OPTICAL FIBER SYSTEM FOR VIDEO AND TELEMETRY SIGNAL TRANSMISSION

Chong Wing Keong*

Singapore Polytechnic, Electronics and CommEngineering Dept
K R Subramanian and V K Dubey
School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering,
Nanyang Technological University, Singapore
Abstract
A cost effective optical fiber systemfor transmission of
video and telemetry signal (2 Mbps) in onedirection and
command signal (2 Mbps) in theother has been designed
and developed. The optical fiber systemusing single mode
optical fiber and semiconductor lasers operates at 1550nm
and 1300nnl wavelength full-duplex modethrough optical
Wavelength Division Multiplexer (WDM)/Bidirectional
couplers. Pulse-Frequency-Modulation /Optical Intensity
Modulation PFM/IM is adopted for the transmission of
video signal while the transmission of telemetry signal
adopts the Frequency-Shift-Keying F S W technique. The
systemdeveloped achieves a data bit error rate of better
than lo- and video signal-to-noise ratio of 48 dB for a
transmission span of above 3 km with very good system
margin. Computer simulation programfor evaluation of
optical fiber data transmission systemperformance was
adopted in thesystemdevelopment.
1. Introduction:
Optical fiber transmission systemhas the advantage of very
wide transmission bandwidth which, with appropriate
frequency division multiplexing scheme, allows
simultaneous transmission of information fromdifferent
signal sources in a single fiber hence increasing
transmission efficiency. The transmission efficiency can be
further enhyced by sending optical carrier in full-duplex
mode(bi-directionally) in a single fiber using a WDM/Bi-
directional coupler at each end of theoptical fiber.
A research and development project has been successfully
carried out at theNanyang Technological University 0
Communications Laboratory JXI to explore the
abovementioned technical feasibilities. Theproject involved
developing a low cost integrated optical fiber systemfor
simultaneous transmission of video and telemetry signal in
order to facilitate complete systemperformance evaluation
particulary in the area of possible co-channel electrical
interference and interference between the two optical
wavelengths transmitted in contra-directions. The
performance of thesystemdeveloped was tested and the
results were found to be very encouraging, the system
developed can also beconsidered for industrial application.
Computer simulation programdeveloped by theNTU
Comms Lab III for optical fiber data transmission system
performance evaluation was used during system
development. Computer simulated results on data link
performancewerecompared with measured results obtained
fromthe systemdeveloped, they werefound to have close
agreement.
2. System Overview
Thecomplete optical fiber systemfor video and telemetry
signal transmission is shown in Fig-1 .There are two opto-
electronic interfaces in thesystem, namely the uplink and
downlink interfaces. The optical link is bi-directional,
transmitting at wavelengths of 13OOnmin the uplink
direction and 155Onmin thedownlink direction.
Uplink Interface Unit
The uplink interface unit transmits a command Signal at
8x100 kbps (2 Mbps is used as systemspec.) using a 1300
nm digital intensity modulation laser transmitter. At the
same time, it receives a combined video (PFM) and
telemetry signal (FSK) through an analog optical receiver.
Separation of this combined signal is performed by a
diplexer unit which comprises two bandpass filters with
passbands in the rangeof 18-32 MHz (for the PFM video
signal) and 6-14 MHz (for the FSK telemetry signal). The
modulated video and telemetry signals received are then
demodulated using their respective demodulators.
Downlink Interface Unit:
The downlink interface unit transmits a 6 MHz video and
8x100 kbps ( again 2 Mbps is used as systemspec.)
telemetry signals. Before transmission, the video signal
modulates a 25 MHz carrier employing PFM. The digital
telemetry signal is modulated Using FSK with mark and
spacefr-equency of 12.5 MHz and 7.5 MHz respectively.
The modulated video and telemetry signals are combined
in a diplexer similar to that in the uplink interfaceunit. The
composite signal is then transmitted through the fiber using
a wavelength of 155Onm. The downlink intdace unit al so
receives a 8x100 kbps ( 2 Mbps is used as systemspec.)
command signal fromthe uplink.
*
The author is pursuing a postgraduate programe at
Univfmity.
the School of EEE, Nanyang Technological
71
optical Link:
Command rl pndt (I OD kbpr x 8)
modulator modulator
t oo kt+n
H~ l p k a e r vtdeo dgnd
(0-6 MHz)
4
Telcmstr). rlgnds ( IO0 kbp9x t)
I
_ _ _ _ _ _ -
Figure-1. SystemBlock Diagram: Optical Fiber Systemfor Video and Telemetry Signal Transmission
The optical fiber link comprises the 1300nmand 155Onm
laser modules, broadband pinFET photoreceiver, 3km
single-mode optical fiber and a pair of WDM/bi-directional
couplers.
3. System Performance
The Systemperformance measured are summarised as
follows:
Overall SystemMargin (optical): 16 dB at a BER of lo7
and video S/N (unweighted) at 45 dB
Uplink Command Signal and Downlink Telemetry Signal
Quality: BER of lO''O, 2 h4bps NRZ.
Downlink Video Signal Quality: signal-to-noise ratio 48
dB. The picture quality was considered good.
Downlink CO-Channel Interference (Video & Data): No
significant co-channel interference between the downlink
video and telemetry signals was found. (Refer to Chart-1).
CO-Channel Interference Between Optical Wavelengths: No
interference between the uplink (13OOnm) and downlink
(1550 nm) optical channels was detected. Port to port
directivity at the WDM/bi-directional coupler was better
than 60 dl3. Whileisolation between trunk to port was
better than 40 dl3. Insertion loss was less than 0.6 dB.
4. Analysis of SystemPerformance
Uplink BER vs. Received Optical Power (Theoretical &
Measured Results):
The measured and theoretical results of BER vs. received
optical power for the 2 Mbps uplink command signal were
found to be in close agreement (refer to Chart-2). The
theoretical results were derived from the simulation
programbased on the mathematical model described in this
paper.
Downlink Video C/N, Detected S/N Ratio vs. Received
Power:
The downlink video carrier-to-noise ratio (C/N) was able
to maintain at a constant level of 53 dB until the received
optical power fell below -17 dbm. Whereas, the signal-to-
noise (S/N) kept constant at 48 dB until the received
optical power fell below -23 dbm(refer to Chart-3). This
is due to the built-in Automatic-Gain-Control (AGC)
function at the photodetectodamplifier.
It is observed from Chart-3 that at high received optical
received power, the C/N is higher than the S / N of the
detected video signal. It is due to the fact that at high C/N
region the S/N of the detected video signal is very
much limited by the S/N of the signal generated by the
video pattem generator (about 50 a). However, at a lower
received optical power region, the S/N out performs the
C/N due to FM improvement factor.
72
1.00Et00
1 .00E-O 1
1.00E-02
1 .00E-03
(Dow n-Link)
A 1.00E-04
2
2 1.OOE-05
d 1.00E-06
w
- W
1.00E-07
1.00E-08
1.00E-09
1.OOE-10
1.00E-11
-42 -41 -40 -39 -38 -37 -36 -35 -34 -33 -32
Received Optical Power (dbm)
Chart-I BER vs. Received Optical Power (Down-Link)
1.00E+00
1.00E-03
1.00E-05
n
bD
0
5 1.00E-07
d
w
E:
m
1 .(NE49
1.00E-11
1.00E-13
(Up-Link)
-50 -49 -48 -47 -46 -45 -44 -43 -42
Received Optical Power (dbm)
Chart-2 BER vs. Received Optical Power (Up-Link)
73
(Down-Link)
I I I
i
I
I
1
i ~
IAN i i I
I I ! : I I
,
50
h
P
a,
40
vl
2 U
0
0
30
2
U 20
10
0
, C/N ~,
/ ..
Chart-3 Video C/N, Detected S/ N Ratio vs. Received Optical Powex @own-Link)
5. Mathematical Modeling of Optical Fiber
Transmission Systems
The computer simulation programused in thi s project was
designed tb cover typical system operating with a
multimode or single mode laser, single-mode or graded
index fiber and direct detection with a PIN or APD
photodiode. A basic systemmodel based on which the
computer simulation programis developed is shown in Fig.
2 (Refer to [6] for details):
The transmission characteristics of the three main
components of an optical transmission system can be
described by frequency-dependent but dimensionless
normalised transmission functions &,,,,(f) with thetime
parameters
is the conversion factor of the photodetector, M is the
multiplication factor of an avalanche photodiode, R is the
load resistor and G is the amplification factor of an
electronic amplifier.
D, is the attenuation of the fiber,
hv
Transnicter Fiber RectiVU
r 1 1 - t I 1 1
Figure 2. Basic Model of an &tical Fiber Transmission Svstem
74
Evaluation of systemPerformance:
A. Gaussian Distribution Model:
In digital transmission system, the amplitude distribution of
the noise is usually assumed to be Gaussian. A simple
formula exists for calculating the bit error rate fromthe
signal-to-nojse ratio 131:
B. Non-Gaussian Distribution Model:
The assumption of Gaussian noise amplitude distribution is
not always valid. Of the numerous noise sources that had
to be taken into account, at least two i.e the modepartition
noise and avalanche noise have Non-Gaussian distribution.
The Non-Gaussian noise amplitude distribution model may
be given by the WMC Distribution function 141. The bit
error probability for one pulse is found by integrating the
WMC Distribution function on the wrong side of the
decision threshold mT.
0 iii, *T iiil m-
Figure- 3 Non-Gaussian Noise Amplitude
Distribution in APD photoreceiver. High
power (right) represents a "1" and low
power (left) represents a "0" with
residual light.
6. Conclusion
The developed systemachieves a bit error rate of better
than 10" at 2 Mbps for the command and telemetry signals
and a signal to noise ratio of better than 48 dB for the
video signal under normal working conditions. A system
margin of 16 dB has been catered for additional fiber
attenuation, such as microbending loss, which may be
incurred during the installation process of the optical fiber
cable.
a video PFM carrier centred at 25 MHz. In order to operate-
the link at a higher data speed, a wider separation of the
carrier frequencies is necessary to avoid any possible
interference between the side-bands of the FSK signal and
the PFM signal. Test results showed that there was an
excellent isolation between the optical wavelengths in the
uplink and downlink channels. No significant interference
was detected in either direction of the link.
Computer programdeveloped by the Communication ID
Laboratory in the NTU was adopted for the purpose of
systemperformance prediction and evaluation (Refer to
[6]). In that, results generated by the simulation program
were verified with measured results and validity of the
theoretical analysis and simulation models were proven.
Both simulation models using Gaussian and Non-Gaussian
noise distribution were examined. The Non-Gaussian model
was found to be more realistic when theoretical and
measured results are compared, although the difference was
not subtle (Refer to [6]).
References
[ 13 Paul E. Green, J r, Fiber Optic Networks, Prentice-
Hall, 1993.
[2] Robert J. Hoss, Fiber Optic Communications
Design Handbook, Prentice-Hall, 1990.
[3] S . Geckeler, Modeling of Fiber-optic
Transmission System on Desktop Computers,
IEEE I nternational Conference on
Communications, Philadephia, paper 19.2, 1988.
S. Geckeler, Fast Numerical Approximation of Bit
Error Rate Caused by Non-Gaussian Noise, ICQC,
Philadephia, 1988.
S . Geckeler, Optical Fiber Transmission Systems,
Artech House, Boston, 1987.
K.C Neo and WF Tai, Modeling of High Speed
Fiber-optic Transmission Systems, Final year
Project, School of EEE, NTU, Singapon% 1993.
[4]
[SI
[6]
The proposal of utilizing frequency multiplexing and
optical wavelength division multiplexing scheme in this
project was found feasible. Thesystemdeveloped has a
FSK carrier centred at 10 h4HZ for the telemetry signal and
75