Chapter # 1 INTRODUCTION __________________________________________________________________

CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION

Fiber-Optic Networks is a nebulous term. Ones understanding of its meaning depends on the perspective from which it is viewed. And this can range from todays telecommunication networks to with electronic switches connected by optic fibers to tomorrows all-optical conversion. The first generation of fiberoptic networks SONET (telecommunication network with electronics nodes and optical fiber as transmission links) has been deployed for a number of years. The second generation of fiber-optic networks, now in its infancy, includes optical add/drop switches and modules. The ultimate goal is the development of All Optical Networks (AON) where a signal will be transmitted from source to destination in pure light form without any conversion to electrical state. All the information we ever need to exchange exists in three major forms: (1) voice (2) video (3) data. Voice is transmitted by telecommunication networks, video is transmitted by broadcasting over airwaves and data is transmitted by computer networks also called Data Networks. It is this data network that we intend to implement in our final year project. Computer networks (or data networks) are designed and built to transmit digital signals only. We distinguish among data networks by their scale of operation. Local Area Networks (LANS), for instance, connect computer setups within a room, building or a campus. A formal chapter is dedicated to the discussion of architecture and topologies of optical network. The use of fiber-optic in LAN is more justify today than it was before. The power of personnel computer increases significantly with every new generation of entries. The real speed of a PC operation is now 100 million instructions per seconds (MIPS).The more powerful a computer the more information it produces and the more information that has to be transmitted per unit of time. To make a 2 FREE SPACE OPTICAL LAN

Chapter # 1 INTRODUCTION __________________________________________________________________ LAN work effectively, a huge amount of information has to be transmitted over the network at high speed. The minimum transmitting capacity a LAN need is estimated at 1Mbits/s per 1MIPS, The so-called Amdahls Law. Today however, that just wont suffice. We need minimum of 100 Mbits/s and LANs generally operate at a much lower rate. A hat holding back their further development is the networking infrastructure, because LANs are still mostly copper-wired. The solution is obvious: a switch to fiber optics. Until now, extensive use of optical fiber in LANS has been stymied by a higher installation cost than that of copper. But the decreasing costs of all fiber-optic components with the advances in technology and the easiness of designing driver circuitry for high speed fiber-optic transmission(does not require sophisticated encoded compression)is giving fiber optics the edge in its battle copper for the LAN business. A copper wire can carry signal up to 1MHz over a short distance. A coaxial cable can propagate signal up to 100 MHz. Microwave, including satellite channels operate up to 100 GHz. Fiber-optic communication systems use light as the signal carrier; light frequency is between 100 and 1000 THz. Thus the potential information- carrying capacity of a single fiber-optic channel is estimated at 50 Tbits/s! But from a practical standpoint, commercial links have transmitted far fewer than 100Gbps-the remaining fiber bandwidth unutilized. Two recent major technological advances wavelength-division multiplexing (WDM) and erbium-doped optical-fiber amplifiers (EDFA)-have boosted the capacity of existing systems and revolutionized our ability to utilize maximum fiber bandwidth. WDM technology was born from the idea to simultaneously inject into the same optical fiber (erbium doped) several digital signals at the same data rate, each one with at distinct wavelength. On the transmit side, one multiplexes N channels with nominal data rate D, on the receive side, one demultiplexes the global N*D signal into N nominal channels. Today we produce information at a rate we would never have dreamed about 25 years back. The chief requirement of networks in the future can be summed up in three words: capacity, capacity and capacity. End users continue to request more 3 FREE SPACE OPTICAL LAN

Chapter # 1 INTRODUCTION __________________________________________________________________ and more bandwidth as applications grow. As experts put it, There are now three guarantees in life: death, taxes and the demand for more bandwidth We can safely say that major trend in development of telecommunication networks is the move to all-optical networks. There is no other means today to meet the insatiable demand for ever more capacity except through fiber optic communication systems. Future fiber-optic networks will certainly be WDM networks. True, WDM networks are still in their infancy, but with exponentially increasing demand for bandwidth and the unprecedented pace at which WDM technology is maturing, we can expect to see AONs within a decade. We have selected to do our Final Year Project on ------. The thesis is divided into --- chapters. Chapter 2 is on the comparison of different technologies with the one we selected .i.e. Free Space Optical LAN. The physical explanation of the underlying phenomenon along with the design technology available in market for the components is discussed. Chapter three is on Optical Sources such as LED and LASERS. Chapter 4 is on Optical Detectors such as Photodiodes, P-N diodes and PIN diodes. Chapter 5 includes Optical Network Architecture and introduces existing network topologies and protocols. The final chapter deals with the design of our project, the components we chose along with the circuits implemented.

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Chapter # 1 INTRODUCTION __________________________________________________________________

1.1 PREVIOUS PROJECTS DONE IN THIS AREA

This is the first and only project on Free Space Optical LAN completed in the faculty of engineering sciences in UMT. A bidirectional transmission link was established using Free Space. The specifications of the project are as below:

1.2 SYSTEM SPECIFICATIONS

Light Sources Operating wavelengths Light detectors Modulation Technique Connector Type

- Laser Diode Modules -670nm -600nm-1050nm PIN photodiode -Direct intensity modulation -DB-9 Female Connector

The project was completed successfully and transmitted voice, data and video bidirectional.

1.3 DESIGN SPECIFICATIONS

Maximum Range Data rate Mode Computer interface Laser beam Modulation Laser wavelength Laser power Laser Class Power requirements 10-20 meters (allowing for loss through two clean, clear glass windows) 100 Kbps or higher Full Duplex, i.e. data can flow in both directions simultaneously COM Port RS232 (Serial port) On-Off Keying 670 nm < 5mW peak pulse power < 1mW average power Class 2 9 to 12 VDC @ 60 mA

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Chapter # 1 INTRODUCTION __________________________________________________________________

1.4 APPLICATIONS
Metro network extensions: Carriers can deploy FSO to extend existing metropolitan-area fiber rings, to connect new networks, and, in their core infrastructure, to complete Sonet rings. Last-mile access: FSO can be used in high-speed links that connect endusers with Internet service providers or other networks. It can also be used to bypass local-loop systems to provide businesses with high-speed connections. Enterprise connectivity: The ease with which FSO links can be installed makes them a natural choice for interconnecting local-area network segments that are housed in buildings separated by public streets or other right-of-way property. Fiber backup: FSO may also be deployed in redundant links to back up fiber in place of a second fiber link. The diversity that comes from backing up fiber with FSO may provide better protection than backing fiber up with additional fiber. Service acceleration: FSO can be also used to provide instant service to fiber-optic customers while their fiber infrastructure is being laid. Backhaul: FSO can be used to carry cellular telephone traffic from antenna towers back to facilities wired into the public switched telephone network. FSO could be the ultimate solution for high-speed residential access. Instead of hybrid fiber-coax systems, hybrid fiber-laser systems may turn out to be the best way to deliver high data rates directly to the home.

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Chapter # 1 INTRODUCTION __________________________________________________________________

1.5 OBJECTIVES
1. Design a moderate speed FSO data link with transfer rates upto 100Kbps. 2. Operating distances 10 to 20mts. 3. Much Cheaper as compared to the commercially available equipment. The estimated basic design cost was around Rs 3000/-. A commercial 850-nm transceiver for a 10-100-Mb/s unit spanning a few hundred meters can cost as much as $5000. 4. Design using readily available, cheap and indigenous components instead of expensive, specialized components. 5. Excellent up-time and good reliability. 6. Compact & Easy to install Hardware. The hardware was intended to be transparent to existing software platforms. 7. Very less setup times. 8. an excellent platform for design and testing of more advanced FSO projects and communication protocols.

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