OPTICAL FIBER

HISTORY:In 1870, John Tyndall demonstrated that light follows the

curve of a stream of water pouring from a container, it was this
simple principle that led to the study and development of
applications for this phenomenon. John Logie Baird patented a
method of transmitting light in a glass rod for use in an early
colour TV, but the optical losses inherent in the materials at the
time made it impractical to use. In the 1950's more research and
development into the transmission of visible images through
optical fibres led to some success in the medical world, as they
began using them in remote illumination and viewing instruments.
In 1966 Charles Kao and George Hockham proposed the
transmission of information over glass fibre, and they also realised
that to make it a practical proposition, much lower losses in the
cables were essential. This was the driving force behind the
developments to improve the optical losses in fibre manufacturing,
and today optical losses are significantly lower than the original
target set out by Charles Kao and George Hockham.

The advantages of using fiber optics :Because of the Low loss, high bandwidth properties of fiber
cable they can be used over greater distances than copper cables, in
data networks this can be as much as 2km without the use of
repeaters. Their light weight and small size also make them ideal
for applications where running copper cables would be impractical,
and by using multiplexors one fiber could replace hundreds of
copper cables. This is pretty impressive for a tiny glass filament,
but the real benefits in the data industry are its immunity to Electro
Magnetic Interference (EMI), and the fact that glass is not an
electrical conductor. Because fibre is non-conductive, it can be
used where electrical isolation is needed, for instance between
buildings where copper cables would require cross bonding to
eliminate differences in earth potentials. Fibres also pose no threat
in dangerous environments such as chemical plants where a spark
could trigger an explosion. Last but not least is the security aspect,
it is very, very difficult to tap into a fibre cable to read the data
signals.
Fibre construction :There are many different types of fibre cable, but for the
purposes of this explanation we will deal with one of the most
common types, 62.5/125 micron loose tube. The numbers represent
the diameters of the fibre core and cladding, these are measured in
microns which are millionths of a metre. Loose tube fibre cable
can be indoor or outdoor, or both, the outdoor cables usually have
the tube filled with gel to act as a moisture barrier which stops the
ingress of water. The number of cores in one cable can be
anywhere from 4 to 144 .

Over the years a variety of core sizes have been

produced but these days there are only three main sizes that are
used in data communications, these are 50/125, 62.5/125 and
8.3/125. The 50/125 and 62.5/125 micron multi-mode cables are
the most widely used in data networks, although recently the 62.5
has become the more popular choice. This is rather unfortunate,
because the 50/125 has been found to be the better option for
Gigabit Ethernet applications.
The 8.3/125 micron is a single mode cable which until
now hasnt been widely used in data networking, this was due to
the high cost of single mode hardware. Things are beginning to
change because the length limits for Gigabit Ethernet over
62.5/125 fibre has been reduced to around 220m, and now, using
8.3/125 may be the only choice for some campus size networks.
Hopefully, this shift to single mode may start to bring the costs
down.

FIBER OPTICS:There are three basic kinds of fiber optic cables:

Plastic fiber, of which the most common is for high-end
audio and is called Toslink. This fiber has a diameter of 900 m
(micrometers) or almost 1 mm. We will see that this is huge in
the fiber world, and huge is not good when considering
performance.
Then we have Multimode fiber. This is made of glass
and can come in various diameters. The most popular is 62.5 m,
although recently 50 m has been making a comeback in the data
world.
And then we have Single Mode the king of fiber, with a
diameter of 8 m. This is so small that you cannot see it without a
microscope, and is therefore very hard and expensive to
connectorize, at least compared to the two fiber optics cables
above. It is also the king of performance.
Plastic Fiber:Plastic Fiber uses visible light as the signal-carrying
medium. Because of the long wavelengths and the relatively huge
size of the fiber, the light bounces around while passing down the
fiber (called dispersion). The effect is that the signal can only go
a few feet, maybe 20 or 30 feet.
On the
connectorize. It is
megahertz. It is
interconnection of
digital audio.

other hand, plastic fiber is amazingly easy to

also limited to low bandwidth of a few
most often used for high-end consumer
devices and is especially popular carrying

Multimode Fiber:Multimode fiber uses much shorter wavelengths

than the plastic fiber. In multimode fiber there are two places in the
spectrum which give the lowest loss and are called "windows"
Instead of describing them by "megahertz", windows are describes
by the wavelength of the light in nanometers. The characteristics of
the fiber, based on its diameter, determine the performance or
bandwidth in each window. The bandwidth is specified for 1 km (1
kilometer or approximately 3280 ft.) Shorter runs would have less
dispersion and therefore be higher bandwidths. Longer runs would
have greater dispersion and therefore have less bandwidth.
For 50 m multimode fiber the two windows are 850 nm
(with a bandwidth of 500 MHz) and 1300 nm (which also has a
bandwidth of 500 MHz). So the total bandwidth of 50m fiber is 1
GHz. How much data you can put down such a cable is determined

by the compression, bit reduction, and other techniques. Therefore,

telling someone the bit rate running down the fiber is almost
meaningless, since you have no idea what techniques were used to
get that much data on the fiber. The bandwidth is the only way to
compare fiber optic cables.
On the more popular multimode fiber, 62.5 m the
windows are the same but the bandwidth of each is different. The
first is 850 nm (with a bandwidth of 160 MHz). The second
window is1300 nm (with a bandwidth of 500 MHz). So 62.5m
fiber has a total bandwidth of 660 MHz. One can see why 50 m is
making a comeback: greater bandwidth. There are also some 62.5
m fibers that are selected for higher first-window bandwidth,
some above 200 MHz, giving a total above 700 MHz.
Considering that the hardware, especially connectors, is most
common for 62.5 m, one should consider seriously a choice
between 62.5 m and 50 m. The latter died, and is coming back
from the dead, so not all manufacturers may support it. Or the leadtimes for their products may be unacceptable
Single Mode
Then we come to the king of fiber optics, Single Mode. It also has
two windows, but they are at different wavelengths, 1300 nm and
1550 nm. What is the bandwidth in these windows? Truthfully,
nobody knows. In fact, the bandwidth seems to be limited only by
the performance of the devices to which it is connected.
Single mode has bandwidth well into the GHz with most common
equipment. Top-of-the-line equipment will get you into a total
bandwidth in the 40 GHz range. Experiments have been done with
3000-mile long samples where they successfully passed 100 GHz

of data. Such a bandwidth would be enough to cover almost every

signal requirement imaginable, and far into the future.

So Which Do I Use
Most professional audio and video equipment still has copper
connections. When this changes, and when you have fiber optic
connections on the back of equipment, that is the most likely time
you will start using fiber.
FIBER:The other time you will use fiber is when the bandwidth
required, or the distance required, cannot be satisfied by a copper
cable. For instance, the farthest one can go on a copper coax
running HDTV (750 MHz/1.5 GHz) is somewhere around 900 ft.
If you want to go a thousand feet, fiber might be your next best
option.
However, at each end of the fiber you will need to convert from
electrical to optical and back again. This adds to the cost and
complexity, and reduces reliability. You cant solder or crimp a
fiber, and it is recommended that you take a class in connectorizing
fiber.

Some 10 billion digital bits can be transmitted per second

along an optical fiber link in a commercial network, enough to
carry tens of thousands of telephone calls. Hair-thin fibers consist
of two concentric layers of high-purity silica glass the core and the
cladding, which are enclosed by a protective sheath. Light rays
modulated into digital pulses with a laser or a light-emitting diode
move along the core without penetrating the cladding.
The light stays confined to the core because the cladding has a
lower refractive indexa measure of its ability to bend light.
Refinements in optical fibers, along with the development of new
lasers and diodes, may one day allow commercial fiber-optic
networks to carry trillions of bits of data per second.
Total internal refection confines light within optical fibers (similar
to looking down a mirror made in the shape of a long paper towel
tube). Because the cladding has a lower refractive index, light rays
reflect back into the core if they encounter the cladding at a
shallow angle (red lines). A ray that exceeds a certain "critical"
angle escapes from the fiber (yellow line).

STEP-INDEX MULTIMODE FIBER:-

It has a large core, up to 100 microns in diameter. As

a result, some of the light rays that make up the digital pulse may
travel a direct route, whereas others zigzag as they bounce off the
cladding. These alternative pathways cause the different groupings
of light rays, referred to as modes, to arrive separately at a
receiving point. The pulse, an aggregate of different modes, begins
to spread out, losing its well-defined shape. The need to leave
spacing between pulses to prevent overlapping limits bandwidth
that is, the amount of information that can be sent. Consequently,
this type of fiber is best suited for transmission over short
distances, in an endoscope, for instance.

GRADED-INDEX MULTIMODE FIBER:It contains a core in which the refractive index

diminishes gradually from the center axis out toward the cladding.
The higher refractive index at the center makes the light rays
moving down the axis advance more slowly than those near the
cladding. Also, rather than zigzagging off the cladding, light in the
core curves helically because of the graded index, reducing its
travel distance. The shortened path and the higher speed allow light
at the periphery to arrive at a receiver at about the same time as the
slow but straight rays in the core axis. The result: a digital pulse
suffers less dispersion.

CONCLUSION

CONCLUSION
Engineering students will have to serve in the public or
private sector industries, laboratories and workshop based training
and teaching in classroom has its own limitations. The lack of
exposure to real life, materials, processes and functioning of
industrial organization is the major hindrances in the student
employment.
In the open economy era of fast modernization and high
tough competition, technical industries should produce pass out as
near to job function as possible .Practical training is one major step
in this direction.
This training helped me in gaining depth knowledge of
working in the telephone exchange.
Also by this training I come to know about the working of
exchange. At last I would only say that this training is very helpful
for my further prospects.

Thanking you
LOKESH
GUPTA

A
SEMINAR REPORT
ON
PRACTICAL TRAINNING
AT
GT COMPUTER HARDWARE ENGINEERING COLLEGE AND
TRAINNING CENTER

SESSION:2004-2005

Submitted by:
B.E. IV SEM
DEPARTMENT OF ELECTRONICS & COMMUNICATION
ENGINEERING

MAHARISHI ARVIND INSTITUTE OF ENGINEERING &

TECHNOLOGY

JAIPUR
AFFILIATED TO UNIVERSITY OF RAJASTHAN