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3-1 Introduction.
In this chapter the results of some tests of the performance characteristics of the laser diode CQL70A used in the present work was first presented. These tests include the output power characteristics and the spectral characteristics. The performance of the system then is shown and discussed. The time delay (latency) is an important parameter that affects the performance of the system architecture in practice. This parameter is investigated for different lengths of information. Next performance calculations, which include the maximum throughput and maximum access delay, are made. Finally conclusion and future work are given.

3-2 Laser Diode Characteristics.

The output power emitted from the laser diode limits the maximum distance of the link, while the spectral width of the diode laser limit the rate of transmission since it affects the dispersion caused as the optical signal travels through the fiber. The wavelength of the emitted radiation affects both the maximum distance of the link and dispersion caused by the fiber. The drive current supplied to the laser diode and temperature variation affect these characteristics. These characteristics are investigated against variation in drive current.

Laser Output Characteristics.

The output optical power against input current of the laser diode is plotted in figure (3-1). From this figure three features can be noted. First, the curve has two distinct regions around threshold current which is 70 mA. At this current, the output power was 0.1 mW. Below threshold current the laser emits a very weak and incoherent light. For example at 60 mA drive current, the output power is 0.08 mW. Above threshold current there is a

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great increase in the emitted light with a small increase in the driving current and the laser diode emits a coherent light i.e. laser light. For example at drive current of 110 mA the output power was 1.25 mW. This increase is not for ever. The maximum current that can pass through the device is 150 mA (see data sheet in appendix D). Above this current the device will be damaged. The second feature is the steep gradient above threshold, which makes the device very fast. This feature is utilized in high-speed digital communication systems. The last feature is the nonlinear behavior of the device above the threshold. This nonlinearly is called kinks. These kinks result from the inhomogeneties in the active region of the device. The use of very narrow strip regions eliminates the kinks in the light output-current characteristics.
output power (mW) 3 2 1 0 0 50 100 150 drive current (mA)

Figure (3-1): The output optical power against input current of the CQL-70A laser diode. Spectral Characteristics of Laser Diode. From the point of view of optical system design it is important to know the peak wavelength p and spectral width over the range of likely operating conditions. The output spectrum of the semiconductor laser is a function of output power, temperature, and modulation conditions. The output spectrum of the laser diode CQL70A used in the work is investigated for different driving currents. The output spectrum is recorded for different operating currents over the range of 65 mA to 100 mA using

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the optical multichannel analyzer 3 (OMA3) system that is an electro optical system. This system is capable of simultaneos acquisition of spectral data from a broad band of wavelengths. Figure (3-2) shows the recorded spectrums. From the figure, it is noted that the output spectrum of the laser diode is shifted toward longer wavelengths as the driving current is increased. Thus, the peak wavelength is shifted consequently toward longer wavelengths. The peak wavelengths for drive current of (60, 65,70, 75, 80, 85 mA) are (8210.45, 8212.434, 8214.124, 8214.387, 8224.26 nm) in the respective order. This is due to increasing the junction temperature, which reforms the energy levels of the materials forming the junction. Increasing temperature has two effects: the band gap decreases and the refractive index increases. This results in a displacement of the spectrum to longer wavelengths, and so the peak wavelength. The spectral width of the output spectrum is noted to reduced with increasing the current passes through the device.

3-3 Maximum Fiber Length.

For the system implemented the optical power launched from the laser diode into the optical fiber is assumed to be about 20% of the emitted power which is 1.25 mW, i.e. the launched power is about 0.25 mW. The fiber attenuation is considered to be 3 dB as mentioned previously. Assuming the fiber length is 2 km, the attenuation of the fiber will be 6 dB. Assuming the connector loss is 1.5 dB. Thus from equations (1-1, and 1-2), the power arrived to the detector is 21.5 dBm. This power is larger than the minimum optical power required at the input of the optical receiver, which is 29.7dBm. This power is converted to 49 mV at the output of the preamplifier. This voltage is larger than the voltage required for generating logic one at the output of the comparator, which is 7.5 mV.

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In order to find the maximum length of the fiber according to the mentioned parameters, one should assume that the incident power on the photodiode is the minimum power required generating logic one at the output of the comparator. This power is 1.07 W. From equation (1-2), the maximum length of the optical fiber is 4.73 km. From equation (1-3), the system rise time is found to be 36 s. Neglecting the chromatic dispersion, the transition time for 4.73 km fiber length can be calculated from equation (1-4). With the fiber bandwidth of 400 MHz/km, it is found to be 0.0036 s, which is less than the system rise time. For a bit rate of 100MHz, this transition time is still less than the system rise time for this bit rate which is 0.007 s.

1.200 I =60mA 1.000 d 0.800 0.600 0.400 0.200 0.000 8100 8150

8200

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normalized reletive intensity

normalized relative intensity

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normalized relative intensity 1.2 Id=70mA 1 0.8 0.6 0.4 0.2 0 8100 8150 normalized relative intensity 1.2 1 0.8 0.6 0.4 0.2 0

b
Id=75mA

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normalized relative 1.2 Id=85mA 1 0.8 0.6 0.4 0.2 0 8100 8150 intensity

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Figure (3-2): the spectrum of the CQL70A diode laser recorded with the OMA3 for different drive currents. a)60 mA b)65 mA c)70 mA d)75 mA e)85 mA

3-4 Network Performance. Delay Measurements.

Delay is usually measured as the typical time taken to transmit a packet between two nodes on the network [21]. Figure (3-3) shows the behavior of this delay as a function of the length of information. It can be noted that as the information length increases the delay increases proportionally. For information length of 500 byte the delay is 0.8 sec, while for 4473 byte the delay is 15.36 sec.

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20 dealy (sec) 15 10 5 0 0 1000 2000 3000 4000 5000 information length (byte)

Figure (3-3): delay measurement for bit rate of 19.2 kbps.

Maximum Throughput.

The maximum utilization of the proposed system is calculated according to equation (1-7). Figure (3-4) illustrates the reletionship between the maximum throughput with the information length. The maximum throughput is the utilization multiplied by the capacity of the system as mentioned in section (1-12). From figure (3-4), it is clear that the maximum throughput is increasing with increasing the information length. For example, when the information length is 500 byte, the maximum throughput is 0.9%. While for information length of 4473 byte, the maximum utilization is 0.9924%. There is a limit to this increase where it arrives a saturation limit, this occurs at 0.9924, beyond which increasing the information length does not affect them.

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max. throughput

1 0.95 0.9 0.85 0 1000 2000 3000 4000 5000 information length (byte)

Figure (3-4): maximum throughput calculations for bit rate of 19.2 kbps.

Maximum Access Delay.

Figure (3-5) shows the relationship between the maximum access delay and the information length. The maximum access delay is calculated according to equation (1-8). From the figure one can notice that the maximum access delay increases with the increase of the frame length. For information length of 500 byte the maximum access delay is 2.62 sec, while for 4000 byte it is 32.88 sec.
max. delay (sec.) 40 30 20 10 0 0 1000 2000 3000 4000 5000 information length (byte)

Figure (3-5): maximum access delay calculations for bit rate of 19.2 kbps.

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3-5 Data Link Layer Efficiency.

The efficiency of the DLL is calculated by dividing the number of the useful information bytes by the total number of bytes as described in equation 3-1. Efficiency = infor. length / infor. length + protocol overhead(3-1) The efficiency for different lengths of information is shown in figure (3-6).
efficiency (%) 1 0.99 0.98 0.97 0.96 0.95 0 1000 2000 3000 4000 5000 information length (byte)

Figure (3-6): Data link layer efficiency.

3-7 Conclusion.
Networks that use the lasers and the optical fiber offer interesting properties like security, and long transmission distance. The conclusion of this work can be summarized as: From figure (3-2), it can be concluded that the drive current supplied to the laser diode specifies the power of the emitted radiation, operating wavelength, and the spectral width of the emitted radiation. Due to the use of the optical fiber as a transmission medium and the laser diode as an optical source the seperation distance between successive stations in the ring is increased largely as compared to that

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obtained with the twisted pair cable. The maximum distance obtained in this work was 4.73 km without the need to use repeater in between. Due to the use of the timed token protocol there is a justice in the allowance for a station to transmit its waiting frames. Each station is allowed to transmit data for a fixed maximum period of time. From the calculation of maximum throughput and maximum access delay of the system, it can be seen that the length of information transmitted through the system is one of the important factors that have direct impact on the performance of the system. These calculations show that the efficiency of the system is direct proportional to the length of information. Accordingly, it is preferred to transmit the information as large as possible to increase efficiency of the system. In turn increasing information length causes maximum access delay to be increased proportionally. There must be a trade off between the required efficiency and the maximum access delay to obtain good performance characteristics. The system has a drawback that a break in a station like if it is powered off, this causes the ring to be stopped since there is no bypassing technique utilized in the system. So for the system to be operated in a correct form, it is necessary that all stations in the ring to be powered on and operated in a correct form. The use of 4B-5B encoding with nonreturn to zero inversion (NRZ) modulation ensures that a signal transition every 3 bits. This transition is important for the clock recovery at the receiver.

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3-8 Future Work.

Our future program is to; Complete the hardware of the fiber distributed data interface system. This includes the 4B/5B-encoding/decoding circuits, parallel to serial converter, serial to parallel converter, and the remaining parts of the system. By this one can increase the transmission rate to approach the 100MHz. To do this, the searcher can use ISA or EISA buses. Increasing the number of stations in the ring. This helps to study the effect of increasing number of stations on the performance of the proposed system. Building a second ring as a secondary ring to operate the system as a dual ring system. The required hardware to sense the cut in the primary ring or a break in a station in the ring to reconfigure the system into a single ring by connecting these two ring together at the point of cut or break must be added. This increases the reliability of the system. Adding a bypassing technique. This ensures that the break in a station does not cause the ring to be stopped. The bypassing is accomplished by using the optical bypass switch or the electronic circuits.