Chapter 1:Optical

Communication &
Networking
Dr. S. K. Das, Dept. of EC
09/01/2024
Objectives
• Understanding the concept of optical
communication & Networking
Outline
• What is Optical Communication & Networking?
• Optical Communication
• Optical Networking
What is Optical Communication &
Networking?
• In technology field, it is the backbone for data transmission.
• It helps in many ways in data communication domain.
• It is a backbone technology in information management.
• It helps to provide unprecedented communication capacity and cost-
effective interconnection capability to support bandwidth-hungry
applications (high bandwidth), such as ultra-broadband access, cloud
computing, content sharing and storage.
• It also helps continuously evolving generations of wireless
communication.
What is Optical Communication &
Networking?
It involves in the following research, development, application, and all other aspect of communication field

• Optical networking for core, metro, access, and data • Energy-efficient/green optical communications and
center applications networks
• Optical network protocols and architectures • Chip-scale optical communications
• Protection, restoration, and security in optical networks • Hybrid networks for fixed-mobile convergence
• Next generation optical transport systems • Optical Testbeds and Optical System/Network field trials
• Performance analysis of optical communications and • Free space optical communication (indoor, outdoor,
networks space, and underwater)
• Optical switching technologies, devices and • Ultraviolet communications
architectures • Visible light communications (indoor, outdoor, and
• Optical components, devices and subsystems localization)
• Novel digital signal processing for optical • Optical wireless communication applications for future
communications networks
• Flexible-grid elastic optical networks • Hybrid radio frequency/optical wireless communication
systems and networks
 What is Optical Communication &
Networking (OCN)?
OCN

Optical Communication Optical Networking

• It relies on optical amplifiers, lasers or LEDs • It is an enabling technology for the Internet and
and wavelength-division multiplexing telecommunication networks that transmit the vast
(WDM)/Dense-wavelength-division majority of all human and machine-to-machine
multiplexing (DWDM) to transmit large information.
quantities of data, generally across fiber- • Inter-connectivity of communication devices
optic cables. • It helps in controlling the device connectivity and data
• Capable of achieving extremely high flow
bandwidth • It is also know as control plan for the optical backbone
system.
• These include limited range local-area networks (LAN)
or wide area networks (WANs).
 What is Optical Communication &
Networking (OCN)?
OCN

Optical Communication Optical Networking

• It relies on optical amplifiers, lasers or LEDs • Communication + Networking
and wavelength-division multiplexing • Wavelength-division multiplexing (WDM) Network
(WDM)/Dense-wavelength-division • Dense-wavelength-division multiplexing (DWDM)
multiplexing (DWDM) to transmit large Network
quantities of data, generally across fiber- • Involves in routing (path finding) and wavelength
optic cables. assignments (RAW)
• Capable of achieving extremely high • It will help to provide connectivities among multiple
bandwidth optical backbone systems.
Optical Communication
• Evolution
• Applications
• Need for Optical Fiber
• Optical Communication Systems
• Fiber-optic communication
• Optical Fiber
• Advantages of Optical Fiber
• Fiber Optic Cable
• Optical Fiber Construction
• Five Generations of Light wave Systems
Evolution of Optical Communication
• For thousands of years we have used light to communicate.
• Even in these high-tech days of satellite communications, ships still
carry powerful lamps for signaling at sea.
• It was a well known ‘fact’ that, as light travels in straight lines, it is
impossible to make it follow a curved path.
• Boston, USA, 1870. An Irish physicist by the name of John Tyndall
gave a public demonstration of an experiment which not only
disproved this belief but gave birth to a revolution in communications
technology.
Evolution of Optical Communication (Cont..)
Expected !
• The idea was very simple. He filled a container with water
and shown a light into it in dark room.
• It was expected that the light would shine straight out of the hole
and the water would Curve downward as shown in Figure.
Evolution of Optical Communication(Cont..)
What actually happened !
• The light stayed inside the water column and followed the curved path.
• He had found a way to guide light!
• The basic requirements still remain the same today — a light source and a clear material
(usually plastic or glass) for the light to shine through.
• The light can be guided around any complex path as in Figure .
Assignment 1: Mini Project
• Do an experimental set-up and verification of how to transmit and
receive optical signal (LASER/LED) in underwater communication
Evolution of Fiber
1880 – Alexander Graham Bell
1930 – Patents on tubing
1950 – Patent for two-layer glass wave-guide
1960 – Laser first used as light source
1965 – High loss of light discovered
1970s – Refining of manufacturing process
1980s – OF technology becomes backbone of long distance
telephone networks in NA.
Applications of light guiding
• Road signs- A single light source can be used to power many optic
fibers.
• Endoscopes
• Hazardous areas
• All at sea
• Flexible lighting (marking escape routes for fire fighters,
mountain and mine rescue, underwater routes for divers,
helicopter landing zones, oil refineries, planes, ships, tunnels etc.)
Areas of Application
Telecommunications
Computer network
LA N,WAN
Cable TV
CCTV
Optical Fiber Sensors
Nuclear plant instrument
Industrial process control system
Need for Optical Fiber
• The development of worldwide telephone networks during 20th Century
necessitated the use of coaxial cables instead of pairs wires for increased capacity.
• A 3-MHz system capable of transmitting 300 voice channels was put in to use in 1940.
• Then arises the frequency-dependent cable losses, which increase rapidly for
frequencies beyond 10 MHz.
• This limitation led to the development of microwave communication systems in which
an electromagnetic carrier wave with frequencies in the range of 1-10 GHz is used to
transmit the signal by using suitable modulation techniques.
Need for Optical Fiber (Cont…)
• The first microwave system operating at the carrier frequency of 4GHz was
put into service in 1948. Since then, both coaxial and microwave systems
have evolved considerably and are able to operate at bit rates ~100Mb/s.
• A severe drawback of such high-speed coaxial systems was their
small repeater spacing (~ 1 km) -- expensive to operate.
• Microwave communication systems -allow larger repeater spacing.
• Figure of merit for communication systems is the bit rate-distance product,
BL, where B is the bit rate and L is the repeater spacing
Need for Optical Fiber (Cont…)
BL Development
Need for Optical Fiber (Cont…)
• An increase of several orders of magnitude in the BL product would be
possible if optical waves were used as the carrier -- But neither a
coherent optical source nor a suitable transmission medium was
available during the 1950s.
• The invention of the laser and its demonstration in 1960 solved the first
problem.
• Attention was then focused on finding ways for using laser light for
optical communications.
• It was suggested in 1966 that optical fibers might be the best choice, as
they are capable of guiding the light in a manner similar to the guiding
of electrons in copper wires
Need for Optical Fiber (Cont…)
• The main problem was the high losses of optical fibers.
• fibers available during the 1960s had losses in excess of 1000
dB/kmm.
• A breakthrough occurred in 1970 when fiber losses could be reduced
to below 20 dB/km in the wavelength region near 1 µm.
• The reduction of loss made it possible to use optical fibers for
communication. Which was further reduced to 0.2 dB/km in 1979.
Need for Optical Fiber (Cont…)

Around 1975. The was realized !

Need for Optical Fiber (Cont…)
• At about the same time, GaAs semiconductor lasers, operating at room temperature, were demonstrated.
• The simultaneous availability of compact optical sources and a low-loss optical fibers led to a
worldwide effort for developing fiber-optic communication systems.
• Figure shows the increase in the capacity of lightwave systems realized after 1980 through several
generations of development.
• The commercial deployment of lightwave systems followed the research and development phase closely.
The progress has indeed been rapid as evident from an increase in the bit rate by a factor of 100,000
over a period of less than 25 years.
• Transmission distances have also increased from 10 to 10,000 km over the same time period. As a
result, the bit rate-distance product of modern lightwave systems can exceed by a factor of 107 compared
with the first-generation lightwave systems.
Need for Optical Fiber (Cont…)