a given source) among various
loss-producing mechanisms such as
launch coupling loss.
fiber attenuation.
splice losses.
connector losses.
13
Link power budget is derived from the sequential loss
contribution of each element in the link.
In order to ensure that adequate signal strength (optical power)
is available at the receiver.
Each of these loss elements are usually expressed in decibels
(dB).
Optical fiber communication power levels are generally
expressed in dBm.
in
out
dB
P
P
Loss
10
log 10 =
3
10 10
10 1
log 10
1
log 10

= =
P
mW
P
dBm
s
30 + =
s s
dB dBm
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Receiver sensitivities Vs bit rate
15
Optical power-loss model
ystem Margin
T s R c sp f
P P P ml nl L S o = = + + +
: Total loss; : Source power; : Rx sensitivity
connectors; splices
T s R
P P P
m n
System margin is taken to incorporate some unexpected losses and future
aspects.
General value ranges in 6 to 8 dB.
16
Example
The Si pin photodiode has a receiver sensitivity of about 42 dBm (63.1
nW) at the required bandwidth of 20 Mb/s and in the wavelength range
800 900 nm. A GaAlAs LED is used, Pcoupled = 50 W into a multi-
mode fiber with a core diameter of 50 m. The loss is Lc = 0.5 db per
connector. Splices will be required for each kilometer of fiber with loss of
0.2 dB each. The attenuation loss for the fiber which was previously
installed is F = 3.5 dB/km. Determine the available margin for a 6 km long
link.
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Solution
Input optical power -13 dBm
Receiver sensitivity -42 dBm
Available power 29 dB
Fiber Loss (3.5x6) 21 dB
Connector Losses (0.5x2) 1 dB
Splice losses (0.2x5) 1 dB
Total losses 23 dB
Available margin 6 dB
18
Example link-loss budget
19
Rise Time Budget
It is a method of determining the dispersion limitation of an
optical fiber link.
The total rise time of the link (t
sys
) is equal to the root-mean-
square of the rise times from each contributor t
i

2
1
1
2
|
.
|

\
|
=

=
N
i
i sys
t t
Mainly four elements limits the system bandwidth
Transmitter rise time (t
tx
){generally known to the designer}
Group Velocity Dispersion (t
GVD
)
Modal dispersion rise time (t
mod
)
Receiver rise time (t
rx
)
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The receiver rise time results from the photodetector response
and the 3-dB bandwidth of the receiver front end.
Receiver front end can be modeled by a first-order low pass
filter having a step response
| | ) ( ) 2 exp( 1 ) ( t u t B t g
rx
t =
B
rx
is the 3-dB bandwidth of the receiver in MHz.
u(t) is the unit step function.
t
rx
is the time taken by receiver signal to rise from 10 to 90%
(receiver front end rise time).
ns
B
t
rx
rx
350
=
21
The signal rise time due to the group velocity dispersion (GVD)
over a length L, for a source with spectral width

can be given
as

o L D t
GVD
=
Fibers are seldom joint-less, normally they are series of connected
fibers.
It is experimentally observed that total BW is a function of the
order in which fibers are joined.
A verity of empirical expressions for modal dispersion have been
developed.
The most reasonable approximation B
M
in a link of length L is
given by-
q
M
L
B
L B
0
) ( =
B
0
is the BW of a 1-km length of link
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Here q is a parameter ranges between 0.5 to 1.0.
Here we assume that the optical power emerging from the
fiber has the gaussian response
)
2
exp(
2
1
) (
2
2
o
o t
t
t g =
The Fourier transform of this function is
)
2
exp(
2
1
) (
2 2
o e
t
e = G
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Let t
1/2
required for pulse to reach its half-maximum power.
2 ln 2
2 1
o = t
If we define the full width of pulse at its half-maximum value
then
2 ln 2 2 2
2 / 1
o = = t t
FWHM
The 3-dB optical BW is the modulation frequency at which the
received power has fallen to half of its 0 frequency value.
2 / ) 0 ( ) (
2 / 1
g t g =
2 ln 2 2
FWHM
t
= o
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From Fourier transform of optical power, power at 3-dB
frequency will be



2 / ) 0 ( ) (
3
G G
dB
= e
|
|
.
|

\
|
= =
2
exp 2
) (
) 0 (
2
2
3
3
o e
e
dB
dB
G
G
o
e
2 ln 2
3
=
dB
to 2
2 ln 2
3
=
dB
f
FWHM
dB dB
t
B f
44 . 0
3 3
= =
25
t
FWHM
is nothing but the rise time resulting form modal
dispersion.
The B
3dB
is the BW of the link of length L.
0
mod
44 . 0 44 . 0
B
L
B
t
q
M

= =
If B0 is in MHz then tmod in ns is given as
0
mod
440
B
L
t
q

=
ns
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Hence the total rise time of the system is given by
( )
2
1
2
0
2 2
350 440
(
(

|
|
.
|

\
|
+
|
|
.
|

\
|
+ + =
rx
q
tx sys
B B
L
L D t t

o
Total rise time of a digital link should not exceed
70% for a NRZ code bit period
35% of a RZ code bit period

code NRZ for t t
b sys
7 . 0
(max)
=
code RZ for t t
b sys
35 . 0
(max)
=
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Example
A Laser diode of 1550 nm range, with its drive circuit
has a rise time of 0.025 ns and spectral width of 0.1
nm . It shows an average dispersion of 2 ps/nm.km,
over a 60 km link. The APD receiver has a 2.5 GHz
BW. If single mode operation and NRZ code used for
communication, comment about the performance of
the system.
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Example
Let us take typical parameters for a link.
Data rate = 1 GHz.
DFB Laser spectral width = 0.1nm
SM fiber dispersion at 1550nm = -20 ps/km/nm = -0.02
ns/km/nm
Rise time of the receiver = 0.1 nsec
Rise time of the transmitter = 0.1nsec
Fiber loss = 0.4dB/km
Transmitter power -3 dBm
Min Detectable power -40 dBm
Neglect splice and connector losses.
Determine the distance at which the repeater has to be installed,
for SM and NRZ codes.
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Transmission Distance for 800 MHz-km
Multimode Fiber at 800 nm, (BER=10
-9
)