UNIVERSITY OF DAR ES SALAAM

COLLEGE OF INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGIES

DEPARTMENT OF ELECTRONICS AND TELECOMMUNICATION ENGINEERING
PRACTICAL TRAINING REPORT FOR ACADEMIC YEAR 2020/2021

REPORT TITLE: OPTICAL FIBER COMMUNICATION SYSTEM

Student Name: NYEGA SCOLASTICA STANLEY

Registration Number: 2020-04-10011

Degree Programme of Study: Bachelor in electronics sciences and communication

Practical Training Course Code: PT1

Company/Organization Name: TTCL

Training officer’s Name: ENG. AMOS ITOZYA

Academic Supervisor’s Name: JAMES MICHAEL

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 DECLARATION

I, Nyega,scolastica ,Stanley, with registration number 2020-04-10011 declare that this report is
my own work done with the knowledge obtained from the organization ,articles and website.

Student name:Nyega,Scolastica,Stanley

Signature:S.S.NYEGA

Training Officer’s Name: Eng AMOS ITOZYA

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 ABSTRACT

Communication is an important part of our daily life.The communication process

involves the information generation,transmission,reception and interpretation. As needs for
various types of communication such as voice,images,video and data communications increases
demands for large transmission capacity also increase .This needs for large capacity has driven
the rapid development of light wave technology. An optical or light wave communication
system is a system that uses light wave as the carrier for transmission. An optical communication
system mainly involves three parts .transmitter, receiver and channel. In optical
communication transmitter are light source, receiver are light detectors and channels are optical
fibres . In optical communication the channel i.e ,optical fibers plays an important role because
it carries the data from

This report is a document of the activities that I did during my Practical Training of the first year
2021 at TTCL HEAD QUARTER Tanzania for 8weeks

During practical I learnt how optical fibers used in providing communication services to
costumers.

This report consist of two chapters. The first chapter is about organization of the company and
second chapter is about optical fibers in communication networking

The problem I encountered during my practical training was limited access on learning some
data system in details since they were very privacy to the company.

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I feel privileged to thank God for his gift of life and protection throughout my field work.

This report is a result of cumulative efforts of every hardworking and helpful individuals. I

Extend my sincere gratitude to the following individuals; Eng Amos Itozya, training office, , Eng
M. NchimbiTechnician at Data and Switching, Stanslaus Matimo Technician leader Access
network and fiber

I also like to thank all who did not appear in the list whose efforts have made this work a
success.

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 TABLE OF CONTENTS

DECLARATION..........................................................................................................................2
ABSTRACT....................................................................................................................................3
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT...............................................................................................................4
LIST OF FIGURES…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..6
CHAPTER 2. OPTIC FIBER COMMUNICATION NETWORK……………………….16

2.1 History of fiber communication…………………………………………………………………16

2,2introduction to optical fiber communication……………………………………………..16

2.2.1 Fundamentals of fiber…………………………………………………………………………………………………………16

2.2.2 Construction of fiber…………………………………………………………………………………………………………17

2.3 Classification of optical fiber………………………………………………………………………………………………17

2.4 Basic elements of a fiber optics communication system ………………………………………………………………18

2.5 Application of optical fiber communication ……………………………………………………………………………………19

2.6 Problem identification during optical fiber communication…………………………………………………………..20

2.7 Description of the proposed solution on solving problem and assumption made…………………………21

2.8 Justification of the chosen solution ……………………………………………………..21

2,9 Challenges on solving problems ……………………………………………………….21

2.10 Conclusion and recommendation…………………………………………………………22

3 REFERENCE AND BOOKS

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LIST OF FIGURES AND CHARTS

Figure 1: total internal reflection…………………………………16

Figure 2: structure of fiber………………………………………17

Chart 1: organization structure of TTCL………………………11

Chart 2: Block diagram for optic fiber communication…………20

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 CHAPTER ONE

COMPANY PROFILE

1.1 Introduction

1.1.1 Name of the company

The name of the company organization to where I conducted my field study training is
TANZANIA TELECOMMUNICATION COMPANY LIMITED (TTCL) HEADQURTER.
The company is fully owned by the Government of the united republic of Tanzania.

1.1.2 Nature of the company

TTCL is a telecommunication company which works on the basis of a telecommunication
act of 1993 which is licensed for fixed and telephone services based on provision of voice
and data communication to customers

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 The customers are further divided into landline customers and mobile customers for voice
communication and for data communication there are fixed internet customers and VPN
(Visual private network) customers. The company provides communication to all these
customers at Tanzania mainland as well as Zanzibar.

1.1.3 Historical background of the company

The history of TANZANIA TELECOMMUNICATION COMPANY LIMITED started in
1967 during formation of East African Community (EAC) where member states from these
countries agreed to formulate the communication company known as EAST AFRICAN
POSTAL AND TELECOMMUNICATION COMPANY (EAPTC),which replaced the
former EAST AFRICAN POSTAL AND TELECOMMUNICATION ORGANIZATION
(EAPTO).Then later on after the period of ten years the East African Community collapsed
in 1977 that lead to split up of the company EAPTC where each country established its own
telecommunication company.

In Tanzania then soon after breakup of EAC the company established was TANZANIA
POSTAL AND TELECOMMUNICATION COMPANY (TPTC) which later on in 1994 due
to liberalization then the company split up into three which are TANZANIA
COMMUNICATION COMMISSION (TCC),TANZANIA TELECOMMUNICATION
COMPANY LIMITED (TTCL) AND TANZANIA POSTAL COMPANY (TPC).Initially
the company was owned fully by the government of the united republic of Tanzania, but due
to some difficulty circumstances on the driving of the company the government decided to
privatize some percentage share of the company.

In 2001 the company was partially privatized to Celtel international company where it is
given a 35% share and due to lack of fund and some difficulties faced during running the
company then the government decided to sign new 3 year contract with sasktel company and
the contract included rising revenue resources, improve financial position and increase the
number of customers. However sasktel failed to fulfill this terms of contract as a result in
July 2008 they submitted a notice to the government to break the contract.

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 However on June 8 2010 an Indian company Bhart Airtel struck a deal to purchase mobile
operation in 15 African countries including Tanzania and it acquired a deal with TTCL. Due
to increase in nationalization hence on February 16 it sold all its shares back to the
government including paying 14 billion Tanzanian shillings where up to now the government
has full ownership of the company, and it has almost more than 1500 workers throughout the
country, with its headquarter located at ex-telecom building at Dar-es-salaam Tanzania. And
the president of the united republic of Tanzania appointed hon. Waziri Kindamba to be the
Chief executive officer (CEO) of TTCL starting from September 23, 2016.

1.1.4 Founders of the company

The founders of the company was the government of the united republic in 1994 due to
liberalization then the former TANZANIA POSTAL AND TELECOMMUNICATION
COMPANY split into three which are TPC(TANZANIA POSTAL
COMPANY),TTCL(TANZANIA TELECOMMUNICATION COMPANY LIMITED) AND
TCC(TANZANIA COMMUNICATION COMMISSION),it is where TTCL began to operate
and save customers in mainland and Zanzibar.

1.1.5 Vision, mission and main activities of the company

The company vision is to be a leading world class communication service provider in
Tanzania our focus is our customer our strength is our hope.

The company mission is to provide world class communication to customers, through

continuous technological and customer care improvement with qualified and motivated
employee and contribute to national development.

The main activity of the company is to provide communication service which are mainly
voice and Data to the customers. And mainly its customers are Government itself and private
sectors as well as individual (home line).

1.1.6 Core function of the company

The main function of TTCL is to provide voice and data communication to customers, where
under voice communication there are two categories of customers which are landline
customers(fixed customers) which mainly uses copper cable or fiber optic cable to receive
communication and secondly are mobile customers which normally uses wireless

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 technology to receive information after installing a device called access point (AP).And in
Data there are two categories of customers which are fixed internet and visual private
network (VPN).

The fixed internet customers can use fiber optic cable or copper wire where the traffic is
supplied to all users by one server at the headquarter (HQ) through internet server provider
(ISP) who decides in which form the traffic should pass either by cables or wireless.

1.2 AN ORGANIZATION CHART OF THE COMPANY

Regional coordinator
Regional manager

Secretary

Assistant regional Assistance regional

Assistant regional
manager support manager network
manager commercial

Credit control officer

Retail sales executive
Technical
leader
Customer service
Finance officer Administration officer (transmission)
representative (switching/Data )
(Access network )
Head cashier storekeeper (PAC)
Distributive executive

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Cashier Administration
clerk
Key account executive Technical/
Accounts clerk engineers

1.3 Job description of skilled workers in the company

The company is directed and managed by the team of skilled and expert people at each
department who works together as a team in the process of providing better communication to
the customers. The company has three main departments which are support, network and
commercial and marketing department which comprises of skilled and unskilled people but
mainly I conducted my field study at network department which is relevant to my study. Also the
network department has been divided into four sub department which are transmission,
switching/data, power and air condition and access network. The following is the team of skilled
personnel to each of the four sub departments of the company including their skills, experience
and competence in the work.

The following is the list of job description at each of the four department of the company basing
on their job titles, key duties at the company and their responsibilities, qualifications and
experience required as well as competences.

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1.3.1 Radio and transmission department
At this department the main job is to ensure availability and service quality of the
transmission/BSS systems in the region..

I. Monitor the transmission, BTS and BSC system performed in the region.
II. Perform routine and preventive maintenance activities in accordance with the engineering
instructions and schedules as directed by the technical leader.
III. Receive and act on information/advice from the technical leader.
IV. Ensure security and cleanliness of the R&T/BSS equipment and shelter. Prohibit entrance
to equipment room by non-authorized personnel.
V. Ensure proper storage, record and security of R&T tools, test gears, spares, manuals and
logbooks.

Maintain all appropriate documentation, including work orders, CPAs etc

1.3.2 Switching and Data department.

At this department the main task here is ensure availability of voice and Data services by
providing operations and maintenance support for the voice, IP/MPLS and Broadband networks.
The technical leader of the department is Eng. Stanley and John C. Mongi as an assistant
technical leader

The following are some of the key responsibilities of the department,

I. Operates and maintain voice and data networks systems in the region to meet high quality
network and service standard.
II. Perform installation of network equipment and configuration of voice and data systems.
III. Perform Provision Acceptance Test (PAT) for newly installed systems or application.
IV. Support the testing and introduction of new services.
V. Monitor network and system performance and provide solutions to improve the KPIs.
VI. Perform 24/7 service support to the customers.

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1.3.3 Access network department
The main job of the department is to ensure the quality and availability of the access network
(Data and voice).The department is under Eng. Sarah J Irigo who is the technical leader of the
department. Some of the key responsibilities of the department are as follows,

I. Implement timely service provision for Data and voice as required.

II. Perform routine/preventive maintenance activities in accordance with the engineering
instructions and schedules and as directed by the technical leader.
III. Participate in access network rehabilitation and minor expansion of programmes to be
undertaken by support group or as may be instructed.
IV. Ensure detection and prevention of any responsibilities of internal and external fraud
related to the access network.

1.4 Safety regulation and general welfare recruitment and training policy of the company
The company provide better safety equipment to the workers to help them in conducting their
activities. Example the company provide safety boots, overcoats, and helmet, all these is to
ensure safety at working places so as to increase efficiency and performance during working.

Also the company has a means to recruit students so that they impart some knowledge and
skills on how it function, for instance it accepts students from various universities interested to
be part of TTCL team and it train them effectively. At this company we managed to install the
rectifier at Chunya district, we managed to clear some of the landline faults as well as
mechanism on how the transmission of network from headquarter to customer premise
equipment is done.

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1.5 Description of the organization structure of the company
The organization structure of the company as shown above comprises of mainly four parts the
first part consist of chief marketing and sales , head business unit, regional coordinator ,Regional
manager and secretary.it is this part that manages and organizes all activities and have large
authority of decision making in the company.

Then the second part is commercial department which is responsible for sales and customer
services. It is under commercial assistant regional manager as the head of department, followed
by Retail sales executive, customer service representative who mainly is concerned with
customer care services, then Distributive executive who mainly deals with executive issues of the
department then finally there’s key accounts executive.

The third part is support department which mainly is concerned with the welfare of the company
as well as assisting in terms of finance to accomplish the daily tasks. The department is under
assistant regional manager of support and comprises of others which are Credit officer which
then is divided into pars which are finance officer and Administrative officer. Then under
finance officer there are head cashier, cashier and accounts clerk, and under administrative
officer there’re storekeeper, administrative clerk, logistic clerk and driver/messenger.

CHAPTER 2: OPTICAL FIBER IN COMMUNICATION NETWORK

2.1 HISTORY OF FIBER COMMUNICATION

Optical fiber communication owes its discoveryto many researchers from 1880 until
today.In1977 a small city in Italy by the name Torino,was the first to get metropolitan fiber
optic communication system.Today technology has been developed to provide data of speed 1
petabit per second. To put that into perspective, that kind of speed will allow you to transfer
5000 HD movies per second.

2.2 INTRODUCTION TO OPTICAL FIBER COMMUNICATION

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 Optical fiber - is the flexible transparent fiber made by drawing glass or plastic. Optical
fiber communication is the communication at a distance using light to carry information. In
fiber communication laser light is used for transmission because this light source has single
wavelength.

2.2.1 Fundamentals of Fibers:-

The fundamental principle that makes optical fibers possible is
total internal reflection
.
This is described using the ray model of light as shown in figure 1

2.2.2 CONSTRUCTION OF FIBERS:-

In fibers, there are two significant sections – the core and the cladding. The core is part
where the light rays travel and the cladding is a similar material of slightly lower refractive
index to cause total internal reflection. Usually both sections are fabricated from silica
(glass). The light within the fiber is then continuously totally internally reflected along the
waveguide.

Figure 2: Structure of Fiber

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When light enters the fiber we must also consider refraction at the interface of the air and the
fiber core. The difference in refractive index causes refraction of the ray as it enters the fiber,
allowing rays to enter the fiber at an angle greater than the angle allowed within the fiber as
shown in the figure 3.

2.3 CLASSIFICATION OF OPTICAL FIBERS:-

Optical fibers are classified into three types based on the material used, number of modes and
refractive index..
Based on the materials used:-

a) Glass fibers:
They have a glass core and glass cladding. The glass used in the fiber is ultra pure, ultra
transparent silicon dioxide (SiO2) or fused quartz. Impurities are purposely added to pure
glass to achieve the desired refractive index
.
b) Plastic clad silica:
This fiber has a glass core and plastic cladding. This performance though not as good as all
glass fibers, is quite respectable.

c)Plastic fibers:

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They have a plastic core and plastic cladding. These fibers are attractive in applications
where high bandwidth and low loss are not a concern

Based on their mode of operation.

1) Single mode optical fiber: these used to transmit one signal per fiber. Single optical fibers
have. Mostly are used in telephone and television set.
2) Multi-mode optical fiber: these are used to transmit many signal per fiber. These signals
are used in computer and local area networks.

2.4 Basic elements of a fiber optic communication system

There are three main basic elements of a fiber optic communication system . they are

1. Compact light source: depending on the applications like local area networks and long-haul
communication systems the light source requirements vary. The requirement of the sources
include power, speed, spectrallinewidth, noise, ruggedness, cost, temperature,. Two components
used as the light sources are light emitting diodes(LEDs) and laser diodes. LEDs are used for
short distances and low data rate applications due to their low bandwidth and power capabilities.
Laser diodes are used for longer distances and high data rate transmission

2. Low loss optical fiber : optical fiber is a cable which is also known as cylindrical dielectric
waveguide made of low –loss material .the fiber optic cable is made of high quality extruded
glass or plastic and it is flexible

3. Photo detectors - the purpose of the photodetectors is to convert the light signal to an
electrical signal. Two types of the photodetectors are mainly used for optical communication
system are PN diodes and Avalanches photodiode depending on application wavelengths and the
material composition of these devices vary .

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2.5 Applications of optical fiber communication

Fiber optic cables find many uses in a wide variety of industries and applications. Some uses of

fiber optic cables include:

• Medical

Used as light guides, imaging tools and also as lasers for surgeries

• Defense/Government

Used as hydrophones for seismic waves and SONAR , as wiring in aircraft, submarines and other

vehicles and also for field networking

• Data Storage

Used for data transmission

• Telecommunications

Fiber is laid and used for transmitting and receiving purposes

• Networking

Used to connect users and servers in a variety of network settings and help increase the speed
and

accuracy of data transmission

• Industrial/Commercial

Used for imaging in hard to reach areas, as wiring where EMI is an issue, as sensory devices to

make temperature, pressure and other measurements, and as wiring in automobiles and in

industrial settings

• Broadcast/CATV

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Broadcast/cable companies are using fiber optic cables for wiring CATV, HDTV, internet, video
ondemand and other applications

Fiber optic cables are used for lighting and imaging and as sensors to measure and monitor a vast

Array of variables. Fiber optic cables are also used in research and development and testing
across

All the above mentioned industries.

Chart 2: Block diagram of optic fiber communication

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2.6 Problems identifications during optical fiber communication network

There are various of problems occurred during the optic fiber communication system .These
problems resulted from the followings:

Length problems - once the fiber has redundant length after it has been used for connection ,
there are potential risks with the left cables and it will result in permanent damage to the fibers
and components within the cable. The potential risks are bending, twisting or winding around the
cable itself

Stretching problems - if the optical fiber cable being stretched over a range itself and then the
fiber and other components within the cable would be damaged. Also this may occur when
pulling at the jacket of the cable

External damage - these are likely to occur since they are due to splits and sratches

2.7 Description of the proposed solution on solving and assumption made

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The problems identified above can be solved in such a way that to ensure the communication is
being carried on.

For the case of the length of the cable one must make sure to get the optimal ne eded length by
using measuring tape and positioning all equipment that you intend to connect with the cable
and then measuring the distances of them and get approximately length

For the case of stretching problem its necessary for using grips at the connectors designed to
be used to fit and removed them

For the case of external damage then its necessary to have visual inspectionsof the optical fiber
cable from time to time. Because any defect would affect the ability of the cable to work
properly.

2.8 Justifications of the chosen solutions

The wide range spread of using optical fiber in communication system has made all
possible communications today hence its necessary for the organization rensponsible for
providing communication to solve occurred problems in such a way that communications
activities are being carried on

2.9 Challenges on solving the problems

The company faces some challenges during troubleshooting/fault clearance to ensure

better communication to customers. The following are some of the challenges facing.

I. Shortage of transport facilities that leads to difficulties in reaching the

remote areas and also difficult to transport the technicians. Example cars,
motor vehicles, rickshaws etc.
II. Poor transport infrastructures especially roads. Most of the roads are so
rough and especially during rainy season it is difficult to pass hence some
of the problems or faults cannot be cleared.

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 III. Fund it’s not like the company has no fund but the problem arises when
they receive money from the government. Normally the money comes
late, hence leads to prolonging the time of solving network problems.
IV. Low number of skilled technicians. Especially in the access network
department where most of the faults are to be cleared by the skilled
technicians, also the company has low number of unskilled labors that
have to assist in various tasks like carrying loads, carrying poles and other
heavy tools.
V. Also there are some tasks which we are assigned and are out of the scope
of the field study like carrying telephone poles and heavy loads.

Since the company is owned fully by the government then those challenges can be solved by the
government that is the government should provide enough fund for the company so that it can
solve those problems.

2.10 Conclusion and recommendation

Since the market of information and technology keep growing everyday then there is great need
of establishing an effective plan for the future IT generation like providing scholarships to learn
from others and also there should be an improvement in the coordination system among various
IT groups so as to ensure efficient modernization efforts.

3. REFERENCE BOOKS

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1. Fiber Optic Communications – D.K. Mynbaev , S.C. Gupta and Lowell L. Scheiner,
Pearson Education, 2005.

2. Text Book on Optical Fibre Communication and its Applications – S.C.Gupta, PHI,
2005.

3. Fiber Optic Communication Systems – Govind P. Agarwal , John Wiley, 3rd Ediition,
2004.

4. Fiber Optic Communications – Joseph C. Palais, 4th Edition, Pearson Education,

2004.

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