Unit V
Optical Communication Systems and
Networks
Point-to-Point Links
Key system requirements needed to analyze optical fiber links:
1. The desired (or possible) transmission distance
2. The data rate or channel bandwidth
3. The bit-error rate (BER)
LED or laser MMF or SMF pin or APD
(a) Emission wavelength (a) Core size (a) Responsivity
(b) Spectral line width (b) Core index profile (b) Operating λ
(c) Output power (c) BW or dispersion (c) Speed
(d) Effective radiating area (d) Attenuation (d) Sensitivity
(e) Emission pattern (e) NA or MFD
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Link Power Budget
• The link loss budget is derived from the sequential loss
contributions of each element in the link.
• Each of these loss elements is expressed in decibels (dB) as
• The link loss budget considers the total optical power loss PT allowed
between the light source and the photodetector, and allocates this loss
to cable attenuation, connector loss, splice loss, and system margin:
PT = PS – PR = 2lc + αL + system margin
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Power Budget Example
• Specify a 20-Mb/s data rate and a BER = 10–9.
• With a Si pin photodiode at 850 nm, the required receiver input signal is –42 dBm.
• Select a GaAlAs LED that couples 50 mW into a 50-μm core diameter fiber flylead.
• Assume a 1-dB loss occurs at each cable interface and a 6-dB system margin.
• The possible transmission distance L = 6 km can be found from
PT = PS – PR = 29 dB = 2lc + αL + system margin = 2(1 dB) + αL + 6 dB
• The link power budget can be represented graphically (see the right-hand figure).
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Example: Spreadsheet Power Budget
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Problem
An engineer has the following components available:
1. GaAlAs laser diode operating at 850 nm and capable of coupling 1
mW (0 dBm) into a fiber.
2. Ten sections of cable each of which is 500 m long, has a 4 dB/km
attenuation and has connectors on both the ends.
3. Connector loss of 2 dB/connector.
4. A pin photodiode receiver.
5. An avalanche photodiode receiver.
Using these components, the engineer wishes to construct a 5 km link
operating at 20 Mbps. If the sensitivities of the pin and avalanche
photodiode receivers are – 45 dBm and – 56 dBm, respectively,
which receiver should be used if a 6 dB system operating margin is
required?
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Component/ loss Output/sensitivity/loss Power margin (dB)
parameter
GaAlAs laser diode 0 dBm
Receiver sensitivity -45dBm
Allowed loss - 45
Source Connector 2 dB 43
Ten sections of cable 20 dB 23
each of which is 500 m
long (5 Km)
9 connectors to connect 18 dB 5
10 sections of cable
Destination connector 2 dB 3
System margin 6 dB -3
Link with PIN photo diode:
As the final power margin is negative (-3dB), the PIN photodetector can not be
used in the link.
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Component/ loss parameter Output/sensitivity/loss Power margin (dB)
GaAlAs laser diode 0 dBm
Receiver sensitivity -56 dBm
Allowed loss - 56
Source Connector 2 dB 54
Ten sections of cable each of 20 dB 34
which is 500 m long (5 Km)
9 connectors to connect 10 18 dB 16
sections of cable
Destination connector 2 dB 14
System margin 6 dB 8
Link with Avalanche photo diode:
As the final power margin is positive (8 dB), the Avalanche
photodetector can be used in the link.
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Problem
What is optical power budgeting? Evaluate the optical power budget
for the below system and hence determine its viability. Components
are chosen for a digital optical fiber link of overall length 7 Km and
operating at 20 Mbps using RZ code. It is decided that an LED
emitting at 0.85 µm with graded index fiber to a PIN photodiode is
a suitable choice for the system components giving no dispersion
equalization penalty. An LED which is capable of launching an
average of 100 µW of optical power (including connected loss) into
a graded index fiber of 50 µm core diameter is chosen. The
proposed fiber cable has an attenuation of 2.6 dB·km-1 and requires
splicing every kilometer with a loss of 0.5 dB per splice. There is
also a 1.5 dB connecter loss at the receiver. The receiver mean
incident optical power of -41 dBm in order to give the necessary
BER of 10-10, and it is predicted that a safety margin of 6 dB will
be required. 9
Rise-Time Budget (1)
• A rise-time budget analysis determines the dispersion
limitation of an optical fiber link.
• The total rise time tsys is the root sum square of the rise times
from each contributor ti to the pulse rise-time degradation:
– The transmitter rise time ttx
– The group-velocity dispersion (GVD) rise time tGVD of the fiber
– The modal dispersion rise time tmod of the fiber
– The receiver rise time trx
Here Be and B0 are
given in MHz, so all
times are in ns.
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Rise-Time Budget (2)
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Network Terminology
• Stations are devices that network subscribers use to communicate.
• A network is a collection of interconnected stations.
• A node is a point where one or more communication lines terminate.
• A trunk is a transmission line that supports large traffic loads.
• The topology is the logical manner in which nodes are linked together by
information transmitting channels to form a network.
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Segments of a Public Network
• A local area network interconnects users in a large room or work area, a department,
a home, a building, an office or factory complex, or a group of buildings.
• A campus network interconnects a several LANs in a localized area.
• A metro network interconnects facilities ranging from buildings located in several
city blocks to an entire city and the metropolitan area surrounding it.
• An access network encompasses connections that extend from a centralized
switching facility to individual businesses, organizations, and homes.
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Protocol Stack Model
• The physical layer refers to a physical transmission medium
• The data link layer establishes, maintains, and releases links that directly
connect two nodes
• The function of the network layer is to deliver data packets from source
to destination across multiple network links.
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Network Layering Concept
• Network architecture: The general physical arrangement and
operational characteristics of communicating equipment
together with a common set of communication protocols
• Protocol: A set of rules and conventions that governs the
generation, formatting, control, exchange, and
interpretation of information sent through a
telecommunication network or that is stored in a database
• Protocol stack: Subdivides a protocol into a number of
individual layers of manageable and comprehensible size
– The lower layers govern the communication facilities.
– The upper layers support user applications by structuring and
organizing data for the needs of the user.
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Optical Layer
The optical layer is a
wavelength-based concept and
lies just above the physical layer
•The physical layer provides a physical
connection between two nodes
•The optical layer provides lightpath
services over that link
•The optical layer processes include
wavelength multiplexing, adding
and dropping wavelengths, and
support of optical switching
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SONET
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STS-1 frame
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SONET/SDH
• The SONET/SDH standards enable the interconnection of
fiber optic transmission equipment from various vendors
through multiple-owner trunk networks.
• The basic transmission bit rate of the basic SONET signal is
• In SDH the basic rate is 155.52 Mb/s.
Basic formats of (a) an STS-N SONET frame and (b) an STM-N SDH frame
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Common values of OC-N and STM-N
• OC stands for optical carrier. It has become common to refer
to SONET links as OC-N links.
• The basic SDH rate is 155.52 Mb/s and is called the
synchronous transport module—level 1 (STM-1).
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SONET/SDH Rings
• SONET and SDH can be configured as either a ring or mesh architecture
• SONET/SDH rings are self-healing rings because the traffic flowing along
a certain path can be switched automatically to an alternate or standby
path following failure or degradation of the link segment
• Two popular SONET and SDH networks:
– 2-fiber, unidirectional, path-switched ring (2-fiber UPSR)
– 2-fiber or 4-fiber, bidirectional, line-switched ring (2-fiber or 4-fiber BLSR)
Generic 2-fiber
UPSR with a
counter-rotating
protection path
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Four fiber BLSR
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BLSR Recovery from Failure
•
Modes
If a primary-ring device fails in either node 3 or 4, the affected nodes detect a
loss-of-signal condition and switch both primary fibers connecting these nodes to
the secondary protection pair
• If an entire node fails or both the primary and protection fibers in a given span
are severed, the adjacent nodes switch the primary-path connections to the
protection fibers, in order to loop traffic back to the previous node.
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SONET/SDH Networks
• Commercially available SONET/SDH equipment allows the configuration
of a variety of network architectures
• One can build point-to-point links, linear chains, unidirectional
path-switched rings (UPSR), bidirectional line-switched rings (BLSR), and
interconnected rings
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SONET/SDH Add/Drop Functions
• Various OC-12s and OC-3s can be multiplexed into an OC-48
traffic stream
• Upon entering an ADM, these OC-12s and OC-3 channels can
be individually dropped by the ADM and other channels can
be added
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Example DWDM Deployment
• A dense WDM deployment on an OC-192 trunk ring for n
wavelengths (e.g., one could have n = 16)
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High-Speed Multimode Links
Multimode fibers with different bandwidth grades exist for 10–Gb/s use
• A link may contain a mixture of fibers, e.g. OM2 and OM3.
• The fiber bandwidths determine the effective maximum link length Lmax.
•If all geometric parameters of the interconnected OM2 and OM3 fibers are
the same, then
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High-Speed Transceivers
A variety of high-speed transceivers exist that incorporate both an optical
transmitter and receiver in the same miniaturized package
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Optical Add/Drop Multiplexing
• An optical add/drop multiplexer (OADM) allows the insertion or
extraction of one or more wavelengths from a fiber at a network node.
• Most OADMs are constructed using WDM elements such as a series of
dielectric thin-film filters, an AWG, a set of liquid crystal devices, or a
series of fiber Bragg gratings used in conjunction with optical circulators.
• The OADM architecture depends on factors such as the number of
wavelengths to be dropped/added, the OADM modularity for upgrading
flexibility, and what groupings of wavelengths should be processed.
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Modular Expandable OADM
• N incoming light channels are split into several bands of
wavelength groups
• The band grouping to be dropped can be sent through a
second demultiplexer followed by processing of the
individual wavelengths
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Reconfigurable OADM (ROADM)
• ROADMs can be reconfigured by a network operator within
minutes from a remote network-management console.
• ROADM architectures include wavelength blockers, arrays of
small switches, and wavelength-selective switches.
• ROADM features:
– Wavelength dependence. When a ROADM is independent of
wavelength, it is colorless or has colorless ports.
– ROADM degree is the number of bidirectional multiwavelength
interfaces the device supports. Example: A degree-2 ROADM has 2
bidirectional WDM interfaces and a degree-4 ROADM supports 4
bidirectional WDM interfaces.
– Express channels allow a selected set of wavelengths to pass through
the node without the need for OEO conversion.
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Wavelength Blocker Configuration
The simplest ROADM configuration uses a
broadcast-and-select approach:
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Optical Crossconnect
Optical crossconnect architecture using optical space switches
and no wavelength converters
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Optical Crossconnect Example
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Optical Burst Switching
• Optical burst switching provides an efficient solution for
sending high-speed bursty traffic over WDM networks.
• Bursty traffic has long idle times between the busy periods
in which a large number of packets arrive from users.
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OBS Timing Diagram
• Timing diagram for the progression of a control packet and
a burst through an OBS network
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Passive Optical Networks (PONs)
• A passive optical network (PON) uses CWDM over a single
bidirectional optical fiber.
• Only passive optical components guide traffic from the
central office to the customer premises and back to the
central office.
– In the central office, combined data and digitized voice are sent
downstream to customers by using a 1490-nm wavelength.
– The upstream (customer to central office) uses a 1310-nm wavelength.
– Video services are sent downstream using a 1550-nm wavelength.
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Active PON Modules
• The optical line termination (OLT) is located in a central office and
controls the bidirectional flow of information across the network.
• An optical network termination (ONT) is located directly at the customer
premises.
– The ONT provides an optical connection to the PON on the upstream
side and to interface electrically to the local customer equipment.
• An optical network unit (ONU) is similar to an ONT, but is located near
the customer and is housed in an outdoor equipment shelter.
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PON Protection Methods
PON failure protection
mechanisms include a
fully redundant 1 + 1
protection and a
partially redundant
1:N protection.
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The Basic WDM PON Architecture
• The basic WDM PON architecture uses a WDM mux/demux device at
both the central office and at the outside plant (OSP) distribution box
• In the central office N laser transmitters send independent wavelengths
to a WDM multiplexer
• At the OSP cabinet, the demux separates the N downstream
wavelengths into individual fibers with a unique wavelength going to
each ONT
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IP over DWDM
• Early IP networks had redundant management functions in each layer, so
this layering method was not efficient for transporting IP traffic.
• An IP-SONET-DWDM architecture using Multiprotocol Label Switching
(MPLS) provides for the efficient designation, routing, forwarding, and
switching of traffic flows through the network.
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Optical Ethernet
• The IEEE has approved the 802.3ah Ethernet in the First Mile (EFM) standard.
• The first mile is the network infrastructure that connects business or
residential subscribers to the CO of a telecom carrier or a service provider.
Three EFM physical
transport schemes are:
[Link] point-to-point
(P2P) links
2.A single P2P link to multiple
users
3.A single bidirectional PON
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EPON/GE-PON Architecture
• EPON architecture and operational concept
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