Optical Fiber Communications

Prepared by Dr. Po Kimtho

Electricity and Electronic Engineering
Norton University

1
 Brief Information
• Education Background:
– Ing. in Electrical Engineering, Institute of Technology of
Cambodia (ITC)
– Master of Engineering (M. Eng.) in Electrical Engineering ,
Chulalongkorn University (CU), Thailand
– Doctor of Engineering (D. Eng) in International Development
Engineering, Tokyo Institute of Technology (TIT)
• Place of work:
– Institute of Technology of Cambodia, since 2000
• Contact Address:
– Mobile Phone: 017 89 45 46
– Email: pokimtho@gmail.com
 Optical Transmission System
• System Design Considerations:
– Channel or Line coding (i.e. signal encoding):
• Digital signal: two discrete levels for binary data bits (1 and 0)
• Analog signal: continuous change of signal waveform
– System performance
• Bit errors from various noises and disturbances
– Increase BER or decrease SNR
• Pulse spreading due to fiber dispersion
– Cause ISI
• Transmission distance
– Link power budget analysis:
» Power losses from fiber attenuation
» Optoelectronic devices insertion losses
• Data bit rate or channel bandwidth
– System rise time analysis
» Maximum speed or frequency response of each optical component
Digital Line Coding Format
• NRZ
– Pulse width = a full bit period
– On-off (unipolar) signal:
– 1 bit=light pulse transmitted
– 0 bit= no light pulse sent
– Minimum bandwidth needed
– No self-clocking (no level
transition) for timing info
– No error monitoring or correcting
capabilities
• use of block codes and bit
scrambling
• RZ
– Pulse width < a full bit period
– Require twice the BW of NRZ
• Phase-encoded (PE)
– A transition at the center of each
bit period
– 1 bit = negative transition
– 0 bit = positive transition
 Optical data Link

Error sources:
• Optical fiber: dispersion
and attenuation
• Optoelectronic devices:
added noises and power
losses

• The design of optical receiver is much more complicated than that of optical transmitter
because the receiver must first detect weak, distorted signals and then make decisions on
what type of data was sent.
 Noises and Disturbances in Optical Pulse Detection

• Shot noise: spontaneous fluctuation of current due to the discrete nature of

photon randomly arriving at a photodetector  time varying Poisson process
– Important at large 𝐼𝑝 and for avalanche photodiode with multiplication gain M
• Thermal noise: spontaneous fluctuation of current due to the random motion of
electrons in detector load resistor  Gaussian distribution
– More fluctuation at higher temperature
• Amplifier noise: arises from the thermal noise of amplifier input resistance and the
thermal noise of amplifier channel  sum of 2 Gaussian distributions with flat
spectrum (white noise).
• Dark current and leakage current noises: depends on the materials and device
design
– Independent of photocurrent 𝐼𝑝  generally very small.
Intersymbol Interference (ISI)

Pulse spreading in an optical signal, after traversing along optical fiber,

leads to ISI. Some fraction of energy remaining in appropriate time slot
is designated by 𝛾, so the rest is the fraction of energy that has spread
Into adjacent time slots.
Probability Distribution of Received Signal
Probability distributions
for received logical 0 and
vth 1 signal pulses.
the different widths of
the two distributions are
caused by various signal
distortion effects.

v
P1 (v)   p( y | 1)dy

probablity that the equalizer output voltage is less than v, if 1 transmitted


P0 (v)   p ( y | 0)dy probablity that the equalizer output voltage exceeds v, if 0 transmitted
v
 BER Calculation
BER  Probability of Error 
# of error over a certain time interval t N e N e
  , B  1 / Tb
total # of pulses transmitted during t Nt Bt
• Typical BER range 10−9 to 10−12
• Probability of Error= probability that the output voltage is less than the
threshold when a 1 is sent + probability that the output voltage is more than
the threshold when a 0 has been sent.
Pe  q1 P1 (vth )  q0 P0 (vth )
vth 
 q1  p( y | 1)dy  q  p( y | 1)dy

0
vth
• Where 𝑞1 and 𝑞0 are the probabilities that the transmitter sends 0 and 1
respectively. 𝑞0 = 1 − 𝑞1
• For an unbiased transmitter 𝑞1 = 𝑞1 = 0.5
 BER Calculation
 (v  bon ) 2 
vth vth
1
P1 (vth )   p ( y | 1)dy   exp  dv
 2  on   2 on 
2

 
1  (v  boff ) 2 
P0 (vth )   p ( y | 0)dy   exp  dv
vth 2  off vth  2 off 
2

mean

mean
 BER Calculation
• If we assume that the probabilities of 0 and 1 pulses are equally likely, then
BER becomes:


1 1 Q 
BER  Pe (Q)   exp(  x )dx  1  erf (
2
)
 Q/ 2 2 2 
1 exp(-Q 2 /2)

2 Q

vth  boff bon  vth

Q 
 off  on
x
2
erf ( x)    2
exp( y )dy
 0
 BER Calculation
Approximation of error function
Variation of BER vs Q,
 BER Calculation
• In special case when
 off   on   & boff  0, bon  V
We have: vth  V / 2

It becomes:

1 V 
Pe ( )  1  erf ( )
2  2 2 

V
is peak signal - to - rms - noise ratio.

 Digital Link Analysis and Design
• Point-to-Point Link Requirement:
- Data Rate
- BER
- Distance
- Cost & Complexity
• Analysis Methods:
- Link loss & S/N analysis (link power budget analysis and
loss allocation) for a prescribed BER
- Dispersion (rise-time) analysis (rise-time budget allocation)
 Digital Link Analysis and Design
• Photodetectors: Compared to APD, PINs are less expensive and more
stablewith temperature. However PINs have lower sensitivity.
• Optical Sources:
1- LEDs: 150 (Mb/s).km @ 800-900 nm and larger than 1.5 (Gb/s).km @
1330 nm
2- InGaAsP lasers: 25 (Gb/s).km @ 1330 nm and ideally around 500
(Gb/s).km @ 1550 nm. 10-15 dB more power. However more costly and
more complex circuitry.
• Fiber:
1- Single-mode fibers are often used with lasers or edge-emitting LEDs.
2- Multi-mode fibers are normally used with LEDs. NA should be optimized
for any particular application.
 Link Power Budget
• Analysis steps:
– Choose the wavelength and components operating in that 𝜆 region
• For analog transmission distance, choose 𝜆 with lower attenuation
• In choosing components, don’t forget design cost and complexity constraints.
– Determine power margin between the optical transmitter output and
the minimum receiver sensitivity needed for a specified BER
– Allocate this power margin to connector, splice, and fiber attenuation
losses, plus any additional losses due to component degradations,
fiber impairments or temperature effects.
Total Power Loss can be determined as:
𝑃𝑇 = 𝑃𝑠 − 𝑃𝑅 = 𝑙𝑐 + 𝑙𝑠𝑝 + 𝛼𝑓 𝐿 + system margin

– If the desired transmission distance is not achieved, the components

must be changed or amplifiers are needed.
 Link Power Budget

PT [dB]  Ps [dBm]  PR [dBm] Total Power Loss

PT  2lc [dB]   f [dB / km]  L[km]  System Margin

 Receiver Sensitivities vs. Bit Rate

9
The Si PIN & APD and InGaAsP PIN plots for BER= 10 . The InGaAs APD plot is for
BER= 10 .11
Link Loss Power Budget
• LED output power
– 𝑃𝑠 = −13 𝑑𝐵𝑚
• PIN receiver sensitivity
– 𝑃𝑅 = −42 𝑑𝐵𝑚
• Connector loss at each
fiber end
– 𝑙𝑐 = 1 𝑑𝐵
• System margin =6dB
• Slope=fiber
attenuation
– 𝛼𝑓 = 3.5 𝑑𝐵/𝑘𝑚
• Intersection point D
gives the maximum
transmission length
 Example
• Perform the link power budget for the following
information:
– Consider a 1550 nm laser diode that launched a +3 dBm optical
power level into a fiber flylead, an InGaAs APD with a -32 dBm
sensitivity at 2.5 Gbps, and a 60 km long optical cable with a 0.3
dB/km attenuation. Assume that here, because of the way the
equipment is arranged, a short optical jumper cable is needed at
each end between the end of the transmission cable and the
SONET equipment rack. Assume that each jumper cable
introduces a loss of 3 dB. In addition, assume a 1 dB connector
loss occurs at each fiber joint (two at each end because of the
jumper cables)
 Link Loss Power Budget (Spreadsheet
Calculation method)
• Example: [SONET Component/loss Output/sensitivity Power margin
OC-48 (2.5 Gb/s) parameter /loss (dB)
link] Laser output 3 dBm
Transmitter: 3dBm
APD Sensitivity -32 dBm
@ 1550 nm;
@ 2.5 Gb/s
Receiver: InGaAs
APD with -32 dBm Allowed loss 3-(-32) dBm 35
sensitivity @ 2.5 Source connector 1 dB 34
Gb/s; loss
Fiber: 60 km long Jumper+Connect 3+1 dB 30
with o.3 dB/km or loss
attenuation; jumper Cable attenuation 18 dB 12
cable loss 3 dB each,
connector loss of 1 Jumper+Connect 3+1 dB 8
dB each. or loss
Receiver 1 dB 7(final margin)
Connector loss
 Rise Time Budget
• System speed limit depends on:
– Transmitter rise time 𝑡𝑡𝑥
• Depends on light source and its drive circuitry
– Group velocity dispersion (GVD) rise time of fiber 𝑡𝐺𝑉𝐷
• 𝑡𝐺𝑉𝐷 = 𝐷 𝐿𝜎𝜆 , where 𝜎𝜆 is the half power spectral width
– Modal dispersion rise time of fiber 𝑡𝑚𝑜𝑑
• Only in multimode fiber
• 𝑡𝑚𝑜𝑑 = 0.44𝐿𝑞 /𝐵0 , where 𝐵0 is the BW of 1-km cable and
0.5 ≤ 𝑞 ≤ 1
– Receiver rise time 𝑡𝑟𝑥
• Depends on photodetector response and BW of receiver front end
• The rise time of a receiver front end modeled as a 1st order LPF
• 𝑡𝑟𝑥 = 350/𝐵𝑟𝑥 , where 𝐵𝑟𝑥 is the 3-dB BW in MHz
 Rise Time Budget
t sys  [ttx  t mod  tGVD  t rx ]
2 2 2 2 1/ 2

2 1/ 2
 2  440 Lq  2
 350  
 ttx     D   L    
2 2 2

  B0   Brx  

t tx [ ns ] : transmitter rise time t rx [ ns ] : receiver rise time t mod [ ns ] : modal dispersion

Brx [ MHz ]:3dB Electrical BW L[ km ]:Length of the fiber B0 [ MHz ]:BW of the 1 km of the fiber;

q  0.7 tGVD [ns]: rise - time due to group velocity dispersion

D[ ns /( km.nm )]:Dispersion   [nm]: Spectral width of the source

 Rise Time Budget
• In digital transmission system, the system rise-time limits the
bit rate of the system according to the following criteria:

t sys  70% of NRZ bit period

t sys  35% of RZ bit period
 Example of Rise Time Budget
• Laser Tx has a rise-time of 25 ps at 1550 nm and
spectral width of 0.1 nm. Length of fiber is 60 km
with dispersion 2 ps/(nm.km). The InGaAs APD
has a 2.5 GHz BW. Assume that the modal
dispersion rise time of the fiber is negligible.
– Then:
• The total rise-time due to components is 0.14 ns. (The system
is designed for 20 Mb/s).
• The rise-time budget (required) of the system for NRZ
signaling is 0.28 ns
 Example
• We assume that the LED together with its
drive circuit has a rise time of 15 ns. Taking a
typical LED spectral width of 40 nm, we have a
material dispersion related rise time
degradation of 21 ns over 6 km link. Assuming
the receiver has a 25 MHz bandwidth. If the
fiber we select has a 400 MHz.km bandwidth
distance product and q=0.7.
– Compute the total system rise time?
 Transmission Distance for Multimode Link
• NRZ signaling, source/detector: 800-900 nm LED/pin or AlGaAs laser/APD combinations.
𝐵𝐸𝑅 = 10−9 ; LED output=-13 dBm;fiber loss=3.5 dB/km;fiber bandwidth 800 MHz.km; q=0.7; 1-
dB connector/coupling loss at each end; 6 dB system margin, material dispersion ins 0.07
ns/(km.nm); spectral width for LED=50 nm. Laser ar 850 nm spectral width=1 nm; laser ouput=0
dBm, Laser system margin=8 dB;
Transmission Distance for Single Mode Link
• Communication at 1550 nm, no modal dispersion, Source:Laser; Receiver:InGaAs-APD (11.5
log B -71.0 dBm) and PIN (11.5log B-60.5 dBm); Fiber loss =0.3 dB/km; D=2.5 ps/(km.nm):
laser spectral width 1 and 3.5 nm; laser output 0 dBm,laser system margin=8 dB;