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Vol. 2, No. 6, June 2010
Experimental Comparison of Fiber Optic Link
Impact on Shift Keying Modulations
Dr. Mohammad Samir Modabbes
Aleppo University, Faculty of Electrical and Electronic Engineering,
Department of Communications Engineering, Syria
msmodabbes@hotmail.com
Abstract: In this paper an experimental comparison of fiber
optic communication link impact on shift keying modulated
signals in presence of external noise is analyzed. The relation of
BER versus SNR for each type of shift keying modulation is
shown. A comparison measurement of voltage loss through an
optical fiber link with different lengths is calculated. Results
show that phase shift keying (PSK) modulation offers the
advantages of being more immune to light scattering and
absorption losses of fiber optic link and external noise than
other shift keying modulations and is preferred to use in optical
fiber transmission.
Keywords: BPSK modulation, Fiber optic Communications,
noise, BER analysis
1. Introduction
Fiber optics is widely used today and is becoming more
common in everyday life. Its greatest use is in the field of
communications for voice, video and data signals
transmission through small flexible threads of glass. These
fiber optic cables far exceed the information capacity of
coaxial cable. They are also smaller and lighter in weight
than conventional copper systems and are immune to
electromagnetic interference and crosstalk [1, 2]. There are
two main factors to consider when transmitting signals
through optical fibers: signal to noise ratio (SNR) and the
bit error rate (BER).
2. Objective
Both absorption and scattering in optical fiber are
depending on light wavelength and the nature of signals
traveling through it, and are specified by manufacturers in
decibels per kilometer.. In [3] the performance of eight-
channel 10.7 Gb/s systems was computed using advanced
modulation formats, four non return-to-zero (NRZ)-type
and three return-to-zero (RZ)-type formats with different
phase characteristics.
In [4] a novel phase shift keying technique was proposed
that uses optical delay modulation for fiber-optic radio links.
Using only a 2x1 switch and a delay line, this technique
enables modulation of a millimeter-wave carrier at bit rates
of several gigabits per second or higher, where high-speed
devices are not needed. But only binary phase shift keying
was experimentally demonstrated. Therefore studying
optical fibers effect on different signals traveling through it
is of a great importance.
In [5] an exact analysis of BER performance of generalized
hierarchical PSK constellations under imperfect phase or
(IJCNS) International Journal of Computer and Network Security,
timing synchronization over additive white Gaussian noise
channels is made.
3. Methodology
Fiber attenuation in dB per km for different types of shift
keying modulated signals is determined using
phototransistor for measuring relative light power.
Light falls on phototransistor controls its photo current,
which is proportional to the relative light power, by
measuring light power (voltage or current) detected by
Phototransistor for two different lengths of optical fibers we
can calculate the optical power ratio between the two
lengths of that cable. Then by dividing the power ratio
between the two cables by the length deference we can
calculate the optical power loss in dB/km as following:
Power loss = (10 log( p1 / p 2 )) /( L2 − L1 ) [dB/km] (1)
Where:
P1 output power of first optical fiber
P2 output power of second optical fiber
L1 length of first optical fiber
L2 length of second optical fiber
The effect of optical power loss and amplitude noise for each
type of shift keying modulated signals can be measured by
determining the relation of BER versus SNR.
BER is the number of incorrect bits received in reference to
the total number of bits transmitted:
BER = incorrect received bits / total transmitted bits (2)
SNR is the ratio of input signal amplitude (Vinput ) to noise
signal amplitude (Vnoise ) in decibels [1,5]:
SNR = 20 log (Vinput / Vnoise) [dB] (3)
4. Experimental Setup
The experimental measurements were conducted on
telephone channel simulator, in lab environment, using
experimental board No. AS91025 from LABVOLT
company, with glass fibers (1 & 5m) and input signal
frequency about half kilohertz as shown in figure (1), real
measurements environment require long fibers (several
kilometers) and high frequencies (tens of Giga hertz), but
even though the results on the experimental board can be
 (IJCNS) International Journal of Computer and Network Security, 131
Vol. 2, No. 6, June 2010

verified and expanded to cover the real fiber transmission 5. Results and discussions
system.
Modulator produces different types of shift keying 5.1 Voltage loss
modulated signals (ASK, OOK, FSK, PSK) with carrier
frequency 2.4 kHz (approximately five times the highest Table (1) shows the measured received light voltage for
frequency of the baseband signal). Then modulated signals different modulated signals detected by phototransistor and
are transmitted by the fiber optic transmitter (FOT) and transmitted by different length of glass fibers:
received by the fiber optic receiver (FOR).
FOT has an infrared LED light source with a peak Table 1: Measured received light voltage
wavelength 820 nm and with typical spectral bandwidth 45 Fiber type The received light voltage [mV]
nm (50% less than peak wavelength). ASK OOK FSK PSK
As it's known light source speed affects the bandwidth of a Glass 4.46 4.66 4.26 4.46
fiber optic system. The greater the bandwidth requirement, fiber(1m)
the greater the need to turn the light source on and off more Glass 4.44 4.65 4.25 4.45
quickly. Therefore light source speed is defined in terms of fiber(5m)
rise time (tr) and the following equation approximates the
maximum bandwidth (Bwmax) [6, 7]: Table (2) shows the calculated optical voltage loss in dB/m
for different modulated signals as in equation (5):
Bwmax = 0.35/tr [Hz] (4)
Table 2: Calculated optical voltage loss

Fiber Loss dB/m

INPUT type ASK OOK FSK PSK
Glass 9.7x10-3 4.6x10-3
5.1x10-3 4.8x10-3
MOD FOT fiber

Fiber
Carrier Loss = ( 20 log(v1 / v2 )) /( L2 − L1 ) [dB/m] (5)

FOR ERROR By comparing these results we conclude that: the received

RPG light voltage and voltage loss are affected by fiber length
and fiber material. OOK and PSK modulations have
DEMOD OUTPUT COMP minimum voltage loss (~4dB/km); while the worst ASK
modulation has maximum voltage loss (~9dB/km).
Figure 1. Telephone channel simulator
5.2 BER vs. SNR
LED has a typical rise time of 3 ns, which means that the
FOT maximum bandwidth is approximately 120 MHz A The graphics below show BER vs. SNR for the coherent
random pulse generator (RPG) injects a variable amount of detection of different types of shift keying modulation for
noise into the received signal after FOR stage and has different noise amplitude using different length of glass
frequencies up to 600 Hz. cables:
Error counter measures the number of incorrect bits received
(error count), where The transmitted and received data are
compared bit by bit in a comparator (XOR gate), if the bit is ASK-1m glass
OOK-1m glass
not match an error pulse is generated, the errors are 0.5 FSK-1m glass
totalized in a counter over a fixed time period or frame (106 PSK-1m glass

ms is the time required for 128 data bits) generated by one 0.4
shot. Each time when the counter is reset a 106 ms one shot
is triggered, and the error pulses from the XOR gate are
BER

0.3
totalized by the counter only during 106 ms frame.
A performance comparison of shift keying modulation 0.2
transmission through a glass fiber optic link with graded
index (62.5/125 μm) was made in the presence of noise at 0.1
cutoff frequency of low pass filter 1.5 kHz; total number of
bits transmitted 128 bits; SNR was calculated for 4Vp-p 0
(2.828 Vrms) input signal amplitude and variable amplitude 6 8 10 12
SNR[dB]
14 16 18

of noise signal.
Figure 2. BER versus SNR using 1m glass fiber
132
ASK-5m glass
OOK-5m glass
0.6
FSK-5m glass
PSK-5m glass
0.5
0.4
BER
0.3
0.2
0.1
0
6 8 10 12 14 16
SNR[dB]
Figure 3. BER versus SNR using 5m glass fiber
By comparing all graphics in figures (2 & 3) we conclude
that attenuation increases with fiber length, ASK
modulation has the worst performance, OOK and FSK
modulations have steady attenuation level in all SNR range,
while in PSK modulation attenuation degreases remarkably
as SNR ratio increases.
6. CONCLUSIONS
An experimental comparison of fiber optic communication
link impact on shift keying modulated signals (ASK, OOK,
FSK, PSK) in the presence of external noise is analyzed.
The experimental measurements were conducted on
telephone channel simulator using board No. AS91025 from
LABVOLT Company. Fiber attenuation is determined using
phototransistor for measuring relative light power.
Measurements results show that:
1. Losses due to light scattering and absorption can be
determined by comparing different lengths of
identical fiber.
2. Voltage Loss increases with fiber length and
affected by wavelength and fiber material
3. ASK modulation has maximum loss in glass fiber;
while FSK & OOK modulations have less and
equal value.
4. For ASK and OOK at a given signal to noise ratio
as the difference between the two levels of the
carrier for “1” and “0” states increases the BER
decreases which improves noise immunity and
attenuation
5. PSK modulation has the best performance than
other digital modulations in glass fiber, because
attenuation degreases to minimum values as SNR
ratio increases.
These results led us to conclude that PSK modulation offers
the advantages of being more immune to light scattering
and absorption losses of fiber optic and external noise than
other shift keying modulations and is preferred to use in
data transmission systems with optical fiber links.
(IJCNS) International Journal of Computer and Network Security,
Vol. 2, No. 6, June 2010
References
[1] Bernard Sklar., 2001- “Digital Communications
Fundamentals and Applications”, Prentice- Hall, New
Jersey.
[2] Harold B. Killen., 1991-”Fiber Optic
Communications”, Prentice-Hall, New Jersey
[3] Yihong M., S. Lobanov and S. Raghavan., 2007-
"Impact of Modulation Format on the Performance of
Fiber Optic Communication Systems with
Transmitter Based Electronic Dispersion
Compensation", Optical Society of America
[4] Y. Doi, S. Fukushima, T. Ohno, Y. Matsuoka, and H.
Takeuchi., 2000- "Phase Shift Keying Using Optical
18 Delay Modulation for Millimeter-Wave Fiber-Optic
Radio Links", Journal of light wave Technology, Vol.
18, No. 3
[5] P. K. Vitthaladevuni, and M.S. Alouini, 2005- “Effect
of Imperfect Phase and Timing Synchronization on
the
Bit-Error Rate Performance of PSK Modulations”,
IEEE Transactions on communications, Vol. 53 No. 7
[6] H. Meng, Y. L. Guan, and S. Chen., 2005- “Modeling
and Analysis of Noise Effects on Broadband Power-
Line Communications", IEEE Transactions on Power
Delivery, Vol. 20 No. 2
[7] A. Demir, 2007- “Nonlinear Phase Noise in Optical
Fiber-Communication Systems”, Journal of
Lightwave Technology, Vol. 25, No. 8
Author Profile
Mohammad Samir Modabbes
received the B.S. degree in Electronic
Engineering from University of Aleppo
in 1982. M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in
Communications Engineering from High
Institute of Communications in Sankt
Petersburg in 1988 and 1992,
respectively. He is working as Associate
Professor at the Faculty of Electrical and
Electronic Engineering, Department of
Communications Engineering, University of Aleppo Syria. Since
2006 he is working as Associate Professor at Qassim University,
College of Computer, Department of Computer Engineering in
Saudi Arabia. His research interests are: Analysis and performance
evaluation of Data transmission Systems, Wireless Communication
Systems