Page 1 of 6

Semester: 1st 2014 – 2015

Taiz University
Level : 5th Comm.&Comp. Eng.
Faculty of Engineering and IT
Date : 10/01/2015
Dep. of Communications and Computer Eng.
Duration : 3 Hours
Q Final Examination of “OPTICAL COMMUNICATIONS” M
Please answer all the following five questions:
(a) The following figure shows the measured attenuation spectrum for an SMF (solid line) with
the calculated attenuation spectra for some of the loss mechanisms contributing to the
overall fiber attenuation (dashed and dotted lines).

i. How much the maximum experimental attenuation?

ii. Which is the identical wavelength at the maximum attenuation?

iii. Why the attenuation reaches the maximum value at this wavelength?
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iv. How much the minimum experimental attenuation?

(b) The following figure shows the improvement in as a function of avalanche

multiplication factor for different excess noise factors .

i. From this figure, find the optimum value of the multiplication factor for silicon
APDs where is 0.3.

ii. For germanium APDs where is unity, which is the better choice APD with or
to get a germanium optical receiver with the best performance? Justify that.

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 Page 2 of 6

Semester: 1st 2014 – 2015

Taiz University
Level : 5th Comm.&Comp. Eng.
Faculty of Engineering and IT
Date : 10/01/2015
Dep. of Communications and Computer Eng.
Duration : 3 Hours
Q Final Examination of “OPTICAL COMMUNICATIONS” M
A graded index fiber with a core axis refractive index of has a characteristic index profile
of , a relative refractive index difference of and a core diameter of .
(a) Estimate the number of guided modes propagating in the fiber when the transmitted light
has a wavelength of .

(b) Determine the cutoff value of the normalized frequency for single-mode transmission in the
fiber.

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(c) Estimate the maximum core diameter for the optical fiber which gives single-mode
operation at the same wavelength.

(d) Sketch using the following figure; how the incident ray expands along the GRIN fiber to
get TIR. What is the important condition for the various index interfaces to satisfy that?

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 Page 3 of 6

Semester: 1st 2014 – 2015

Taiz University
Level : 5th Comm.&Comp. Eng.
Faculty of Engineering and IT
Date : 10/01/2015
Dep. of Communications and Computer Eng.
Duration : 3 Hours
Q Final Examination of “OPTICAL COMMUNICATIONS” M
Sixteen couplers are used to construct an coupler. Each coupler has
insertion losses (ILs) as shown in the following figure:

(a) Draw the suitable connections to implement that according to the following arrangement.

(b) For the constructed coupler, find the output optical power levels in dBm at the
3 output ports ( and considering only the input optical power levels at the input 18
port ( which are given in the following Table. Neglect the connections losses.

5 2 0 -5

(c) The output optical power at the output port ( ) is directly coupled to an SMF with
attenuation factor of . The optical receiver at the end of the SMF has
sensitivity of . How much the maximum length of the SMF?

(d) Is the dispersion spread considered at this coupler? Justify that.

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 Page 4 of 6

Semester: 1st 2014 – 2015

Taiz University
Level : 5th Comm.&Comp. Eng.
Faculty of Engineering and IT
Date : 10/01/2015
Dep. of Communications and Computer Eng.
Duration : 3 Hours
Q Final Examination of “OPTICAL COMMUNICATIONS” M
(a) A silicon p–i–n photodiode has a quantum efficiency of at a wavelength of .
Determine:
i. The mean photocurrent when the detector is illuminated at a wavelength of with
of optical power.

ii. The rms quantum noise current in a post-detection bandwidth of .

iii. The SNR in , when the mean photocurrent is the signal.

4 (b) An optical fiber link is required to operate over a distance of without repeaters. The 18
fiber available exhibits a rise time due to intermodal dispersion of , and a rise
time due to intramodal dispersion of . In addition, the APD detector has a rise
time of . Estimate the maximum rise time allowable for the source in order for the link
to be successfully operated at a transmission rate of using an RZ pulse format.

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 Page 5 of 6

Semester: 1st 2014 – 2015

Taiz University
Level : 5th Comm.&Comp. Eng.
Faculty of Engineering and IT
Date : 10/01/2015
Dep. of Communications and Computer Eng.
Duration : 3 Hours
Q Final Examination of “OPTICAL COMMUNICATIONS” M
A broadband multimedia signal needs to be distributed over a fiber-to-the-home (FTTH)
network. The signal is generated at a central processing unit and distributed to homes via an
optical splitter unit located very close to the homes. The homes are assumed to be located
equidistance on both sides of a particular street. The system uses a laser diode emitting at
and having a spectral width ( ) of . The optical power coupled into the fiber
at the processing unit is . The distance between the processing unit and the splitter unit is
. The following table shows the parameters for various components used in the
distribution network. State any assumption(s) made.
Parameters Splitter ( ) Fiber Optical splice
Split ratio 1/20 NA NA
Crosstalk 65 dB NA NA
Attenuation NA 0.154 dB/km NA
Dispersion NA 21.566 ps/nm.km NA
Loss NA NA 0.1 dB/splice
Excess loss 0 dB NA NA
NA: Not applicable
(a) Sketch the block diagram of the system.

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(b) Estimate the optical power arriving at every home.

(c) Calculate the minimum bit rate of the signal delivered to each home.

GOOD LUCK Dr. Redhwan Q. Shaddad

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