Fiber-Optic Communication Systems

Govind P. Agrawal

• Publisher: Wiley
• Year: 2012
• ISBN:
  9780470922828
• Edition: 4
• Topic: Naturwissenschaften
• Subtopic: Wellen & Wellenmechanik

This book provides a comprehensive account of fiber-optic communication systems. The3rd edition ofthis book is used worldwide as a textbook in many universities. This4th edition incorporates recent advances that have occurred, in particular two new chapters. One deals with the advanced modulation formats (such as DPSK, QPSK, and QAM) that are increasingly being used for improving spectral efficiency of WDM lightwave systems. The second chapterfocuses onnew techniques such as all-optical regeneration that are under development and likely to be used in future communication systems. All other chaptersare updated, as well.

Chapter 1
Introduction

A communication system transmits information from one place to another, whether separated by a few kilometers or by transoceanic distances. Information is often carried by an electromagnetic carrier wave whose frequency can vary from a few megahertz to several hundred terahertz. Optical communication systems use high carrier frequencies (~ 100 THz) in the visible or near-infrared region of the electromagnetic spectrum. They are sometimes called lightwave systems to distinguish them from microwave systems, whose carrier frequency is typically smaller by five orders of magnitude (~ 1 GHz). Fiber-optic communication systems are lightwave systems that employ optical fibers for information transmission. Such systems have been deployed worldwide since 1980 and have revolutionized the field of telecommunications. Indeed, lightwave technology, together with microelectronics, led to the advent of the “information age” during the 1990s. This book describes fiber-optic communication systems in a comprehensive manner. The emphasis is on the fundamental aspects, but relevant engineering issues are also discussed. In this introductory chapter we present the basic concepts and provide the background material. Section 1.1 gives a historical perspective on the development of optical communication systems. Section 1.2 covers concepts such as analog and digital signals, channel multiplexing, and modulation formats. Relative merits of various lightwave systems are discussed in Section 1.3. The last section focuses on the building blocks of a fiber-optic communication system.

1.1 Historical Perspective

The use of light for communication purposes dates back to antiquity if we interpret optical communications in a broad sense [1]. Most civilizations have used mirrors, fire beacons, or smoke signals to convey a single piece of information (such as victory in a war). Essentially the same idea was used up to the end of the eighteenth century through signaling lamps, flags, and other semaphore devices. The idea was extended further, following a suggestion of Claude Chappe in 1792, to transmit mechanically coded messages over long distances (~ 100 km) by the use of intermediate relay stations [2], acting as regenerators or repeaters in the modern-day language. Figure 1.1 shows the basic idea schematically. The first such “optical telegraph” was put in service between Paris and Lille (two French cities about 200 km apart) in July 1794. By 1830, the network had expanded throughout Europe [1]. The role of light in such systems was simply to make the coded signals visible so that they could be intercepted by the relay stations. The opto-mechanical communication systems of the nineteenth century were inherently slow. In modern-day terminology, the effective bit rate of such systems was less than 1 bit per second (B < 1 b/s).

Figure 1.1: Schematic illustration of the optical telegraph and its inventor Claude Chappe.

(After Ref. [2]; ©1944 American Association for the Advancement of Science; reprinted with permission.)

1.1.1 Need for Fiber-Optic Communications

The advent of telegraphy in the 1830s replaced the use of light by electricity and began the era of electrical communications [3]. The bit rate B could be increased to ~ 10 b/s by the use of new coding techniques, such as the Morse code. The use of intermediate relay stations allowed communication over long distances (~ 1000 km). Indeed, the first successful transatlantic telegraph cable went into operation in 1866. Telegraphy used essentially a digital scheme through two electrical pulses of different durations (dots and dashes of the Morse code). The invention of the telephone in 1876 brought a major change inasmuch as electric signals were transmitted in analog form through a continuously varying electric current [4]. Analog electrical techniques were to dominate communication systems for a century or so.

The development of worldwide telephone networks during the twentieth century led to many advances in the design of electrical communication systems. The use of coaxial cables in place of wire pairs increased system capacity considerably. The first coaxial-cable system, put into service in 1940, was a 3-MHz system capable of transmitting 300 voice channels or a single television channel. The bandwidth of such systems is limited by 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.

The first microwave system operating at the carrier frequency of 4 GHz was put into service in 1948. Since then, both coaxial and microwave systems have evolved considerably and are able to operate at bit rates ~ 100 Mb/s. The most advanced coaxial system was put into service in 1975 and operated at a bit rate of 274 Mb/s. A severe drawback of such high-speed coaxial systems is their small repeater spacing (~ 1 km), which makes the system relatively expensive to operate. Microwave communication systems generally allow for a larger repeater spacing, but their bit rate is also limited by the carrier frequency of such waves. A commonly used 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. Figure 1.2 shows how the BL product has increased through technological advances during the last century and a half. Communication systems with BL ~ 100 (Mb/s)-km were available by 1970 and were limited to such values because of fundamental limitations.

Figure 1.2: Increase in bit rate-distance product BL during the period 1850–2000. The emergence of a new technology is marked by a solid circle.

It was realized during the second half of the twentieth century that an increase of several orders of magnitude in the BL product would be possible if optical waves were used as the carrier. However, 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 [5]. Attention was then focused on finding ways for using laser light for optical communications. Many ideas were advanced during the 1960s [6], the most noteworthy being the idea of light confinement using a sequence of gas lenses [7].

It was suggested in 1966 that optical fibers might be the best choice [8], as they are capable of guiding the light in a manner similar to the guiding of electrons in copper wires. The ...