What you will learn:
You'll learn the physics of internal reflection, understand the differences between single-mode and multimode fibre, and discover how connectors, splices, amplifiers, and transceivers work together to form optical links. The course also explains the key impairments - attenuation, chromatic dispersion, and non-linear effects - and how they constrain transmission distance and data rate.
By the end of this course you will be able to:
- describe the basic structure of an optical fibre and explain how infrared energy is propagated down the core of a fibre.
- describe the causes and effect of modal, chromatic and polarisation mode dispersion.
- describe and compare the structure and characteristics of step index multimode fibre, graded index fibre, and singlemode fibre.
- compare the characteristics and applications of various types of optical fibre as specified by the OSI/IEC and ITU.
- describe the role of the main components of an optical link including line terminal equipment, optical distribution shelf, and optical amplifiers.
- describe the role of the various protection layers employed in optical cables.
- explain the significance of the IEC classification of optical sources according to the hazard they present.
- explain the main causes of optical loss in a fibre transmission system and discuss methods of minimising those losses.
- calculate the power budget of an optical link taking into account receiver sensitivity, system margin and dispersion penalty.
- describe the principles of wavelength division multiplexing (WDM) and compare wideband, coarse, and dense WDM.
Course prerequisites:
This course assumes a basic understanding of digital transmission and the use of decibels. It is recommended that the PTT courses "Analogue and digital signals " and "Signal impairments" are studied before attempting this course.
Approximate study time: 6 hours
Delivery platform requirements:
To access the course, a computer/tablet running a browser such as Chrome, Safari, Edge etc. is required. The device should have an active Internet connection and a screen resolution of at least 1024x768.