FIBER OPTIC INSTALLER
Module 7
Fiber Optic
System Design
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Fiber Optics Installer
Module 7
Chapter Objectives
Fiber Optic System ▪ Identify the factors that determine cost versus
performance for a fiber optic system
Design ▪ Understand the decibel notation used to
determine power losses and gains
▪ Define power budget, system margin, and loss
budget and explain their importance to
properly design a working fiber optic system
▪ Perform calculations of power budget and loss
budget given the fiber optic system parameters
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Fiber Optic System Design
The RFP Bidding Process
In large projects a bidding process will begin with the introduction of a owner
Request For Proposal (RFP) document sent to qualified prospective contractors.
▪ RFP sent to bidders
▪ Bidders respond to detailed RFP line items
▪ Owner selects qualified bidders
▪ Owner initiates meetings with selected bidders
▪ Owner and bidders discuss mandatory/optional RFP requirements
▪ Bidders can re-submit proposals with new cost estimates
▪ Selection criteria based on costs, large project history, industry reputation,
financial stability
▪ Bidders reduced to 3 or less before final selection
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Fiber Optic System Design
Design Performance Versus Cost
Several factors must be taken into account to begin the project of a fiber optic
system. While preparing the Request for Proposal:
▪ Cost of installing infrastructure versus available budget
▪ Labor (hourly budget) and equipment installation cost
▪ Type of installation: whether it is aerial, direct buried, or underground
▪ Type of purchase options: build to own or lease options
▪ Warranty requirements
▪ Permitting and Right of Way agreements
▪ Regulatory requirements: Local, State, Federal
▪ Necessity of route redundancy to ensure transmission continuity during a
fault
▪ Ongoing operation, administration, and maintenance costs
Design phase: Power budget and loss budget of the fiber link must be
determined
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Fiber Optic System Design
Post Installation Inspection and Testing
A report with following information must be provided to owner after
installation is completed:
▪ Correct cable bend radius
▪ Cable clearances from power lines in accordance with NESC and NEC®
▪ Bonding and grounding as required by NESC and NEC®
▪ Ensure messengers and all metallic structures are correctly installed
▪ Dead-ends and crossovers are correctly installed
▪ Location of splice closures and slack storage
▪ Route paths of ducts and inner-duct packages
▪ Proper warning signs
▪ As built drawings
▪ OTDR test results, and end to end attenuation testing
▪ Reference test standards
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Fiber Optic System Design
Owner Documentation
Proper documentation must be issued to the owner to facilitate operation,
maintenance, and future planning:
▪ End to end link test upon completion (drawings)
▪ Cable route endpoints and access/drop points
▪ Splice closure locations and associated pole numbers (address, cross
streets, etc.)
▪ Man holes, hand holes numbers and locations
▪ Fiber Slack locations
▪ Fiber distribution panels and huts locations
▪ Manufacturer and model numbers of electronic equipment
▪ Test equipment configuration settings
▪ Reference test standards
▪ As built drawings
GIS (Geographical Information System): An automated way to archive fiber
optic network data in a database. A must for large fiber optic systems.
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Fiber Optic System Design
Decibel Notation (dB)
It is important to understand how to work with decibel notation when designing,
installing, performing maintenance and testing and troubleshooting fiber optic
systems. Decibel dB is:
▪ A unit that compares two measurements of the same power signal at two
different points
▪ Used to quantify power losses (attenuation) for a fiber optic cable, or power
gain for an amplifier
POUT
Power Loss or Gain (dB) = 10 log10 ( )
PIN
PIn
Power Loss Power Gain P
POut Power Gain = POut
In
Distance PIn POut
PIn POut Amplifier
Fiber optic cable
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Fiber Optic System Design
Decibel Notation (dB)
The table gives the relationship between the actual value of P OUT/PIN expressed
using the scientific notation and the decibel notation.
POUT
Power Loss or Gain (dB) = 10 log10 ( )
PIN
Actual Value Power of 10 Exponent dB =
(POUT/PIN) (POUT/PIN) 10 log10 (POUT/PIN)
100,000 105 5 50
10,000 104 4 40 ▪ Power Gain: POUT is
1,000 103 3 30
100 102 2 20
greater than PIN, and
10 101 1 10 the dB value is positive
1 100 0 0
0.1 10-1 -1 -10 ▪ Power Loss: POUT is less
0.01 10-2 -2 -20
than PIN, and the dB
0.001 10-3 -3 -30
0.0001 10-4 -4 -40
value is negative
0.00001 10-5 -5 -50
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Fiber Optic System Design
3dB Rule
▪ When the output power is twice the input power, the power gain is +3dB
▪ When the output power is half of the input power, the power loss is -3dB
Power Gain
Pin = 1 W 2W 4W POut = 8 W
3 dB 3 dB 3 dB
Power Loss
-3 dB -3 dB -3 dB
PIn = 8 W 4W 2W POut = 1 W
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Fiber Optic System Design
10dB Rule
▪ When the output power is 10 times the input power, the power gain is +10dB
▪ When the output power is 1/10 of the input power, the power loss is -10dB
Power Gain
Pin = 1 W 10 W 100 W POut = 1000 W
10 dB 10 dB 10 dB
Power Loss
-10 dB -10 dB -10 dB
Pin = 1000 W 100 W 10 W POut = 1 W
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Fiber Optic System Design
3dB and 10dB Rules Chart and Example
The power loss for a signal traveling down a
fiber is -12dB. The input power is 50mW. Power Power Gain or
Change Loss (dB)
What is the output power?
x2 +3dB
-12dB loss means 4 times -3dB loss ÷2 -3dB
x 10 +10dB
1st -3dB: 50mW/2 = 25mW ÷ 10 -10dB
2nd -3dB: 25mW/2 = 12.5mW
3rd -3dB: 12.5mW/2 = 6.25mW
4th -3dB: 6.25mW/2 = 3.125mW → Output Power
PIn = POut =
-3 dB -3 dB -3 dB -3 dB
50mW 25mW 12.5mW 6.25mW 3.125mW
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Fiber Optic System Design
Absolute Power: dBm
Decibel measurement referenced to 1mW
input value.
Power Level Power dBm
POUT of 10
dBm = 10 log10 ( )
1mW 10,000 W 104 +70
1,000 W 103 +60
100 W 102 +50
▪ A power level of 0 dBm equals 1mW 10 W 101 +40
1W 100 +30
▪ A power level greater than 0dBm 0.1 W 10-1 +20
(positive value) is greater than 1mW 0.01 W 10-2 +10
▪ A power level less than 0dBm 0.001 W 10-3 0
0.0001 W 10-4 -30
(negative value) is less than 1mW
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Fiber Optic System Design
Absolute Power and Relative Power
Absolute Power (dBm): We express the power measured in a specific point of
the fiber link:
▪ Power at the Input = 8dBm
▪ Power at the Output = 3dBm
Relative power (dB): We express the power difference between two points of
the power link:
▪ Power loss between output and input = -5dB
Absolute power
PIn = 8dBm (or 6.3 mW)
Relative power Power loss (dB) = POut (dBm) – Pin (dBm) =
-5dB 3dBm - 8dBm = -5dB
(power loss) POut = 3 dBm (or 2 mW)
PIn POut
Fiber optic cable POut (dBm) = 8dBm-5dBm = 3dBm → 2mW
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Fiber Optic System Design
Power Budget and System Margin
A power budget must be determined to ensure enough signal power will reach
the receiver to be correctly detected.
Power budget = Min. transmitter power output – Min. receiver sensitivity
Power
Laser diode (1310nm)
0 dBm Maximum output power: 0 dBm
-3 dBm Min. Transmitter Output Power Minimum output power: -3 dBm
-12 dBm Max. Receiver Sensitivity Power Budget
Receiver Dynamic Range (20dB)
(29dB)
Photodiode (1310nm)
-32 dBm Min. Receiver Sensitivity Maximum receiver sensitivity: -12 dBm
Minimum receiver sensitivity : -32 dBm
System margin: Ensures that the received power remains within the light
detector dynamic range despite aging, power fluctuations, etc.
A typical system margin value is between 3dB and 6dB.
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Fiber Optic System Design
Loss Budget
The loss budget of a fiber optic system is given by the sum of all of the losses
in the fiber optic system:
▪ Connector Losses: Must be less than 0.75 dB (ANSI/TIA 568-C.3 standard)
▪ Mechanical and Fusion Splice Losses: Must be less than 0.3 dB (ANSI/TIA
568-C.3 standard) or less than .10 dB (Telcordia GR-765 standard)
▪ Fiber Losses: Light attenuation traveling down the glass fiber is mainly due
to scattering and absorption. Attenuation coefficient is given in dB/km
▪ Other insertion Losses: Any optical component inserted into the light path
causes insertion losses (splitters, couplers, lenses, etc.)
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Fiber Optic System Design
Attenuation Coefficient
The attenuation coefficient value of an optical fiber depends on the type of
fiber (single mode or multi-mode), and on the operating wavelengths and is
measured in dB/km.
Wavelength Attenuation Splice Loss Connector Loss Modal
(nm) and Fiber Size Coefficient (per splice) (per connector Bandwidth
Fiber Type (dB/Km) typical pair) (MHz-Km)
850 (MM) 62.5/125 3.5 0.1 dB 1.0 dB 160
1300 (MM) 62.5/125 1.5 0.1 dB 1.0 dB 500
1310 (SM) 9/125 0.5 0.1 dB 1.0 dB N/A
1550 (SM) 9/125 0.5 0.1 dB 1.0 dB N/A
The greater the wavelength, the smaller the attenuation coefficient
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Fiber Optic System Design
Loss budget Calculation - Example
Laser diode Fiber Loss 0.5 dB/km x 45 km Receiver
Min. output: Dynamic Range:
-3dBm -12dBm to -32dBm
Connector Fusion splices Connector
0.75 dB 0.1 dB x 2 0.75 dB
▪ Losses due to connectors: 0.75dB x 2 = 1.5dB
▪ Losses due to fusion splices: 0.1dB x 2 = 0.2dB
▪ Losses on the fiber cable length: 0.5dB/km x 45km = 22.5dB
Loss Budget = 1.5dB + 0.2dB + 22.5dB = 24.2dB
0 dBm (reference)
-3 dBm: Min. transm. output power Power at the receiver is -27.2
-12 dBm: Max. receiv. sensitivity dBm, within the receiver
Receiver dynamic range. It also satisfies
dynamic -27.2 dBm: Signal power at the receiv. the 3dB system margin imposed
range (20dB) -32 dBm: Min. receiv. sensitivity by the designer.
System margin (3dB)
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Fiber Optic System Design
Typical System Compositions - Examples
Medium Very Long-
Very Short Relatively Short Long-Distance
Length Distance
Run Systems Length Systems Systems
up to 100 m. up to 2 km @ 5-
Systems up to 100km @
Systems
up to 10 km @ >100km and
1Mbps 10Mbps 10-40 Gbps
10 Gbps > 40 Gbps
Long
Short wavelength
Light Source Visible LEDs wavelength DFB Lasers DFB Lasers
VCSEL
VCSEL
Plastic, or Single Mode SM Dispersion
Fiber Type MM Fiber MM or SM Fiber
Glass MM fiber Fiber Shifted Fibers
Medium High sensitivity High Sensitivity
PIN High Sensitivity
Receiver sensitivity PIN PIN or APD APD
photodiode APD photodiode
photodiode photodiodes photodiode
Amplification N/A N/A N/A EDFA/Raman EDFA/Raman
Coarse Coarse Dense
Multiplex. Wavelength Wavelength Wavelength
N/A N/A
Technique Division Division Division
Multiplexing Multiplexing Multiplexing
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Fiber Optic System Design
Module 7
Chapter Summary
Fiber Optic System ▪ Identified the factors that determine cost
versus performance for a fiber optic system
Design ▪ Understood the decibel notation used to
determine power losses and gains
▪ Defined power budget, system margin, and loss
budget and explained their importance to
properly design a working fiber optic system
▪ Performed calculations of power budget and
loss budget given the fiber optic system
parameters
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