Optical Communication and Networks Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Optical Communication and Networks - Essay ExampleThe concept of wavelength division multiplexing (WDM) and DWDM has also been introduced. Finally, the latest trends in optic communication and networks argon briefly explained.Optical communication system is similar to any kind of communication system, as far as the basic principle are concerned. The major difference in optical and other communication models is the additional requirement of a source (for conversion of signal from electrical to optical domain), receiver (for conversion from optical to electrical domain) and use of fibre as media in place of conventional copper wire or microwave. The use of meth fibre or optical fibre features a number of advantages that make it a formidable media, in comparison to others.One of the most important assets of optical communication is the availability of enormous potential bandwidth to the tune of hundreds of GHz. The potential cannot be fully harnessed owing to electrical domain limita tion. However, technologies like WDM or DWDM are evolving to optimize the available bandwidth usage. Being fabricated from glass, the fibre does no have earth loop or interface problem as are patent in electrical media. The optical communication is immune to interference from radio frequency and electromagnetic radiations or EMP (electromagnetic pulses) as they act as dielectric waveguides. on that point are practically insignificant radiations from fibre which enhance security of signal in a communication system. Other advantages include low weight, small size, flexible, reliable, slowly maintainable, low transmission losses and cost effective.The requirement for capacity is increasing at a fast rate in the present day networks. result of worldwide web and Internet are the primary causes for this increase. Every four to six months, the need is almost doubling. Available broadband access technologies like digital subscriber line (DSL), cable modems etc. provide bandwidths of 1Mb ps and 28 to 56 kbps per user, respectively. With online businesses company networks with their distant locations and the clients, the bandwidth requirement is will soon rise to level where, the tho solution would remain to switch to optical networks. Optical networks can be broadly divided into two generations. The first generation optical networks were solely utilize to enhance capacity to stand alone communication links while the second-generation networks encompass the issues of routing and switching.In the subsequent paragraphs we will discuss optical communication and networks with germ to the various components and devices in greater details. We shall initially cover the basic theory behind transmission, attenuation and distortion of optical signal in the fibre.Optical contagion BasicsOptical fibre acts as a cylindrical waveguide with an inner core and outer cladding of differing refractive index as shown in Figure 1, core refractive index being greater than clad refractiv e index. The light traverses in the core as well as in the cladding. To illustrate the transmission of light, lets consider ray theory.Figure 1 Structure of optical fibre (adopted from Senior, John M.)The refractive index of