› Optical communications

 Optical communication, also known as optical

telecommunication, is communication at a distance using light
to carry information. It can be performed visually or by using
electronic devices.
 Optical fiber is the most common type of
channel for optical communications.
 The transmitters in optical fiber links are
generally light-emitting diodes (LEDs) or
laser diodes. Infrared light, rather than
visible light is used more commonly,
because optical fibers transmit infrared
wavelengths with less attenuation and
dispersion.
 A fiber-optic cable is made up of incredibly thin strands of glass or
plastic.
 one cable can have as few as two strands or as many as several
hundred.
 Each strand is less than a tenth as thick as a human hair.
 single strand can carry something like 25,000 telephone calls, so an
entire fiber-optic cable can easily carry several million calls.
 Light travels down a fiber-optic cable by bouncing
repeatedly off the walls
 Each tiny photon (particle of light) bounces down the
pipe like a bobsleigh going down an ice run.
 Now you might expect a beam of light, traveling in a
clear glass pipe, simply to leak out of the edges.
 But if light hits glass at a really shallow angle (less
than 42 degrees), it reflects back in again—as though
the glass were really a mirror. This phenomenon is
called total internal reflection. It's one of the things
that keeps light inside the pipe.
 The earliest innovation was photophone.
 The photophone(originally given an
alternate name, radiophone) is a
communication device which allowed
for the transmission of speech on a
beam of light. It was invented jointly by
Alexander Graham Bell and his assistant
Charles Sumner Tainter on February 19,
1880.
NEXT INNOVATIONS ARE
HELIOGRAPH TELEGRAPH
 A naval signal lamp, a form of optical
communication that uses shutters and is
typically employed with Morse code
MODERN SIGNAL LAMP
 And there are many more innovations
too….
 Now lets see the importance of optical
communications in field of communications
 Every year, NASA sends additional
information gathering missions into space.
As the missions become increasingly more
sophisticated, the amount of data they are
able to gather and need to send to Earth is
rapidly rising. To accommodate this need,
NASA has transitioned to higher-bandwidth
radio spectrum usage.
 There is no way for NASA to use radio
frequency communications to carry higher
data rates without increasing the size of its
antennas or power of its radio transmitters.
Optical Communications Potential
Depending on the mission application, an optical communications
solution could achieve:

 50% savings in mass.

Reduced mass enables decreased spacecraft cost and/or
increased science through more mass for the instruments
 65% savings in power
Reduced power enables increased mission life and/or increased
science measurements
 Up to 20x increase in data rate
Increased data rates enable increased data collection and
reduced mission operations complexity
Did You Know?

The Mars Reconnaissance

Orbiter (MRO) uses a 3
meter antenna to
communicate with Earth. If
MRO was using optical
communications, it could use
a 20 centimeter aperture
telescope instead.
Optical Communications Challenges
For all its benefits, optical communications still faces several
challenges.
 Unlike radio communications, which can be sent out in a broad
beam blanketing target areas with its signal, optical communication is
sent in a relatively narrow beam pointed directly at a receiver.
 When broadcasting from thousands or millions of miles away, an
optical communication telescope pointing must be extremely precise.
A deviation of even a fraction of a degree can result
in the laser missing its target entirely.

Clouds and mist can interrupt a laser

 Through the latest innovation of Act Fibrenet our favourite city
HYDERABAD has become INDIA’S first ever GIGAcity ……i.e
which provide internet speeds at gigabytes per seconds(gbps)
 It was possible only by OPTICAL COMMUNICATIONS
 By

B.Saikumar & V.Nagesh