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ECE 466 - Optical Communication Lab

Last offered Spring 2023

Official Description

Fiber components and measurements, transmitters and detectors, fiber amplifiers, multimode fiber links, and wavelength division multiplexing. Course Information: 1 undergraduate hour. 1 graduate hour. Prerequisite: Credit or concurrent registration in ECE 465.

Related Faculty

Subject Area

  • Microelectronics and Photonics

Course Director

Description

Laboratory course in optical communication systems: fiber components and measurements, transmitters and detectors, fiber amplifiers, multimode fiber links, and wavelength division multiplexing.

Detailed Description and Outline

Fiber components and measurements, transmitters and detectors, fiber amplifiers, multimode fiber links, and wavelength division multiplexing.

Lab Projects

One 3-hour lab session per week.

Laboratory Topics1 Contact hours

Lab 1: Basic Fiber Measurements (attenuation, numerical aperture, scattering)

3.0

Lab 2: Multimode Fibers (bandwidth, dispersion, time and frequency domain)

3.0

Lab 3: Single Mode Fibers (bandwidth, dispersion, pulse propagation)

3.0

Lab 4: Transmitters (Lasers, LEDs, bandwidth, spectra, modulation)

6.0

Lab 5: Receivers (PiN and APD detectors, SNR, noise, bandwidth)

3.0

Lab 6: Links (intersymbol interference, components, SNR, eye diagrams)

6.0

Lab 7: Jitter and Mask Testing (standards, system optimization)

3.0

Lab 8: Bit Error Rate Testing

3.0

Lab 9: Fiber Amplifiers (spectra, gain, saturation)

3.0

Lab 10: Amplified Link Project (Final Lab project, 80km link)

3.0

Topical Prerequisites

Credit or concurrent registration in ECE 465.

Texts

None. Laboratory notes are provided to the students.

Course Goals

Course Objectives and Relationship to Program Educational Objectives:

To reinforce fundamentals of lightwave communication systems. Emphasizes theory with elements of design and applications.

Instructional Objectives

Course Outcomes and Relationship to Program Outcomes:

A student completing this course should, at a minimum, be able to:

  1. Understand and measure the basic properties of the propagation of light in a guided-wave dielectric optical fiber, including attenuation, coupling, and handling (1,3,6,7)
  2. Understand the difference between single mode and multimode fiber and where the two are appropriate in a real-world system (1,3,4,6,7)
  3. Understand waveguiding principles, the concept of a mode in fiber, and how this limits the bandwidth in such systems, and to be able to make measurements that directly and indirectly determines these parameters (1,3,6,7)
  4. Understand how a pulse (or a bit) propagates in optical fiber and is influenced by dispersion (1,3,6,7)
  5. Understand the differences between types of light sources utilized in lightwave systems, including bandwidth, power, modulation, and spectra, and the appropriateness of each in a given system configuration (1,3,4,6,7)
  6. Understand the differences between types of receivers utilized in lightwave systems, and the appropriateness of each in a given system configuration, including bandwidth, signal-to-noise, and the statistical nature of light-matter interactions (1,3,4,6,7)
  7. Understand how to perform eye-diagram measurements and how to utilize this to understand system jitter, intersymbol interference, and signal-to-noise ratio (1,3,4,6,7)
  8. Be able to quickly assemble a fiber optic link, including source, receiver, and propagation medium and understand its main performance limitations (13,4,6,7)
  9. Be able to perform standard mask testing utilizing Telcordia standards and to understand power and system margins and budgets (1,3,4,6,7)
  10. Be able to perform bit error rate testing and to understand how it is limited by system impairments, and how to optimize system performance (1,3,4,6,7).
  11. Understand the basic principles of fiber amplifiers (1,3,4,6,7)
TitleSectionCRNTypeHoursTimesDaysLocationInstructor
Optical Communications LabAB174747LAB10800 - 1050 W  5074 Electrical & Computer Eng Bldg Peter D Dragic
Alex Pietros
Optical Communications LabAB274748LAB11300 - 1550 W  5074 Electrical & Computer Eng Bldg Peter D Dragic
Alex Pietros