IMPROVEMENT OF OPTICAL FIBER COMMUNICATION SYSTEM USING PARALLEL INTERFACE CIRCUIT By:

S. S. Elwakeel, H. A. Jawad, K. I. Hajim

Department of Physics, College of Science, Sudan University of Science and Technology, P.O.Box: 407, Khartoum.

KEYWORDS: Laser, detector optical fiber and interface.

ABSTRACT A certain parallel interface circuit for an optical fiber system was designed and built. A suitable software was built and tested. The performance of each part of the system was tested. The final form of the circuit was tested individually. The complete system including the parallel interface circuit was examined applying a case study. The performance of the system was good within the acceptable experimental error. : . :

. . .

INTRODUCTION During the past years, a new technology has become increasingly accepted in the field of communication transmission via optical fiber cables. In contrast to copper cable technology, the signals are transmitted optically with the aid of optical waveguides also called optical fibers[1]. They have many advantages, such as: high capacity, low cost per channel, light weight and small size[2]. Stored data can easily displayed from receiver when it is required. A special medium to capture the data and convert it to signals understood by computer is needed. This medium is called interface card. The analog signal is to be converted to digital signals and then to be displayed on the screen by certain software. The benefits got from interface personal computer with the environments are: high speed in processing, low cost of (PC), high degree of reliability in (PC), availability of external storage medium and availability of input and output devices [3]. There are three methods for connecting computer with the out side word: Serial interface, direct interface, and parallel interface. A serial communication is the technique that allows one computer to be connected to another device by sending data through a transition media and receiving data on another and has a great importance because of its flexibility[4]. Various devices such as plotter, modem, mouse and of course a printer can be connected to the serial interface[5]. The common type of the direct interface is the plug in card, which fits into a free expansion slot in the computer, and its main advantages are: low cost, high speed, and easily connected.

Finally, the parallel interface is quicker[4] and cheaper. It works by sending data through collection of eight wires at once, unlike the serial interface, parallel interface can send an entire byte of data at once by using eight data wires. For all these advantages of PC and optical fiber, recent work was concentrated on the construction of parallel interface circuit for the use of optical fiber system. MATERIALS AND METHODS The Optical Fiber System: consists of a light source which is a cw laser diode: manufactured by Phillips Company, with optical power of 5 mw, wave length of 0.67 m[8], which is corresponding to the aperture of the used optical fiber with low loss, and it also corresponding to the response of the used optical detector. It is pumped by current flow through the device[8]. The Optical Fiber: Is a single mode polymethylmetacrylate (PMMA) Fiber, which has suitable characteristics for diffusion of light, low cost and also has a little attenuation at the wavelength of 0.67 m. The Optical Detector: Is a PN detector, which is suitable for the wavelength of the laser used. A suitable electronic circuit is design and built to operate this detector. A certain parallel interface circuit is designed and constructed related to the requirement of the used optical system. The interface unit consists of: operational amplifier, resistances, diodes, capacitors, analog to digital converter, tri-state buffer and decoder[7] manufactured by Texas Company. The lay out of the interface circuit is illustrated in (Fig. 1)[6]. The performance of each part of the circuit is tested via a Cathode Ray Oscilloscope and multimeter including, the buffer, the operational amplifier, the diode and the analog to digital converter input and output.

Fig. (1): The Used Optical Communication System

Light from light source passes through an optical fiber in analog form and then received by the detector[6], which converts this analog light into analog voltage then

an analog voltage passes through interface circuit, which convert this voltage into a digital voltage by certain software. The system setup is shown in (Fig. 2).

[7]
Pin (9)

Pin(8)

Pin (2) Fig. (2): The Parallel Interface circ

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION The test results have shown that the performance of all the electronic chips is corresponding to chips specification. Software is writing for interface circuit control and then it is tested. Written results of the software are shown in (Table 1). The input is in binary code while the output is in decimal code.
Table (1): The Software Test
0000 0001 Lines 0000 0000 0000 0000 Output Signals in Decimal 0 1

0011 0111 1111

0000 0000 0000

0000 0000 0000

3 7 15

The software output has the same binary input, which indicates that the software is successfully worked. The results of the interface circuit determine either the design is successfully working or not. (Table 2).
Table (2): The Interface Circuit Test
Decimal input 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Decimal output 0.06 1.01 1.9976 2.9976 .4 .5 5.9976 6.9976 7.9976 8.9976 9.9963

The results obtained from the interface circuit test showed that the measurement of the designed circuit seems to be faithful in transferring the input signal proportional with the operating voltage of the Analog to Digital Converter. From the results of the interface circuit, we notice that the error is approximately ranging from 0.001v to 0.004v. After completing the interface circuit test, the optical fiber system is reconnected as a case study for the system. The results are listed in (Table 3).
Table (3): The Physical Interface Results
The input signal (V) 0 0.1 0.3 0.5 0.9 1 The buffer o/p (V) 0 0.1 0.3 0.5 0.9 1 The op-amp (V) 0 1 3 5.01 8.85 9.81 The D. c o/p (V) 0 1.03 3.00 4.88 8.6 9.61 The digital o/p(V) 0 1.028 2.9976 4.878 8.5987 9.5987

Notice: The ADC zero is LSB (1.22 mV), full Scale is 11/2 LSB.

CONCLUSION The present study concludes that the constructed parallel interface circuit for the used optical fiber system is performing successfully. The experimental error ranges from 0.001v to 0.004v is acceptable for range operation. REFERENCES 1- Giinther Mahlke and Peter Gossing (1993). Fiber optics cables, second edition, Siemens Aktiengesell Schaft, Munich Federal Republic of Germany, PP: [91]. 2- Ajoy Hatak, Anurag Sharma, Raman and Tewari, (1991). Fiber optic on APC, Physica Department Indian Institute of Technology, New Delhi, India. 3- Edward J. P. asahow, (1981). Microcomputer Interfacing for Electronic Technicians, First edition, Mc Graw. Hill, San Diego community collage California, California PP: [90].

4- Michael Tischer, (1992). PC intern system programming The Encycl Opedia of Dos Programing Know How, USA, PP: [139]. 5- HANS-PETE, (1995), Indispensable PC Hardware Book, England, Britain PP: [551]. 6- Leot Courses (2001). Introduction To Laser, U.S, PP: [6]. 7- Lan R. Sinclair Register, (1983). Integrated circuit second edition, Whit Stable Litho, England, Britain, PP: [60]. 8- J. P. Woerdman, (1995). Laser physics, Fifth edition, A.H.V an poppel-Van Dijk, Leiden University, Leiden, Netherland.