Fiber Optics

Fiber Optics

+ Fiber Optics is sending signals down hair-thin strands of glass or plastic fiber. The light is
“guided” down the center of the fiber called the “core”. The core is surrounded by a optical
material called the “cladding” that traps the light in the core using an optical technique
called “total internal reflection.”
+ The core and cladding are usually made of ultra-pure glass. The fiber is coated with a
protective plastic covering called the “primary buffer coating” that protects it from moisture
and other damage. More protection is provided by the “cable” which has the fibers and
strength members inside an outer covering called a “jacket”.

multicominc.com

2
Fiber Covers

Single Mode Direct Burial Fiber Optic Cable

With Double Sheath , Armored Fiber Cable

Single Mode Aerial Fiber

Outdoor Cable
3
Fiber Covers

+ This sample of an Internet submarine cable from NEC shows the protective layers around
the optical fibers including steel wires.

4
Single Mode Fiber

+ Single Mode fiber optic cable has a small core that allows only one mode of light to
propagate. Because of this, the number of light reflections created as the light passes
through the core decreases, lowering attenuation and creating the ability for the signal to
travel further. This application is typically used in long distance, higher bandwidth runs.

www.americantechsupply

5
Multimode Fiber

+ Multimode fiber optic cable has a large core that allows multiple modes of light to
propagate. There is a high dispersion and attenuation rate with this type of fiber, the quality
of the signal is reduced over long distances. This application is typically used for short
distance, data and audio/video applications in LANs.

+ The inner core of the glass is created with a Low Order Mode to slow the more direct waves
and a High Order Mode, less dispersion and attenuation to allow the waves traveling the
longer path to arrive at nearly the same time.

infocellar.com

6
Cleaning Fiber

+ What could possibly contaminate a fiber in a spotlessly clean facility.

• Oils, frequently from human hands
• Film residues, condensed from vapors in the air
• Powdery coatings, left after water or other solvents evaporate away

+ A 9-micrometer speck, to small to see without a microscope, can completely block the fiber
core. A typical human hair is 50 to 75 micrometers in diameter.

+ When, Where and How should you clean fiber?

• When: At installation, any time it is unseated.
• Where: At both the cable end and bulkhead, every time.
• How: According to the cleaning tools recommendations.

cisco.com

7
Cleaning Fiber WARNINGS

+ Never use alcohol or wet cleaning without a way to ensure that it does not leave residue on
the endface. It can cause damage to the equipment.
+ Never look into a fiber while the system lasers are on.
+ Good practice but not always practical, inspect after cleaning bulkheads or receptacles.
+ Never touch products without being properly grounded.
+ Never use unfiltered handheld magnifiers or focusing optics to inspect fiber connectors.
+ Never connect a fiber to a fiberscope while the system lasers are on.
+ Never touch the end face of the fiber connectors.
+ Never twist or pull forcefully on the fiber cable.
+ Never reuse any tissue, swab, or cleaning cassette reel.
+ Never touch the clean area of a tissue, swab, or cleaning fabric.
+ Never touch any portion of a tissue or swab where alcohol was applied.
+ Never touch the dispensing tip of an alcohol bottle.
+ Never use alcohol around an open flame or spark; alcohol is very flammable.
+ Never run with scissors.
cisco.com

8
Cleaning Fiber

+ Examples of cleaning, both the connector and the bulkhead.

9
Cleaning Fiber

10
Cleaning Fiber

+ How do you know it is clean?

• Many companies make portable inspection microscopes. Inspect both the cable and the
bulkhead.

11
Optical Time Domain Reflectometer

+ Optical Time Domain Reflectometers (OTDRs) send pulses of light into optical fibers at a
wide range of pulse widths, analyze the minuscule amounts of light reflected back to them
from faults in the fibers, and use complex computations to determine the size and distance
to events encountered in the fiber run. Events are defined as losses or changes in the
fiber’s light-carrying capacity.
+ OTDR readings must be analyzed and interpreted by trained and experienced people.
+ A copy of the ODTR trace, is a record of the state of that fiber at any point in time.
+ Should a cable degrade or fail an OTDR trace can be used to locate the failure point.
Comparing the new trace to the record can be an asset in troubleshooting.

fibersavvy.com

12
Optical Time Domain Reflectometer

+ Operating an OTDR requires the user to have certain data and a Launch Reel:

• Fiber length, see Measurement parameters

• Fiber Type, Single or Multimode
• Wavelength, multimode is set for 850nm or 1300nm and singlemode is set for 1310nm or
1550nm.
• Measurement parameters, setting the distance range, resolution and pulse width in the
OTDR
• Event threshold, how much change will be tagged as an event.
• Index of refraction, the speed of light in your particular fiber.
• Launch Reel, OTDRs have a “dead zone” that may extend a hundred meters from the
unit in which accurate readings are unavailable. You can overcome this limitation if you
use a launch cable.

fibersavvy.com

13
Optical Time Domain Reflectometer

+ Once you have all the inputs the trace can be generated and interpreted.

fibersavvy.com

14
Optical Time Domain Reflectometer

+ This is an example of a Gainer. The signal appears to increase in power at this splice point.
The actual cause of the perceived power gain is the second fiber has a higher index of
refraction, reflecting more of the generated light back to the transceiver.

15
Wavelength
Division
Multiplexing
What is WDM?

+ WDM is a technique in fiber optic transmission that enables the use of multiple light
wavelengths (or colors) to send data over the same medium. Wavelength division
multiplexing (WDM) is a technology or technique modulating numerous data streams, i.e.
optical carrier signals of varying wavelengths (colors) of laser light, onto a single optical
fiber. WDM enables bi-directional communication as well as multiplication of signal capacity.
+ WDM is actually frequency division multiplexing (FDM) but referencing the wavelength of
light as opposed to the frequency of light. However, since wavelength and frequency have
an inverse relationship (shorter wavelength means higher frequency), the WDM and FDM
terms actually describe the same technology – light in optical cable used to carry data and
communication signals.

17
WDM

+ Wavelength division multiplexing systems can combine signals with multiplexing and split
them apart with a de-multiplexer. And with the proper fiber cable, the two can be done
simultaneously; moreover, these two devices can also function as an add/drop multiplexer
(ADM), simultaneously adding light beams while dropping other light beams and rerouting
them to other destinations and devices.

18
WDM

+ WDM systems can handle 160 signals, which will expand a 10 Gbit/second system with a
single fiber optic pair of conductors to more than 1.6 Tbit/second (i.e. 1,600 Gbit/s).
+ Typical WDM systems use single-mode optical fiber (SMF); this is optical fiber for only a
single ray of light and having a core diameter of 9 millionths of a meter (9 µm). Other
systems with multi-mode fiber cables have core diameters of about 50 µm. Standardization
and extensive research have brought down system costs significantly.

19
WDM System types

+ WDM systems are divided into three different wavelength patterns, normal (WDM), coarse
(CWDM) and dense (DWDM).
+ WDM, DWDM and CWDM are based on the same concept of using multiple wavelengths of
light on a single fiber, but differ in the spacing of the wavelengths, number of channels, and
the ability to amplify the multiplexed signals in the optical space.
+ Normal WDM (sometimes called BWDM) uses the two normal wavelengths 1310 and 1550
on one fiber.

+ .

20
 Overlay Engineering Drawing

21
CWDM

+ Coarse WDM (CWDM) provides up to 16 channels across multiple transmission windows of

fibers. For CWDM, wideband optical amplification is not available, limiting the optical spans
to several tens of kilometers

22
 CWDM Engineering file

23
DWDM

+ Dense WDM (DWDM) uses the C-Band (1530 nm-1565 nm) transmission window but with
denser channel spacing. Channel plans vary, but a typical DWDM system would use 40
channels at 100 GHz spacing or 80 channels with 50 GHz spacing. Some technologies are
capable of 12.5 GHz spacing (sometimes called ultra dense WDM). New amplification
options (Raman Amplification) enable the extension of the usable wavelengths to the L-
band (1565 nm-1625 nm), more or less doubling these numbers

C band (infrared)

C-band refers to
the wavelength
range 1530–
1565 nm, which
corresponds to
the amplification
range of erbium
doped fiber
amplifiers
(EDFA’s)
24
CWDM vs DWDM Summary
Benefits of CWDM:
Passive equipment that uses no electrical power
Much lower cost per channel than DWDM
Scalability to grow the fiber capacity as needed With little or no increased cost
Protocol transparent
Ease of use
Designed for Shorted Distance
Uncooled lasers used due to longer channel spacing
Drawbacks of CWDM:
16 channels may not be enough
Passive equipment that has no management capabilities

Benefits of DWDM:
Up to 40 channels can be done passively
Up to 160 channels with an active solution
Active solutions involve optical amplifiers to achieve longer distances
Designed for LH Transmission
Cooled lasers may be used due to tighter control of wavelengths
Drawbacks of DWDM:
DWDM solutions are expensive
Active solutions require a lot of Set-up and maintenance expense
Very little scalability for Deployments under 40 channels

25
+ Time-division multiplexing (TDM) is a method of transmitting and receiving independent
signals over a common signal path by means of synchronized switches at each end of the
transmission line so that each signal appears on the line only a fraction of time in an
alternating pattern.

26
 Optical
Systems
What is Light?

+ Light is part of the electromagnetic spectrum, which ranges from X-rays & gamma waves to
radio waves.
+ All types of light are emitted and absorbed in tiny "packets" called photons and exhibits
properties of both waves and particles.

28
Spectrums of Light

+ Light is usually thought of as just visible light, But it can be divided up into 3 bands.
+ Ultraviolet is an electromagnetic radiation with a wavelength from 10 nm to 400 nm.
+ Visible Light is an electromagnetic radiation with a wavelength from 400 nm to 700 nm.
which is visible to the human eye and is responsible for the sense of sight.
+ Infrared is an electromagnetic radiation with a wavelength from 700 nm to 1,000,000 nm.

29
Separation of Light Spectrums

+ When light strikes the face of a glass prism at an angle, some is reflected and some of the
beam passes into and through the glass, emerging as different-colored bands.
+ Note the wavelength change between the colors. Red being the slowest.

30
Spectrums of Light Used in Fiber
Optics
+ The 4 commonly used light spectrums used for fiber optics and thesefall in the infrared
band.
+ 850 nm
+ 1310 nm
+ 1550 nm
+ 1625 nm

31
Dispersion

+ As a pulse travels down a fiber, dispersion causes pulse spreading.

+ This spreading limits the distance and the bit rate of the data on an optical fiber

32
ROADM
What is ROADM

+ Reconfigurable Optical Add Drop Multiplexor

+ System that can add/drop/redirect individual wavelengths of light.
+ Wavelengths are redirected using the Wavelength Selective Switch.
• To another WSS for pass-through
• To a local DWDM Filter for add/drop

+ Channels are reconfigured with software.

+ Channels remain as lightwaves and not converted to electrical.
+ Payload is not touched
+ Provides a low latency solution

https://www.fiberoptics4sale.com/
34
Wavelength Selective Switch

+ WSS are configured via software.

+ WSS come in various configurations 1x2, 1x4, 1x9, 1x20, etc
+ 1xN configuration refers to 1 common in/out port and N referring to number of remaining
ports
+ Typically one or two ports are used as a local drop to a DWDM Filter
+ Per wavelength attenuation and power control
+ WSS balances the wavelengths before them to the Common Out
+ DWDM Filter system required for local add/drop
+ Performance Monitoring (PM) data for each port
+ Ciena WSS also includes Optical Power Monitor which can be connected to the local
amplifier to observe channels as they come in and out.

35
WSS Switching Technologies
+ Grating separates the light in to
component colors in a similar
fashion to a prism and beams
them on to the switching
component.
+ MEMS – Micro Electro
Mechanical System
• MEMS Mirror repoints
wavelength to required port
• MEMS Mirror can tilt out of
spec to Block wavelength
• MEMS Mirror slightly offset to
attenuate wavelength
+ LCOS – Liquid Crystal on Silicon
• Uses phase control pixels
adjusted by increasing or
decreasing voltage to
implement beam steering and https://www.ntt-review.jp/

attenuation
+ Both technologies adjust a single
wavelength at a time.
36
WSS Basic Diagram

+ Common Port
+ Switching Element
+ Output Ports
+ Switching element controls Port Switching and Attenuation

https://www.ntt-review.jp/

37
WSS Degree Branching

+ Each WSS Common

In/Out faces a
particular outside span
+ Remaining interfaces
either interconnect to
another WSS or drop
out to a local DWDM
Filter.
+ This example shows a
six degree system

38
Additional Reading

+ Good tutorial on WSS. Includes links to some good videos as well

• https://www.fiberoptics4sale.com/blogs/archive-posts/95046534-what-is-wavelength-
selective-switch-wss

+ Wikipedia on WSS
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wavelength_selective_switching

+ Paper on Next-Gen Colorless, Directionless, Contentionless ROADM

• https://www.ntt-review.jp/archive/ntttechnical.php?contents=ntr201401fa6_s.html

39