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 - In circuit switched network dedicated traffic channels are set up
between users after a number is dialed and this circuit remains dedicated to that call until it is
terminated by one of the users. This is a connection orientated service providing users with a
guaranteed amount of capacity for uninterrupted telephony.

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Such networks are designed in hierarchical structures with end users connected to local
switches or exchanges at the bottom and international New Generation Network (Optical base
Network switches at the top. 64kbit/s telephony channels are trunked together using time
division multiplexing techniques such as SDH (Synchronous Digital Hierarchy) and transmitted
over copper cables (in the access or local segment) and mostly fiber optic cables in the rest of
the network.
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 Networks designed specifically to carry data were designed on a
different principle than the circuit switched model described above. The approach here was to
maximise efficiency on the transport networks by dividing data up into more suitable portions.
Each of these packets of data is given a preamble (header) that contains, among other things,
its destination address. The packets are then sent out into the network to find their own way to
their destinations through routers on a connectionless basis.

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generation networks will need to be capable of operating a multitude of different
communications protocols.
Traditionally networks have been designed and implemented to transmit certain specific types
of data such as voice, video or data. This required separate networks, using different sets of
equipment (although usually using the same cables or transmission media) to support multi-
media communications.
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Essentially, protocol independence is the ability of a network to operate any protocol that may
be required. The term ͚protocol agnostic͛ is often used in New Generation Network (Optical
base Network) association with new generation network equipment (e.g. such a device could
handle IP, DSL and ISDN traffic simultaneously). This property is going to be implemented
mostly at the ͚intelligent edge͛ of the network.
The ability of equipment to be multi-functional is increasingly required by telecommunications
operators. It enables them to save on operational costs as equipment is managed from a single
platform. Also, the physical space and hence costs that are saved with multi-functional
equipment is a critical factor. Another significant factor is a reduction in the amount of power
consumed by using less equipment.

-!
)%- Increased dependency on advanced new applications in the future
will place even greater reliability requirements on new generation networks. Individuals͛
expectations of availability and quality of service, grounded in a perception of high quality in
traditional telephony and television services, will impose high standards of performance.
E-commerce applications will lead to highly resilient telecommunications networks as
businesses become increasingly reliant on telecommunications to function. For other highly
sensitive applications, such as e-medicine, network reliability and resilience is imperative, since
a patient͛s health could depend on the quality of the information transmitted In order to
achieve the necessary levels of resilience and reliability new generation networks will need
more diverse topologies and redundant elements than is normal in today͛s networks.

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Some of the common threats to network resilience are listed below:
o Equipment Failure
Fully redundant fault tolerant systems with ͞hot stand-by͟ can prevent New Generation
Network (Optical base Network) network outages due to equipment failure, but capital
expenditure is approximately doubled.
o Software Faults
Similarly fully redundant fault tolerant systems with ͞hot stand-by͟ can prevent network
outages caused by isolated software faults.
o Overloading of Networks
Networks need to be easily scalable in order to allow for extra provisioning of capacity to
prevent overloading. Networks should also be provisioned to cope with capacity loads under
exceptional circumstances.
o Physical faults (natural/accidental/malicious)
Physical damage to network equipment or cables can result in serious consequences to
network operation.
o Software Attacks (Viruses etc.) Ongoing network security precautions have to be taken to
protect against attacks on software.

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 # Having looked at the internal operation of packet switching, we can now return to
comparison of this technique with circuit switching. We first look at the important issue of
performance and then examine other characteristics.
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A simple comparison of circuit switching and the two forms of packet switching is provided in
figure below. The figure depicts the transmission of a message across four nodes, from a source
station attached to node 1 to a destination station attached to node 4. In this figure, we are
concerned with three types of delay:
Propagation delay: The time it takes a signal to propagate from one node to the next. This
time is generally negligible. The speed of electromagnetic signals through a wire medium, for
example, is typically 2 x 108 m/s.
Transmission time: The time it takes for a transmitter to send out a block of data. For
example, it takes 1 s to transmit a 10,000-bit block of data onto a 10-kbps line.
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$ Packet switching is similar to message switching using short messages.
Any message exceeding a network-defined maximum length is broken up into shorter units,
known as packets, for transmission; the packets, each with an associated header, are then
transmitted individually through the network.
The fundamental difference in packet communication is that the data is formed into
packets with a pre-defined header format, and well-known "idle" patterns which are used to
occupy the link when there is no data to be communicated.
A packet network equipment discards the "idle" patterns between packets and
processes the entire packet as one piece of data. The equipment examines the packet header
information (PCI) and then either removes the header (in an end system) or forwards the
packet to another system. If the out-going link is not available, then the packet is placed in a
queue until the link becomes free. A packet network is formed by links which connect packet
network equipment.

In the virtual circuit approach, a pre-planned route is established before any packets are
sent. Once the route is established all the packets between a pair of communicating parties
follow this same route through the network. This is illustrated in second figure below. Because
the route is fixed for the duration of the logical connection, it is somewhat similar to a circuit in
a circuit-switching network and is referred to as a virtual circuit. Each packet contains a virtual
circuit identifier as well as data.
 
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  Propagation of light through optical fibers can be explained
either through 
or )
 
or through +
. In the first
approach, large scale optical effects such as reflection and refraction can be analyzed by the
simple geometrical process of ray tracing. This approach provides an intuitive picture of the
propagation mechanism. In the second approach, light is treated as an electromagnetic wave
propagating along the optical fiber which is treated as a waveguide. This approach explains the
fine scale optical phenomena such as interference and diffraction which are not explainable by
the ray optics approach. Wave treatment involves solving Maxwell͛s equations subject to the
cylindrical boundary conditions of the fiber.
In this text, we use ray optics concepts to enable the reader to have an understanding of the
mechanism involved in the propagation of light through optical fibers. When the wavelength of
the light is much smaller than the object or the opening it encounters, the wave fronts
representing the wave motion of the light appear as straight lines to the object or the opening.
In this case, the light can be represented by a plane wave and its direction of travel by a light
ray drawn perpendicular to the wave front. In fiber optical transmission, the wavelength of light
is around 1 m and the core diameter around 10 m for single mode fibers and 50 m for
multimode fibers.
Consequently, ray optics treatment of the propagation of light through optical fibers provides
fairly accurate results.
As we know, the speed of light c in free space is related to the frequency f and the wavelength 
by the equation
c=f Equation (4)
Where c has a value of 3 x 108 m/s. in a dielectric or a non-conducting medium, the light travels
at a lower speed v than c. The speeds v and c are related through the refractive index n as
n = c/v Equation (5)
Obviously, for air, n = 1 as c = v. Typical refractive index values for some dielectric materials are
shown in Table 3.
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Air 1.0
Water 1.5-1.9
Glass 1.5-1.9
Diamond 2-2.42
Silicon 3.4
Gallium Arsenide 3.6
When a light ray encounters a boundary of two materials with different refractive indices, part
of the ray is reflected back into the first medium and the rest passes through the second
material refracted, i.e. with the direction of travel changed. This is illustrated in Fig. 4.

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devices. The LED is a low injection level device whose light output has a wide emission angle
and a broad spectral width. The ILD is a high-injection level device where $
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The light output form ILDs has a narrow spectral width. SRDs perform somewhere between the
LEDs and ILDs. In this text, we discuss only the LEDs and ILDs. These devices are suitable for
fiber optic transmission systems for the following reasons:
1. Physical dimension of these devices are compatible with those of the optical fibers.
2. Their optical power output can be directly modulated by varying the input current.
3. They emit optical power at wavelengths that fall in the low-loss regions of optical fibers.
4. Their output power is large enough to support a wide range of applications
5. Their operating and fiber coupling efficiencies are high.
A fundamental difference between LEDs and ILDs is that LEDs are incoherent sources, whereas
ILDs are coherent sources. In a coherent source, the optical output is highly monochromatic
and the output beam is very directional. In an incoherent source, the output power has a large
spectral width and the beam is extremely divergent. The spatially directed output from an ILD
can be launched into either single mode or multimode fibers easily, whereas an LED output can
be launched only into large dimension (core size 50 m or more) multimode fibers.
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As internet usage grew it became increasingly difficult for telecommunication
operators to cope with data traffic on their circuit switched networks, so they began to roll out
separate packet switched networks.

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As data traffic began to equal and surpass voice traffic on
telecommunications networks it became economic for operators to consider transporting their
voice traffic over packet switched networks. This convergence would help reduce the costs
associated with operating and maintaining separate networks. However there are many
problems associated with obtaining circuit switched levels of service for real-time traffic (e.g.
voice) on packet switched networks which may not always have the sufficient capacity (packets
are discarded under congested conditions in packet switched networks resulting in delayed or
lost data which is unacceptable during telephone conversations).

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New generation networks will for the most part be high speed packet based networks capable
of delivering a multitude of broadband services. Among other things these networks need to be
both flexible and reliable. Although new generation networks will develop in many different
ways they will all have a common set of broad characteristics. These characteristics are outlined
below.

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%%
In order to facilitate multiple forms of communications, new generation networks will need to
be capable of operating a multitude of different communications protocols.

-!
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Increased dependency on advanced new applications in the future will place even greater
reliability requirements on new generation networks.
Individuals͛ expectations of availability and quality of service, grounded in a perception of high
quality in traditional telephony and television services, will impose high standards of
performance.

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!
)
It is essential for network managers to be able to design, adapt and optimize their networks to
accommodate simultaneously different types of media with varying network requirements. The
main issue here is of quality of service, (i.e. the ability of a network to provide a particular level
of service or to guarantee a certain amount of bandwidth and response time over a specified
period). For example a voice or video conferencing application could not normally afford to
have information packets (i.e. pieces of the conversation) lost or even delayed. Therefore these
types of services need a guaranteed high level of quality of service to function adequately. On
the other hand, non critical applications such as internet browsing can afford to lose occasional
packets of information as these can be re-sent without degrading the service.

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The more programmable and re-configurable new generation networks are the more flexible
they will be, and the more they are going to be able to cope with new services and user
requirements. Programmability will allow for traffic engineering and the dynamic allocation of
network resources enabling new generation networks to adapt quickly to new services or
requirements.
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 #ü,Adding three dimensional aspects to the imaging systems of e-presence will
further enhance the experience of e-presence. Initially, this sort of enhancement could have
applications for business users, enabling delegates to sit down to a virtual meeting and hold
real time discussions while viewing other delegates on three dimensional monitors. For
example, a prototype of a three dimensional teleconferencing system connecting three users,
each requiring a capacity of 77Mbit/s, has been developed in the US. Other applications are in
the medical and educational fields. At a more advanced stage e-presence will become
interchangeable with virtual reality, and applications in entertainment are envisioned.

.
"-
)When we think of virtual reality we often think of applications involving
complete e-immersion. However it is likely that applications will develop that blend reality and
virtual reality forming hybrid realities to enhance our experiences. An example of this could be
a type of visual display that could project images onto a user͛s normal field of view using
devices mounted on eyeglasses, allowing them to receive augmented information relating to
their environment such as directions to the nearest hospital or police station.
To further enhance users͛ sense of realism the sense of touch could be incorporated into virtual
reality systems through hectic interfaces. Such systems allow users to touch and manipulate
virtual objects. This aspect is essential for e-surgery applications. It is conceivable that in the
future the senses of taste and smell could also be incorporated in virtual reality systems.

u  
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 #

,

 An optical detector or a photodetector is the first element of the receiver of
an optional communication system. It senses the luminescent power incident upon it and
converts the same into a corresponding electronic current. To be useful in a fiber optic
transmission system, a photodetector must have
1. Physical dimensions which are compatible with those of the optical fibers,
2. High sensitivity in the emission wavelength rang of the optical sources, and
3. A fast response and sufficient bandwidth to handle the desired data rates.
A variety of photodetectors are commonly used. These are:
1. Photomulitpliers
2. Pyroelectric detectors
3. Semiconductor photoconductor
4. Photodiodes.
Of these, the photodetectors 1-4 are not suitable for fiber optic system for one reason or the
other. Therefore, semiconductor photodiodes are almost used on an exclusive basis as
photodetectors in fiber optic systems. They have a small size compatible with optical fibers,
high sensitivity and fast response time.

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&!
   
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  Propagation of light through optical fibers can be explained either
through 
or )
 
or through +
. In the first approach,
large scale optical effects such as reflection and refraction can be analyzed by the simple
geometrical process of ray tracing. This approach provides an intuitive picture of the
propagation mechanism. In the second approach, light is treated as an electromagnetic wave
propagating along the optical fiber which is treated as a waveguide. This approach explains the
fine scale optical phenomena such as interference and diffraction which are not explainable by
the ray optics approach. Wave treatment involves solving Maxwell͛s equations subject to the
cylindrical boundary conditions of the fiber.
In this text, we use ray optics concepts to enable the reader to have an understanding of the
mechanism involved in the propagation of light through optical fibers. When the wavelength of
the light is much smaller than the object or the opening it encounters, the wave fronts
representing the wave motion of the light appear as straight lines to the object or the opening.
In this case, the light can be represented by a plane wave and its direction of travel by a light
ray drawn perpendicular to the wave front. In fiber optical transmission, the wavelength of light
is around 1 m and the core diameter around 10 m for single mode fibers and 50 m for
multimode fibers.
Consequently, ray optics treatment of the propagation of light through optical fibers provides
fairly accurate results.
As we know, the speed of light c in free space is related to the frequency f and the wavelength 
by the equation
c=f Equation (4)
Where c has a value of 3 x 108 m/s. in a dielectric or a non-conducting medium, the light travels
at a lower speed v than c. The speeds v and c are related through the refractive index n as
n = c/v Equation (5)
Obviously, for air, n = 1 as c = v. Typical refractive index values for some dielectric materials are
shown in Table 3.
!ü#)-'
+% 
/
-'
+%-

Air 1.0
Water 1.5-1.9
Glass 1.5-1.9
Diamond 2-2.42
Silicon 3.4
Gallium Arsenide 3.6
When a light ray encounters a boundary of two materials with different refractive indices, part
of the ray is reflected back into the first medium and the rest passes through the second
material refracted, i.e. with the direction of travel changed. This is illustrated in Fig. 4.

&u c$+'$

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" Two principal light sources are used in fiber optic communication system:
$


%% 01, and 2

 %% 0, or, simply,  %% Another
less known source is the "%
%%
-, All the three devices are p-n junction
devices. The LED is a low injection level device whose light output has a wide emission angle
and a broad spectral width. The ILD is a high-injection level device where $
'
!)

"
% '%
 
  
The light output form ILDs has a narrow spectral width. SRDs perform somewhere between the
LEDs and ILDs. In this text, we discuss only the LEDs and ILDs. These devices are suitable for
fiber optic transmission systems for the following reasons:
1. Physical dimension of these devices are compatible with those of the optical fibers.
2. Their optical power output can be directly modulated by varying the input current.
3. They emit optical power at wavelengths that fall in the low-loss regions of optical fibers.
4. Their output power is large enough to support a wide range of applications
5. Their operating and fiber coupling efficiencies are high.
A fundamental difference between LEDs and ILDs is that LEDs are incoherent sources, whereas
ILDs are coherent sources. In a coherent source, the optical output is highly monochromatic
and the output beam is very directional. In an incoherent source, the output power has a large
spectral width and the beam is extremely divergent. The spatially directed output from an ILD
can be launched into either single mode or multimode fibers easily, whereas an LED output can
be launched only into large dimension (core size 50 m or more) multimode fibers.