SUMMER TRAINING REPORT

(JUNE JULY 2010)

NORTH EASTERN RAILWAYS GORAKHPUR

ON

STUDY OF COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGIES IN INDIAN RAILWAYS

SUBMITTED BY AMIT KUMAR GUPTA

B.TECH-4TH YEAR

0709731018

Department of Electronics & Communication Galgotias College of Engineering & Technology

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
Behind the completion of any successful work there lies the contribution of not one but many individuals who may have directly or indirectly contributed to it. I first of all take the opportunity to thank NORTH EASTERN RAILWAYS(NER) for providing me this valuable opportunities to work and learn with them. During this training period everyone there had helped me in every possible way they can. I would like to thanks Mr. ARVIND Kr PATHAK(SSE) for letting me opportunity to complete this training on MICROWAVE COMMUNICATION USING ANALOG,DIGITAL & OFC TECHNIQUES.

I am also thankful to my parents, my friends and colleagues for their invaluable support. I would also like to express my gratitude to all the people of MICROWAVE CENTRE, Who also helped me in completing this project.

AMIT GUPTA

KUMAR

CONTENT
1. INTRODUCTION 2. MICROWAVE

2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.7 3.1

Microwave band dessignation Microwave communication Microwave communication can be analog or digital Analog microwave system Digital microwave system Essential Environment for Analog system and Digital system Repeater Plesiochronus digital hierarchy a) Operation,multiplexing and bit rate b) Limitation and application Synchronus digital hierarchy a) Operation ,multiplexing and bit rate b) Basic SDH frame structure c) Advantage of SDH over PDH

3. DIGITAL MULTIPLEXING HIERARCHY

3.2

4. OPTICAL FIBER COMMUNICATION 4.1 Introduction 4.2 Optical fiber communication system

4.3 4.4 4.5 4.6

Origin and characteristic of optical fiber Parts of optical fiber Types of fiber Operation of optical fiber

4.7 4.8 4.9

Optical fiber relay system Uses of optical fiber Advantage and disadvantage of optical fiber

5. REFERENCES

INTRODUCTION
Communication :The word Commuincation has been derived from the Latin word Communicate which indicates sharing communication is, indeed ,sharing of ideas and feeling between two or more persons. Communication in its barest ,primeval from seems to come so naturally even to a child that there seems to be no need to study and cultivate it as a skill. Nature and instinct teach an infant how to attract its mothers attention when it is feeling time .

The elements of communication are mainly three 1) 2) 3) Sender Message Receiver We can also mention such elements as Encoding & Decoding of the message ; the channel or the medium; the feedback; and the noises or the disturbances . The processcan be understood in its simplicity like this : Encode Sender Message decode Receiver

Telecommunication: -

Telecommunication services were introduced in India soon after intervention of Telegraphy & Telephone . First telegraph line between Calcutta and Diamond Harbour was opened for traffic in 1884 , telegraph message could be sent from Agra to Calcutta. The Department of Telecommunication (DOT) has improved significantly since Independence both in quality & quantity.In 1994, when the National Telecom Policy was announced, the telephone density was one telephone for a hundred people . By 2000, the telephone density went upto 3.5 as against the target of 7 person by 2005 and 15% by 2010.

MICROWAVE
Microwaves are electromagnetic waves whose frequencies range from 1 GHz to 1000 GHz. Microwave are so called since they are defined in terms of their wavelengths in the sense that micro refers to tininess tininess referring to the wavelength and the period of a cycle of a cm wave. The microwave behaves more like ray of light than ordinary radio wave. There are large no of bands in microwave regions. The various bands of microwave regions has been shown below in the tabular form

Band Designation
L LS S C X Ku K Ka

Frequency Range
(GHz) 1.1 1.7 1.7 2.6 2.6 3.9 3.9 8.0 8.0 12.5 12.5 18.0 18 26 26 - 40

Microwave has large number of applications. It is mostly used in Communication and Radar Engineering.

Microwave Communication
Microwave communication is the transmission of signals via radio using a series of microwave towers. Microwave communication is known as a form of line of sight communication, because there must be nothing obstructing the transmission of data between these towers for signals to be properly sent and received.

Microwave Communication Technology was Developed in the 1940s

The technology used for microwave communication was developed in the early 1940s by Western Union. The first microwave message was sent in 1945 from towers located in New York and Philadelphia. Following this successful attempt, microwave communication became the most commonly used data transmission method for telecommunications service providers. With the development of satellite and cellular technologies, microwave has become less widely used in the telecommunications industry.

Microwave Communication Can Be Analog or Digital

Microwave communication takes place both analog and digital formats. While digital is the most advanced form of microwave communication, both analog and digital methods pose certain benefits for users.

ANALOG SYSTEM
The Analog System is simple and this system consists of Transmitter, Receiver and communication media which is microwave here.

Transmitter: The role of transmitter is to send the signals and it consists of the
following parts

Multiplexer (MUX): This is used to transmit various signals simultaneously. Here

there is many input and there is only one output. The output of the multiplexer is given to the Radio Equipment.

Radio Equipment: It receives the output of the multiplexer and then the process the
signals. This is the most important part of the transmitter and the antenna is connected to the radio equipment directly.

Transmitting Antenna:

This is a metallic object and this is used to transmit the signal in the space. The antenna transmits the signals at 7GHz in the space. Here the antenna consists of a parabolic reflector and a horn antenna, the feeding of the signal is done in horn antenna which is at the focus of the parabolic reflector the signals strike on the surface of the parabolic reflector and then parallel beam comes from the reflector.

Tower: The tower is a metallic structure and this is used only to give height to the antenna.

Receiver: The role of Receiver is to receive the signals. The receiver consists of the
following parts

Receiving Antenna:
gives the signals to the mixer.

The receiving antenna receives the incoming signals and then it

Mixer:

Here in the mixer the frequency mixing takes place and now the output frequency is different. And the output of the mixer is given to the discriminator.

Discriminator: The discriminator separates the signals and the demodulation process is
done here. This means that the carrier signal is removed and only the message signal taken.

Demultiplexer: The demultiplexer has only one input and here the separation process is
done here and the sent signals are recovered back.

DIGITAL SYSTEM:

This system has large number of advantages over analog system. This system is new system and uses digital technology. Digital system is more reliable and efficient. Digital system is more reliable and efficient. Digital system consists of the following parts

Transmitter: The transmitter of the digital system is different from anolog system. In
this transmitter two types of multiplexers are used which are as follows

Primary Multiplexer: This is the first multiplexer at the transmitter side. It

multiplexes 30 voice signals and in the digital system, sixteen multiplexers are used of this type. The output of every primary multiplexer is 2.048 Mbps. The output of every primary multiplexer is given to the Higher order multiplexer.

Higher Order Multiplexer: This multiplexer is big and it multiplexes the signals
coming from the primary multiplexers. The output of this multiplexer is 34.368 Mbps. The capacity of multiplexing of signal is more then the primary multiplexers.

Radio Equipment: The output of the higher order multiplexer is given to the radio
equipment. Radio equipment process these signals and make them able to be transmitted by the antenna. This is one of the most important parts of the transmitter. The output of the radio equipment is given to the antenna.

Antenna: the antenna is same as we are using in analog system. Here also we use Horn
antenna and parabolic reflector. Horn antenna is at the focus of the parabolic reflector and it sends the signals to the parabolic reflector surface. After striking from the surface, the signals are parallel and it is transmitted in such form.

Tower: Here also the role of the tower is to give heights to the antenna.
In microwave station (Gorakhpur) of Indian railways, there are two towers one tower is for analog system and the second tower is for digital system.

Receiver
The receiver is to collect the signal and to produce the original signals. The receiver consists of the following parts.

Receiving Antenna:

The receiving antenna at the receiving side receives the signals and send it to the radio equipment. There is line of sight transmission of microwave in between transmitting and receiving antenna.

Radio equipment: The radio receiver receives the signals coming from the antenna.
The signals are processed and then send these signals to the Higher order Demultiplexer.

Higher order Demultiplexer: In this Demultiplexer the signals are separated. And
the output of this multiplexer is given to the low level multiplexer. There is sixteen outputs and every output has bit rate of 2.048 Mbps.

Low level Demultiplexer: This multiplexer receives the output from the higher
order multiplexer. It has one input and thirty outputs. The output frequency range is o-4 KHz. This is the frequency range of human. Here the original voice signals are obtained.

Essential Environment for Analog system and Digital system:

There are some requirements for these systems for their proper functioning. Followings are some of the requirements 1) 2) 3) 4) Air Conditioning. Dust free Environment. Uninterrupted Power supply. Proper trained staff.

REPEATER:
As the microwave travels the losses increase and hence data loss may occur. This is a matter of danger in Indian railways so as to avoid this there is arrangement and this arrangement is in the form of repeaters. After travelling some distance the microwave gets distorted. To make the microwave distortion free, repeaters are used. The Repeater is a device which is used to obtain distortion free microwave and this clean and distortion free microwave is transmitted again in the forward direction. In Indian Railways, Repeaters are used at the average distance of 40Km. Repeaters has an important role in proper communication by microwave.

THEORY PHD CONCEPT

NEED FOR PHD:

In the early 1970 , digital transmission system begun to appear , utilizing a method known as Pulse Code Modulation (PCM), first proposed by STC in 1937.PCM allowed analog waveform to be represented in binary form, and using this method it was possible to represent a standard 4 kHz analog telephone signal as a 64 Kbit/s digital bit stream. In Europe ,and subsequently in many other part of the world ,a standard TDM scheme h been adopted whereby thirty 64 kb/s channels were combined , together with two additional channels carrying control information to produce a channel with a bit rate of 2.048 Mb/s. As demand for voice telephony increased , and level of traffic in the network grew over higher it become clear that the standard 2 Mb/s signal was not sufficient to cope with the traffic loads occurring with the trunk networks . In order to avoid having to use excessively large numbers of 2 Mb/s links, it was decided to create a further level of multiplexing. The standard adopted in Europe involved the combination of four 2 Mb/s channels to produce a previous in that the incoming signals were combined one bit at a time instead of one byte at a time i.e. bit interleaving was used to opposed to by interleaving . As the need arose, further levels of multiplexing were added to the standard at 34 Mb/s, 140 Mb/s, and 565 Mb/s to produce a full hierarchy of bit rates.

BASIS REQUIREMENTS OF PCM SYSTEM:

To obtain a PCM signal from several signals the following processing steps are required: 1) 2) 3) 4) 5) Filtering Sampling Quantization Encoding Sine Coding.

PRINCIPLES OF PLESIOCHRONOUS OPERATION

The multiplexing hierarchy described above, when multiplexing a number of 2Mb/s channels they are likely to have been created by different pieces of equipment, each generating a slightly different bit rate. Thus, before these 2Mb/s channels can be bit interleaved they must all be brought up to the same bit rate adding dummy information bits of justification bit are recognize as such when demultiplexing occurs , and discarded, leaving the original signal. This process is known as plesiochronous operation, Greek meaning almost synchronous. The same problems with synchronization, as described above, occur at every level of multiplexing hierarchy, so justification bits are added at each stage. The use of plesiochronous operation throughout the hierarchy has let to adoption of the term plesiochronous digital hierarchy or PDH. If a band limited signal is sampled at regular interval of time and at a rate equal to or more than the highest signal frequency in the band, then the sample contains all the information of the original signal. i.e. Fs = 2*F Where Fs is the sampling frequency. F is the highest frequency in the signal. voice frequency band = 4 kHz So Fs = 2*4 = 8 kHz Sampling time Ts = 1/8000 Since

= 0.125 ms. Ts is the sampling time for one channel time frame. In 30 channel PCM system 30 time slots are used for speech signals and one time slots for synchronization and one for signaling bit. Hence, time available per channel = Ts/n = 0.125/32 = 0.0039ms.

Bit Rate:

Sometimes the system may also be designed by its bit rate. It is denoted by the total number of bits transmitted every second. As 32 time slots carry an 8 bit word, total number of bits per frame = 32*8 = 256. As sampling frequency is 8 kHz, the frequency of frame is also 8000 frame per second. Therefore total number of bits in one sec. = 256*8000 = 2.048 Mb/s. Telephone channel bit rate = 8000/s X 8 bit = 64kbps

Plesiochronous Multiplexing:
1) Before SDH transmission networks were based on the PDH hierarchy.

2) 3) 2 Mbit/s service signals are multiplexed to 140 Mbit/s for transmission over optical Fiber or radio. 4) Multiplexing of 2 Mbit/s to 140 Mbit/s requires two intermediate multiplexing stages of 8 Mbit/s and 34 Mbit/s. 5) Multiplexing of 2 Mbit/s to 140 Mbit/s requires multiplex equipment known as 2, 3 and 4 DME. 6) Alarm and performance management requires separate equipment in PDH

2.048 Mb/s
64kb/s Primary PCM MUX 30 ch.

8.448Mb/s
2nd order PCM MUX 120 ch.

34.368Mb/s
3rd order MUX 480 ch.

139.264Mb/s
4th order MUX 1920 ch.

The graphical representation showing the bit rate & Number of channels at various levels of PDH

In first order bit rate

= 4*64 kb/s = 2.048 Mb/s

In second order bit rate

= 4*2.048 Mb/s = 8.448 Mb/s

In third order bit rate

= 4*8.448 Mb/s

= 34.368 Mb/s In fourth order bit rate = 4*34.368 Mb/s = 139.264 Mb/s

PDH Multiplexing:

1. PDH Multiplexing of 2 Mbit/s to 140 Mbit/s requires 22 PDH multiplexers: 2. 16 x 2DME 3. 4 x 3DME 4. 1 x 4DME 5. Also a total of 106 cables required.

How to work of PDH fiber/optical Multiplexer :

A PDH fiber link consists of two fibers, one for data in each direction, and a terminal station at each end to drive light into one fiber, and detect it from the other, whilst sending and receiving data to nearby equipment with electrical signals. If the link is more than about 50 km long, then regenerator stations must be installed, to detect the light from the fiber on the first leg of the link, recover the data bits and use this to modulate a laser to drive the second leg. PDH systems are point-to-point, bi-directional digital data links at rates of up to 2 Megabits per second. With careful monitoring - especially of the laser-diodes, which have limited life spans they are generally highly reliable and form much of the inter-exchange, inter-capitals, and submarine cable networks now in use. A single PDH link might carry 2/4/8/16/32 Mb/s (Megabits per second). All these streams must be synchronized - the presentation of bits in all the streams must be exactly in step.

Limitation of the PDH:

1) Inability to identify individual channels in a higher-order bit stream. 2) Multiplexing / Demultiplexing is cumbersome (Stage wise). 3) Insufficient capacity for network management as limited OAMP operation. 4) Theres no standardized definition of PDH bit rates greater than 140 Mbit/s. 5) There are different hierarchies in use around the world. Specialized interface Equipment is required to interwork the two hierarchies.

Application:
1. Voice service In the populated area, PDH multiplexers are used to provide voice service for long distance. This application was developed in 90s when local phone and long distance phone service are more and more popular.

2. Wireless voice service

PDH optical multiplexer provides transport infrastructure for voice service of the cellular operator and wireless operator. This application was developed in late of 90s when the cell phone is much more popular in China. In this Time, PDH optical multiplexer has reached the best period and is applied with large scale.

3. Voice service and leased line for data service Provides legacy voice service and data service with the leased line for the company. In the early of data service, DDN is applied in the all data service field. But with the development of customer requirements (such as bank, finance, school, enterprise and so on), bandwidth isnt satisfied with the need. So PDH come to another high tide with substitution of legacy base modem to provide more bandwidth with fiber access for leased line data service.

WHAT IS SDH?
1. The basis of Synchronous Digital Hierarchy (SDH) is synchronous multiplexing - data From multiple tributary sources is byte interleaved. 2. In SDH the multiplexed channels are in fixed locations relative to the framing byte. 3. Demultiplexing is achieved by gating out the required bytes from the digital stream. 4. This allows a single channel to be dropped from the data stream without

Demultiplexing intermediate rates as is required in PDH.

Advantage of SDH over PDH:

1) SDH is synchronous. All elements of an SDH network use only clock as reference and the SDH recommendation are based on this. 2) SDH provides simpler multiplexing. A SDH has lower signals embedded as in todays PDH system. However the lower SDH level can be directly identified from the higher level. This makes drop and insert of embedded traffic channels in the SDH system must simpler than in the PDH system. 3) SDH provides an optical standard, which enables the mixing of equipment from different vendors in the same transmission system. 4) SDH is preferred for the transmission technology of the future. The definition of the system for higher speed transmission system is varying straight forward. 5) SDH can be introduced in the existing network, existing PDH networks can be embedded into the SDH system and transported transparently through these. 6) SDH allows mixing of existing European (ETS1) and North American (ANS!) PDH system for example the same system can carry both North American 1.5 mega bit per second PDH signals and European 2 Mb/s PDH signals. 7) SDH is prepared for the future application the recommendation for the SDH have mainly focused on carrying existing PDH signals and future Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM) signals, but the definationsare open for the inclusion of further application area network (MAN). 8) SDH provides a network management channels. Data channels for the operation and maintenance of the SDH signal and are therefore available at SDH network elements. 9) SDH enables centralized network control. This is achieved through the management channel in the SDH signals and through the recommendation setup for the SDH network elements. 10) Dynamic network capacity management, which enables to adapt the system to varying traffic needs. High Transmission rates: Transmission rates of up to 10Gbps can be achieved in modern SDH system making it The most suitable technology for backbones-the superhighways in todays Telecommunication networks.

STM-1

STM-4

STM-16

STM

PDH vs. SDH Hierarchy:

1. PDH transmission rates: 2. SDH is designed to unify all transmission rates into a Single Mapping hierarchy

SDH Rates:
1. SDH is a transport hierarchy based on multiples of 155.52 Mbit/s 2. The basic unit of SDH is STM-1: STM-1 = 155.52 Mbit/s

STM-4 = 622.08 Mbit/s STM-16 = 2588.32 Mbit/s STM-64 = 9953.28 Mbit/s 3. Each rate is an exact multiple of the lower rate therefore The hierarchy is synchronous.

Basic SDH frame structure:

1. STM-N frame structure is shown in the Figure below. The three main areas of the STM-N frame are indicated. 2. SOH. 3. Administrative Unit pointer(s). 4. Information payload.

Total bit rate of the SDH system

= 9*270*8*8 = 155.520 Mb/s

The bit rate of the SOH

= 9*9*8*8 = 5.184 kb/s

The bit rate of the pay load

= 9*261*8*8 = 150.336 Mb/s

The SOH is carried by AU3 and AU4 (auxiliary unit) in the container of VC3 and VC4.

The payload is carried by the VC11 and VC12 (virtual container).

SDH Hierarchy:
1. SDH defines a multiplexing hierarchy that allows all existing PDH rates to be transported synchronously. 2. The following diagram shows these multiplexing paths:

Analog Microwave Communication May Be Your Most Economical Option

Analog microwave communication may be most economical for use at your tower sites simply because it is already paid for and in service. If you are already operating microwave equipment, it is most likely analog. To avoid having to retrain your operators, you may want to stick with the analog microwave communication equipment you already have. Because youve already gotten comfortable with this equipment, youve probably also learned its capabilities, so youre unlikely to overburden your transport system with new digital equipment.

Decrease System Poll Time with Digital Microwave

Digital microwave communication utilizes more advanced, more reliable technology. It is much easier to find equipment to support this transmission method because it is the newer form of microwave communication. Because it has a higher bandwidth, it also allows you to transmit more data using more verbose protocols. The increased speeds will also decrease the time it takes to poll your microwave site equipment. This more reliable format provides for more reliable reporting with advanced communication equipment, while also allowing you to bring in your LAN connection when it becomes available at the site.

OPTICAL FIBER COMMUNICATION

INTRODUCTION
The demand for high-capacity long-haul telecommunication systems is increasing at a steady rate, and is expected to accelerate in the next decade. At the same time, communication networks which cover long distances and serve large areas with a large information capacity are also in increasing demand. To satisfy the requirements on long distances, the communication channel must have a very low loss. On the other hand, a large information capacity can only be achieved with a wide system bandwidth which can support a high data bit rate (> Gbit/s) [3]. Reducing the loss whilst increasing the bandwidth of the communication channels is therefore essential for future telecommunications systems. Of the many different communication channel available optical fiber proved to the most promising due to its low attenuation, low losses and various other advantages over twisted cables and other means of transmission. Communication between stations and signalmen is done through telephone. In some places, IR still uses twisted pair cables and elderly Stronger exchanges. This is currently being upgraded to optical fiber and microwave communications. The main impetus for this change came from the Department of Telecommunications, who no longer had the expertise to maintain a large network of heritage technology. Drivers and guards were equipped with VHF radio systems in 1999 to communicate with each other and with station masters.

OPTICAL FIBER COMMUNICATION SYSTEM

The optical fiber acts as a low loss, wide bandwidth transmission channel. A light source is required to emit light signals, which are modulated by the signal data. To enhance the performance of the system, a spectrally pure light source is required. Advances in semiconductor laser technology, especially after the invention of double heterostructures (DH), resulted in stable, efficient, small-sized and compact semiconductor laser diodes (SLDs). Using such coherent light sources increases the bandwidth of the signal which can be transmitted in a simple intensity modulated (IM) system [13]. Other modulation methods, such as phase shift keying (PSK) and frequency-shift keying (FSK), can also be used. These can be achieved either by directly modulating the injection current to the SLD or by using an external electro or acousto- optic modulator

ORIGIN AND CHARACTERISTICS OF OPTICAL FIBER

In the late 1970s and early 1980s, telephone companies began to use fibers extensively to rebuild their communications infrastructure. According to KMI Corporation, specialists in fiber optic market research, by the end of 1990 there were approximately eight million miles of fiber laid in the U.S. (this is miles of fiber, not miles of cable which can contain many fibers). By the end of 2000, there were 80 million miles in the U.S. and 225 million worldwide. Copper cable is increasingly being replaced with fibers for LAN backbones as well, and this usage is expected to increase substantially.

Pure Glass
An optical fiber is constructed of a transparent core made of nearly pure silicon dioxide (SiO2), through which the light travels. The core is surrounded by a cladding layer that reflects light, guiding the light along the core. A plastic coating covers the cladding to protect the glass surface. Cables also include fibers of Kevlar and/or steel wires for strength and an outer sheath of plastic or Teflon for protection.

Enormous Bandwidth
For glass fibers, there are two "optical windows" where the fiber is most transparent and efficient. The centers of these windows are 1300 nm and 1550 nm, providing approximately 18,000GHz and 12,000GHz respectively, for a total of 30,000GHz. This enormous bandwidth is potentially usable in one fiber. Plastic is also used for short- distance fiber runs, and their transparent windows are typically 650 nm and in the 750- 900 nm range.

PARTS OF OPTICAL FIBER

Core - Thin glass center of the fiber where the light travels Cladding-Outer optical material surrounding the core that reflects the light back into the
core

Buffer coating - Plastic coating that protects the fiber from damage and moisture

SINGLEMODE AND MULTIMODE FIBER

There are two primary types of fiber. For intercity cabling and highest speed, singlemode fiber with a core diameter of less than 10 microns is used. Multimode fiber is very common for short distances and has a core diameter from 50 to 100 microns. See laser, WDM, fiber optics glossary and cable categories. Single mode fiber Multimode fiber Step index Graded index fiber

OPERATION OF OPTICAL FIBER

In an optical fiber, a refracted ray is one that is refracted from the core into the cladding. Specifically a ray having direction such that wherer is the radial distance from the fiber axis, (r ) is the azimuthal angle of projection of the ray atr on the transverse plane, (r ) is the angle the ray makes with the fiber axis,n (r ) is the refractive index atr,n (a ) is the refractive index at the core radius,a . Refracted rays correspond to radiation modes in the terminology of mode descriptors. For the fiber to guide the optical signal, the refractive index of the core must be slightly higher than that of the cladding. In different types of fibers, the core and core-cladding boundary function slightly differently in guiding the signal. Especially in single-mode fibers, a significant fraction of the energy in the bound mode travels in the claddin

Diagram of total internal reflection in an optical fiber The light in a fiber-optic cable travels through the core (hallway) by constantly bouncing from the cladding (mirror-lined walls), a principle called total internal reflection. Because the cladding does not absorb any light from the core, the light wave can travel great distances.

However, some of the light signal degrades within the fiber, mostly due to impurities in the glass. The extent that the signal degrades depends on the purity of the glass and the wavelength of the transmitted light (for example, 850 nm = 60 to 75 percent/km; 1,300 nm = 50 to 60 percent/km; 1,550 nm is greater than 50 percent/km). Some premium optical fibers show much less signal degradation -- less than 10 percent/km at 1,550 nm

A FIBER-OPTIC RELAY SYSTEM

Fiber-optic relay systems consist of the following: Transmitter - Produces and encodes the light signals Optical fiber - Conducts the light signals over a distance Optical regenerator - May be necessary to boost the light signal (for long distances) Optical receiver - Receives and decodes the light signals

Transmitter
The transmitter is like the sailor on the deck of the sending ship. It receives and directs the optical device to turn the light "on" and "off" in the correct sequence, thereby generating a light signal. The transmitter is physically close to the optical fiber and may even have a lens to focus the light into the fiber. Lasers have more power than LEDs, but vary more with changes in temperature and are more expensive. The most common wavelengths of light signals are 850 nm, 1,300 nm, and 1,550 nm (infrared, non-visible portions of the spectrum).

Optical Regenerator
As mentioned above, some signal loss occurs when the light is transmitted through the fiber, especially over long distances (more than a half mile, or about 1 km) such as with undersea cables. Therefore, one or more optical regenerators is spliced along the cable to boost the degraded light signals. An optical regenerator consists of optical fibers with a special coating (doping). The doped portion is "pumped" with a laser. When the degraded signal comes into the doped coating, the energy from the laser allows the doped molecules to become lasers themselves. The doped molecules then emit a new, stronger light signal with the same characteristics as the incoming weak light signal..

Optical Receiver
The optical receiver is like the sailor on the deck of the receiving ship. It takes the incoming digital light signals, decodes them and sends the electrical signal to the other user's computer, TV or telephone (receiving ship's captain). The receiver uses a photocell

USES OF OPTICAL FIBER

The optical fiber can be used as a medium for telecommunication and networking because it is flexible and can be bundled as cables. Although fibers can be made out of either transparent plastic or glass, the fibers used in long-distance telecommunications applications are always glass, because of the lower optical absorption. The light transmitted through the fiber is confined due to total internal reflection within the material. This is an important property that eliminates signal crosstalk between fibers within the cable and allows the routing of the cable with twists and turns. In telecommunications applications, the light used is typically infrared light, at wavelengths near to the minimum absorption wavelength of the fiber in use. Fibers are generally used in pairs, with one fiber of the pair carrying a signal in each direction, however bidirectional communications is possible over one strand by using two different wavelengths (colors) and appropriate coupling/splitting devices. Fibers, like waveguides, can have various transmission modes. The fibers used for longdistance communication are known as single mode fibers, as they have only one strong propagation mode. This results in superior performance compared to other, multi-mode fibers, where light transmitted in the different modes arrives at different times, resulting in dispersion of the transmitted signal. Typical single mode fiber optic cables can sustain transmission distances of 80 to 140 km between regenerations of the signal, whereas most multi-mode fiber has a maximum transmission distance of 300 to 500 meters. Note that single mode equipment is generally more expensive than multi-mode equipment. Fibers used in telecommunications typically have a diameter of 125 m. The transmission core of singlemode fibers most commonly has a diameter of 9 m, while multi-mode cores are available with 50 m or 62.5 m diameters. Because of the remarkably low loss and excellent linearity and dispersion behavior of singlemode optical fiber, data rates of up to 40 gigabits per second are possible in real- world use on a single wavelength. Wavelength division multiplexing can then be used to allow many wavelengths to be used at once on a single fiber, allowing a single fiber to bear an aggregate bandwidth measured in terabits per second.

Modern fiber cables can contain up to a thousand fibers in a single cable, so the performance of optical networks easily accommodate even today's demands for bandwidth on a point-to-point basis. However, unused point-to-point potential bandwidth does not translate to operating profits, and it is estimated that no more than 1% of the optical fiber buried in recent years is actually 'lit'. Modern cables come in a wide variety of sheathings and armor, designed for applications such as direct burial in trenches, installation in conduit, lashing to aerial telephone poles, submarine installation, or insertion in paved streets

ADVANTAGES OF OPTICAL FIBER

Low loss, so repeater-less transmission over long distances is possible Large data-carrying capacity (thousands of times greater, reaching speeds of up to 3TB/s) Immunity to electromagnetic interference, including nuclear electromagnetic pulses (but can be damaged by alpha and beta radiation) No electromagnetic radiation; difficult to eavesdrop High electrical resistance, so safe to use near high-voltage equipment or between areas with different earth potentials Low weight Signals contain very little powe

DISADVANTAGES OF OPTICAL FIBER

Need for more expensive optical transmitters and receivers More difficult and expensive to splice than wires At higher optical powers, is susceptible to "fiber fuse" wherein a bit too much light meeting with an imperfection can destroy several meters per second . A

"Fiber fuse" protection device at the transmitter can break the circuit to prevent damage, if the extreme conditions for this are deemed possible. Cannot carry electrical power to operate terminal devices. However, current telecommunication trends greatly reduce this concern: availability of cell phones and wireless PDAs; the routine inclusion of back-up batteries in communication devices; lack of real interest in hybrid metal-fiber cables; and increased use of fiber-based intermediate systems

APPLICATIONS OF OPTICAL FIBER

Fibers can be used as light guides in medical and other applications where bright light needs to be brought to bear on a target without a clear line-of-sight path. Optical fibers can be used as sensors to measure strain, temperature, pressure and other parameters. Bundles of fibers are used along with lenses for long, thin imaging devices called endoscopes, which are used to view objects through a small hole. Medical endoscopes are used for minimally invasive exploratory or surgical procedures (endoscopy). Industrial endoscopes (see fiberscope or borescope) are used for inspecting anything hard to reach, such as jet engine interiors. In some high-tech buildings, optical fibers are used to route sunlight from the roof to other parts of the building.

REFERENCES.
1.Manual provided by the Microwave centre ,Gorakhpur 2.www.google.com, 3.www.wikipedia.org