Chapter 6

ANALOG AND DIGITAL LINKS

 Content

• Digital Photonic transmission System

• Digital Photonic Receiver (BER, Quantum Limit)
• Analog Photonic Transmission System
• Photonic Digital Link Analysis & Design
- Link Loss budget, Link Power budget, Rise Time budget
• System Rise Time and Information Rate
 Digital Transmission System (DTS)

• The design of optical receiver is much more complicated than that of optical transmitter
because the receiver must first detect weak, distorted signals and the n make decisions on
what type of data was sent.
 Error Sources in DTS

  
N  
h 0
P (t ) dt 
h
E [7-1]

e N
Pr (n)  Nn
[7-2]
n!
N is the average number of electron-hole pairs in photodetector,
 is the detector quantum efficiency and E is energy received in a time
interval  and h is photon energy, wherePr (n) is the probability
that n electrons are emitted in an interval  .
 InterSymbol Interference (ISI)

Pulse spreading in an optical signal, after traversing along optical fiber,

leads to ISI. Some fraction of energy remaining in appropriate time slot
is designated by , so the rest is the fraction of energy that has spread
Into adjacent time slots.
 Receiver Configuration

The binary digital pulse train incident on the photodetector can be written in the
following form:

P(t )  b h
n  
n p (t  nTb ) [7-3]

where Tb is bit period, bn is an amplitude parameter of the nth message digit

and h p (t )is the received pulse shape which is positive for all t.
• In writing down eq. [7-3], we assume the digital pulses with amplitude V
represents bit 1 and 0 represents bit 0. Thus bn can take two values
corresponding to each binary data. By normalizing the input pulse h p (t )
to the photodiode to have unit area


h

p (t )dt  1

bn represents the energy in the nth pulse.

the mean output current from the photodiode at time t resulting from pulse
train given in eq. [7-3] is (neglecting the DC components arising from
dark current noise):

q 
i (t )  MP(t )   o M  bn h p (t  nTb ) [7-4]
h n  
 Bit Error Rate (BER)

BER  Probability of Error 

# of error over a certain time interval t
 [7-5]
total # of pulses transmitted during t
Ne Ne
 B  1 / Tb
Nt Bt

• Probability of Error= probability that the output voltage is

less than the threshold when a 1 is sent + probability that the
output voltage is more than the threshold when a 0 has been
sent.
 vth

Probability distributions for received logical 0 and 1 signal pulses.

the different widths of the two distributions are caused by various signal
distortion effects.
v
P1 (v)   p( y | 1)dy

probablity that the equalizer output voltage is less than v, if 1 transmitted


[7-6]
P0 (v)   p ( y | 0)dy probablity that the equalizer output voltage exceeds v, if 0 transmitted
v
 Pe  q1 P1 (vth )  q 0 P0 (vth )
vth  [7-7]

 q1  p( y | 1)dy  q  p( y | 1)dy

0
vth

• Where q1 and q 0 are the probabilities that the transmitter sends 0 and 1
respectively. q 0  1  q1

• For an unbiased transmitter q 0  q1  0.5

 Gaussian Distribution
vth vth
1  (v  bon ) 2 
P1 (vth )   p( y | 1)dy 
 2  on
  exp
  2 on 
2 dv
[7-8]
 
1  (v  boff ) 2 
P0 (vth )   p( y | 0)dy 
vth 2  off
  exp
vth  2 off 
2 dv

mean

mean
• If we assume that the probabilities of 0 and 1 pulses are equally likely, then
using eq [7-7] and [7-8] , BER becomes:


1 1 Q 
BER  Pe (Q)   exp( x )dx  1  erf (
2
)
 Q/ 2 2 2 
1 exp(-Q 2 /2)
 [7-9]

2 Q

vth  boff bon  vth

Q  [7-9]

 off  on
x
2
erf ( x )    2
exp( y )dy [7-10]
 0
 Approximation of error function

Variation of BER vs Q,
according to eq [7-9].
 Special Case
In special case when:

 off   on   & boff  0, bon  V

From eq [7-29], we have: vth  V / 2

Eq [7-8] becomes:

1 V 
Pe ( )  1  erf ( )
2 2 2 
V [7-11]
is peak signal - to - rms - noise ratio.


Study example 7-1 pp. 286 of the textbook.

 Quantum Limit
• Minimum received power required for a specific BER assuming that the
photodetector has a 100% quantum efficiency and zero dark current. For
such ideal photo-receiver,

Pe  P1 (0)  exp( N ) [7-12]

• Where N is the average number of electron-hole pairs, when the incident

optical pulse energy is E and given by eq [7-1] with 100% quantum
efficiency (  1) .
• Eq [7-12] can be derived from eq [7-2] where n=0.

• Note that, in practice the sensitivity of receivers is around 20 dB higher

than quantum limit because of various nonlinear distortions and noise
effects in the transmission link.
 Analog Transmission System

• In photonic analog transmission Analog LED modulation

system the performance of the system
is mainly determined by signal-to-
noise ratio at the output of the
receiver. I
• In case of amplitude modulation the
m
IB
transmitted optical power P(t) is in
the form of:
P (t )  Pt [1  ms (t )]
where m is modulation index, and s(t)
is analog modulation signal.
• The photocurrent at receiver can be
expressed as:

i s (t )   0 MPr [1  ms (t )] [7-13]
 • By calculating mean square of the signal and mean square of the total
noise, which consists of quantum, dark and surface leakage noise currents
plus resistance thermal noise, the S/N can be written as:

S i s2 (1 / 2)( 0 MmPr ) 2
 2 
N iN 2q ( 0 Pr  I D ) M 2 F ( M ) B  ( 4k B TB / Req ) Ft
2 [7-14]
(1 / 2)( MmI P )

2q ( I P  I D ) M 2 F ( M ) B  ( 4k B TB / Req ) Ft

I P : primary photocurrent   0 Pr ; I D : primary bulk dark current;

I L : Surface - leakage current; F ( M ) : excess photodiode noise factor  M x
B : effective noise bandwidth; Req : equivalent resistance of photodetector load and amplifier
Ft : noise figure of baseband amplifier; Pr : average received optical power
 pin Photodiode S/N
• For pin photodiode, M=1:
2 2
S (1 / 2)( I P m)2
(1 / 2)m  0 Pr
2
  Low input signal level [7-15]

N (4k B TB / Req ) Ft (4k B TB / Req ) F

S m 2  0 Pr
 Large signal level [7-16]

N 4qB
SNR vs. optical power for photodiodes
 Photonic Digital Link Analysis & Design
• Point-to-Point Link Requirement:
- Data Rate
- BER
- Distance
- Cost & Complexity

• Analysis Methods:
- Link loss & S/N analysis (link power budget analysis
and loss allocation) for a prescribed BER
- Dispersion (rise-time) analysis (rise-time budget
allocation)
 System Design Choices:
Photodetector, Optical Source, Fiber
• Photodetectors: Compared to APD, PINs are less expensive
and more stablewith temperature. However PINs have lower
sensitivity.
• Optical Sources:
1- LEDs: 150 (Mb/s).km @ 800-900 nm and larger than 1.5
(Gb/s).km @ 1330 nm
2- InGaAsP lasers: 25 (Gb/s).km @ 1330 nm and ideally around
500 (Gb/s).km @ 1550 nm. 10-15 dB more power. However
more costly and more complex circuitry.
• Fiber:
1- Single-mode fibers are often used with lasers or edge-emitting
LEDs.
2- Multi-mode fibers are normally used with LEDs. NA and 
should be optimized for any particular application.
 Link Power/Loss Analysis

PT [dB]  Ps [dBm]  PR [dBm] Total Power Loss

PT  2lc [dB]   f [dB / km]  L[km]  System Margin

 Receiver Sensitivities vs. Bit Rate

9
The Si PIN & APD and InGaAsP PIN plots for BER= 10 . The InGaAs APD plot is for
11
BER= 10 .
Link Loss Budget [Example 8.1]
 Link Power Budget Table [Example 8.2]
• Example: [SONET Component/loss Output/sensitivity Power margin
OC-48 (2.5 Gb/s) parameter /loss (dB)
link] Laser output 3 dBm
Transmitter: 3dBm
APD Sensitivity -32 dBm
@ 1550 nm;
@ 2.5 Gb/s
Receiver: InGaAs
APD with -32 dBm Allowed loss 3-(-32) dBm 35
sensitivity @ 2.5 Source connector 1 dB 34
Gb/s; loss
Fiber: 60 km long Jumper+Connect 3+1 dB 30
with o.3 dB/km or loss
attenuation; jumper Cable attenuation 18 dB 12
cable loss 3 dB
each, connector loss Jumper+Connect 3+1 dB 8
of 1 dB each. or loss
Receiver 1 dB 7(final margin)
Connector loss
 Dispersion Analysis (Rise-Time Budget)
2 2 2 2 1/ 2
t sys  [ttx  t mod  tGVD  t rx ]
2 1/ 2
 2  440 Lq  2
 350  
 ttx     D   L   
2 2
2

  B0   Brx  

t tx [ ns ] : transmitter rise time t rx [ ns ] : receiver rise time t mod [ n ] : modal dispersion

Brx [ MHz ]:3dB Electrical BW L[ km ]:Length of the fiber B0 [ MHz ]:BW of the 1 km of the fiber;

q  0.7 tGVD [ns]: rise- time due to group velocity dispersion

D[ ns /( km.nm )]:Dispersion   [nm]: Spectral width of the source

Two-level Binary Channel Codes
 System rise-Time & Information Rate
• In digital transmission system, the system rise-time limits the
bit rate of the system according to the following criteria:

t sys  70% of NRZ bit period

t sys  35% of RZ bit period
 Example
• Laser Tx has a rise-time of 25 ps at 1550 nm and spectral
width of 0.1 nm. Length of fiber is 60 km with dispersion 2 ps/
(nm.km). The InGaAs APD has a 2.5 GHz BW. The rise-time
budget (required) of the system for NRZ signaling is 0.28 ns
whereas the total rise-time due to components is 0.14 ns. (The
system is designed for 20 Mb/s).
 Example: Transmission Distance for MM-Fiber
• NRZ signaling, source/detector: 800-900 nm LED/pin or AlGaAs
laser/APD combinations. BER  10;9 LED output=-13 dBm;fiber loss=3.5
dB/km;fiber bandwidth 800 MHz.km; q=0.7; 1-dB connector/coupling loss
at each end; 6 dB system margin, material dispersion ins 0.07 ns/(km.nm);
spectral width for LED=50 nm. Laser ar 850 nm spectral width=1 nm;
laser ouput=0 dBm, Laser system margin=8 dB;
 Example:Transmission Distance for a SM Fiber
• Communication at 1550 nm, no modal dispersion, Source:Laser;
Receiver:InGaAs-APD (11.5 log B -71.0 dBm) and PIN (11.5log B-60.5
dBm); Fiber loss =0.3 dB/km; D=2.5 ps/(km.nm): laser spectral width 1
and 3.5 nm; laser output 0 dBm,laser system margin=8 dB;