AN1077

Replacing Wire with Inexpensive Plastic Fiber Solutions

Author: Cypress
Associated Project: No
Associated Part Family: HOTLink ®
Software Version: N/A
Associated Application Notes: AN1130, AN1032

AN1077 explains the advantages of low cost fiber-optic solution and ways to implement it using Cypress
CY7B923/CY7B933 HOTLink transceivers.

Contents Introduction
Introduction ....................................................................... 1 Communication with fiber-optics has many advantages
Scope ........................................................................... 1 over electrical or “wire”-based interfaces. Unfortunately,
Advantages of Optical Media ............................................ 2 fiber has often been considered an expensive or exotic
solution, limited to high-end applications that absolutely
Common Uses .............................................................. 2 require it. With the advent of inexpensive optical devices
Implementing a Link .......................................................... 2 and plastic optical fiber (POF), this technology can now be
Data Coding ................................................................. 3 implemented at costs that are competitive with copper
Serializer/Deserializer - HOTLink ...................................... 4 wire.
HOTLink Operation ...................................................... 4 This application note explains the advantages of this
Initializing the Link ........................................................ 5 low-cost fiber-optic solution and ways to implement it
BIST ............................................................................. 5 using Cypress’ CY7B923/933 HOTLink® transceivers. It
Evaluation Boards ............................................................. 5 covers some likely applications and a brief explanation of
how to use HOTLink with optical interfaces. The trade-offs
Fiber-Optic Media .............................................................. 5
between signaling rate and distance are also addressed.
Optical Receivers .............................................................. 6
Advantages of Encoded Run-Limited Data................... 6 Included in this application note are detailed design
schematics, circuit board artwork, and a complete parts list
Optical Link Design ........................................................... 7
that allow implementation of these low-cost fiber optic
Only One Transceiver Design Needed ......................... 7 links. Also included are detailed procedures on the
Distances Limits at 160 MBaud Signaling Rate ............ 7 handling of plastic optical fiber used to build these links.
Simple PECL Compatible LED Transmitter .................. 8
Simple High Sensitivity PECL Compatible Receiver .... 8 Scope
A Complete Fiber-Optic Transceiver Solution .............. 9 This document focuses on the range of performance and
Error Rates and Noise Immunity .................................. 9 distance options possible with low-cost POF. This
selection allows replacement of copper media at distances
Signal Terminations and Power Supply Filtering
up to 50 m at serial signaling rates of 150-to-160 MBaud.
Requirements ............................................................. 10
Additional references are provided for alternative
Printed Circuit Artwork ................................................ 11 fiber-optic components and faster versions of HOTLink
Parts List .................................................................... 11 that support a much larger range of distance and data
Plastic Optical Cables ..................................................... 11 rates.
Conclusion ...................................................................... 11
References ...................................................................... 11
Appendix A. Parts List ..................................................... 12
Appendix B. Printed Circuit Artwork ................................ 13
Appendix C. Assembly of POF Connectors and Cables.. 14
Document History ............................................................ 16
Worldwide Sales and Design Support ............................. 17

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 Replacing Wire with Inexpensive Plastic Fiber Solutions

Advantages of Optical Media  In-flight entertainment - Video and audio

distribution in aircraft requires few transmitters
Fiber-optic media has numerous advantages over copper but many receivers. Due to the sensitive
cables: navigation and communications equipment on
 Complete electrical isolation the aircraft, radiated emissions must be kept to
an absolute minimum.
 Small media size
 Avionics - Today’s commercial aircraft have in
 Light weight excess of 200,000 m of electrical cables, with
 No radiated emissions from the optical media many used to control the flight processes. These
cables add a large amount of weight to the
 Immune from external electrical influences aircraft. Replacing these cables with optical fiber
 High data carrying capacity can remove a significant amount of weight from
the plane, allowing a greater payload capacity,
These advantages make optical fiber the media of choice
for electrically hostile or sensitive environments. All major lower fuel consumption, or greater distance.
issues of electromagnetic compatibility (radiated Commercial aircraft also generate high levels of
emissions, arcing, static discharge, ground loops, ground RF energy for RADAR that must not interfere with
offsets, stray currents, and so on) disappear. other control systems.
Fiber-optic links also simplify many design aspects of  Equipment back bone - In the most general of
serial interfaces: applications, connecting board-to-board, or
 No need for coupling magnetics or capacitors to chassis-to-chassis, optical fiber offers an
achieve DC isolation electrically secure environment with high
bandwidth for data transfer. It can safely be used
 No need for bulky cable shields in hostile process control environments such as
 No transmission-line impedance or crosstalk nuclear power plants, or other locations where
concerns there may be drastic differences in potential
between the various pieces of equipment.
Common Uses
The physical attributes of optical fiber are also intrinsically
Fiber-optic communications are desirable in many safer than electrical cables. When cut or damaged there
applications: are no shock or fire hazards, and they cannot cause a
 Medical Equipment - A fiber-optic connection short circuit. When used with LED-based optical
provides absolute electrical isolation. This is often transmitters (or low-power LASERs) there is no optical eye
hazard. Plastic (and glass) fiber provides a high degree of
necessary for the safety of the patient, or to allow
flexibility and can carry more data per equivalent
sensitive measurements to occur without the
cross-sectional area than copper cables. The use of
introduction of electrical noise that would upset optical fiber in physically hostile environments, such as
delicate measuring devices. water, harsh weather, or explosive gases, presents no
 Heavy machinery - Monitoring and controlling issues of safety or loss of functionality.
heavy equipment requires very accurate
information transfer within the control system and Implementing a Link
equipment. High levels of electrical interference
There are three primary components in a link:
or ground offsets generated by the equipment
can potentially disrupt this communication when  Serializer/Deserializer - The quality of the phase-
used with electrical interfaces. locked loop (PLLs) and drivers/receivers in the
serializer/deserializer have a significant impact
 Video - Video requires high bandwidth and
on signaling rate and transmission distance. The
moderate distances between the camera and
serializer and electrical driver determine how
monitoring equipment. The easy handling and
much jitter is added before the optical transmitter.
termination of plastic optical fiber simplifies
The deserializer extracts both clock and data
cabling and avoids safety and ground offset
from the received signal and determines how
issues. New video standards (such as Digital
much jitter the interface can tolerate while
Video Broadcast and SMPTE 292M) actually
continuing to extract correct data. While the
specify fiber-optic interfaces.

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Cypress CY7B923/33 HOTLink is the subject of Scrambling

this application note for these functions, Scrambling modifies a data stream by merging it with one
additional solutions are also possible using the or more randomizer polynomials. Scrambling, used in
telecommunications interfaces such as SONET and ATM,
Cypress CY7C955 SONET/SDH Transceiver and
is 100% efficient. For every bit in the source data stream,
ATM cell processor, or the CY7B951/952 SONET a single bit is sent across the interface.
Synchronous Transceiver (SST) clock/data
separator parts. While this would at first appear as the perfect solution,
scrambling does have its drawbacks. The characteristics
 Media - The media determines many of the of a scrambler are such that the scrambler can be zeroed-
issues of signaling rate and distance. Greater out by specific data patterns. Zero bits transmitted
distances and/or speeds often require improved following this are transmitted without transitions.
media and/or optics to overcome losses and A scrambled interface is also somewhat limited in how link
dispersion inherent in the fiber. control information is moved across a link. Because the
link efficiency is perfect, all combinations of bits are used
 Media driver/receiver - Optical media is driven by to represent data. This requires all link control information
either LED or LASER drivers. These convert the to be sent as combinations of data characters.
serial data between the electrical and optical
Encoding
domains. Characteristics of optical power,
The other method of forcing transitions involves encoding.
spectral purity, and wavelength all effect the In an encoded interface, the source data is modified by
dispersion and delivered power. The sensitivity, mapping the source data into alternate bit combinations
bandwidth, and random noise of the optical called symbols. These symbols are constructed with extra
receiver determines the usable distance and bits that guarantee a minimum transition density.
error rate of the link. Many different forms of encoding are used with serial
Sending data across a link requires more than just stuffing interfaces, all having less than 100% efficiency. This
bits in one end and having them show up at the other. The means that more bits must be transmitted on the serial
bits arriving at the deserializer must be sampled with a interface than are present in the source data. Encoded
clock to return them to a digital domain. With slower serial interfaces generally have link efficiencies ranging from
interfaces, such as audio-spectrum telecommunications 50-to-95%.
modems, this clocking may often be done through an One of the most popular encodings is known as 8B/10B.
asynchronous oversampling of the received bit stream. At This encoding is used by popular high-speed serial
the faster data rates used here, this oversampling interfaces, such as Fibre Channel, ATM, ESCON™,
becomes quite impractical. Gigabit Ethernet, and DVB-ASI. The 8B/10B code maps
At faster transfer rates the sample clock must operate at an 8-bit data character into a 10-bit symbol known as a
the same rate as the bits in the data stream. While the transmission character. This code is optimized for
sample clock could be delivered on a separate link, this is transmission across optical media.
generally poor practice. The time skew between data and 8B/10B encoding is used for a number of reasons:
clock is difficult to manage, and the cost of a second link
makes this prohibitive. Since no sample clock is delivered  Transition Density - The receiver PLL requires
to the deserializer along with the data, a clock must be transitions in the received bits to maintain a lock
extracted from the data stream. This is accomplished on the data stream 8B/10B encoding forces a
through the use of a high performance PLL that detects
large number of transitions into the data stream
the transitions in the serial stream.
and prevents continuous strings of ones or zeros
Unfortunately, a Non-Return to Zero (NRZ) data stream from being sent.
may contain few if any transitions, especially when
sending data of mostly one or zero bits. To send data of  DC Balance - 8B/10B encoding limits the low
this type, the data itself must be modified to force frequency content in the data stream. This allows
additional transitions into the data stream. This the use of low-cost AC-coupled optical modules.
modification is known as coding.
 Error Detection - 8B/10B encoded characters
Data Coding follow specific rules that allow many signaling
Numerous methods exist to force additional transitions into errors to be immediately detected.
a data stream. These can generally be broken down into
two categories: scrambling and encoding.  Special Characters - Special characters are
characters that can be included in a data stream
that are not decoded as normal data characters.
These special characters may be used as

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 Replacing Wire with Inexpensive Plastic Fiber Solutions

general delimiters for controlling an interface Table 1. Valid Special Character Codes (SC/D = HIGH)
(such as video sync, start-of-frame, end-of-frame,
and so on) or other generalized commands to the
remote site.
When data is encoded, a characteristic known as Run-
Length-Limit (RLL) is established. This limit specifies the
maximum number of consecutive ones or zeros that can
occur in the transmitted serial bit-stream. For the 8B/10B
code the run length limit is five.

Serializer/Deserializer - HOTLink
HOTLink is the name for a pair of Cypress devices
designed to transmit and receive data across serial These special characters are injected into the data stream
interfaces. The HOTLink transmitter accepts data as 8-bit by presenting a HIGH level at the SC/D input of the
parallel characters, encodes this data using the 8B/10B HOTLink transmitter. When a special character is received
encoding rules, and performs the parallel-to-serial and present in the HOTLink receiver output register, the
conversion. This allows the data to be transmitted across receiver SC/D output is driven HIGH.
optical (or copper) media to a companion receiver, which
extracts clock and data from the serialdata stream, For video applications, these special characters can be
deserializes and decodes the data, and outputs this as used for horizontal and vertical sync indicators. For other
8-bit parallel characters. bus-to-bus applications they may be used as control
strobes or data border markers. The user may switch
HOTLink Operation modes of data using these markers, e.g., inserting
address pointers between data packets in a point-to-point
HOTLink operates as a pipeline-register extender. It
or networking application.
accepts data on the rising edge of a synchronous clock
operating at the character rate. For those designs that are Signaling and Data Rates
not synchronous, HOTLink also supports seamless Both HOTLink and POF components operate over wide
interfacing to either clocked or asynchronous FIFOs. This signaling- rate ranges. HOTLink components are available
is covered in detail in the Cypress application note that operate at serial signaling rates of 150-to-400 MBaud.
AN1130 - Interfacing the CY7B923 and CY7B933 Low cost POF media, drivers, and receivers are available
(HOTLink) to Clocked FIFOs. that operate at serial rates of 10-to-160 MBaud. The
When operated with FIFOs, data transfer rates much 155 MBaud rate, supported by both of these component
slower than the character rate are possible. When the families, is an industry standard serial rate for ATM and
source FIFO contains little or no data, the HOTLink SONET OC-3 telecommunications interfaces.
transmitter automatically generates a special “fill” Unlike a scrambled ATM or SONET interface, an 8B/10B
character (known as a K28.5) that may be simply encoded stream has an overhead of 25%; i.e., to deliver
discarded at the receiver. These characters are also used eight data bits across the serial interface, a total of ten bits
to frame the receiver to the serial bit stream and to must actually be transmitted and received across the
maintain synchronization of the link. serial interface. With a signaling rate of 155 MBaud, the
Special Characters data rate (the amount of user data moved across the
interface) is only 124 Mbits/second. Since HOTLink uses
The 8B/10B code used with HOTLink has twelve special
8-bit data characters, the sustained byte rate is
characters. These special characters may be transmitted
15.5 MBytes/second.
at any time and allow in-band signaling. Except for the
previously described fill character (K28.5), the meaning or Users needing higher data rates can either use
function of these special characters is user definable. unencoded 10-bit data (and get 100% of the link
Table 1 lists the 8B/10B names of these special bandwidth), or higher speed versions of HOTLink that
characters, as well as the name and format of these support serial signaling rates up to 400 MBaud. Note that
characters when input and decoded by HOTLink. any scheme using unencoded data is responsible for
Additional information on the 8B/10B code may be found maintaining sufficient transition density for the HOTLink
in the CY7B923/933 HOTLink datasheet. receiver PLL to maintain a lock to the serial data stream.
Detailed operation and usage of HOTLink is available in
the CY7B923/933 datasheet.

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Initializing the Link The CY9266 contains direct support for BIST, including a
2-digit BIST error-counter display. A single evaluation
Unlike a parallel interface, high-speed serial interfaces
board can be configured to loop the serial stream back to
require a number of initialization steps before they can
itself either locally or through the selected media. Two
reliably transfer data. These steps allow the remote
evaluation boards may be interconnected to form a full
receiver to synchronize itself with the serial transmitter,
duplex link.
and to locate the character boundaries in the serial
bit-stream. Note 1. This is obsolete
To achieve synchronization, the local HOTLink serializer
must be transmitting a continuous stream of characters. Fiber-Optic Media
The transitions in the transmitted bits allow the remote
HOTLink receiver PLL to achieve both phase and Media selection is greatly affected by the required data
frequency lock to the data stream. This may require a few rate and distance. As the data rate is increased, the bit
thousand bits, but is only necessary if the serial stream period is reduced, and as the optical media is lengthened
between the transmitter and receiver is disrupted. less optical power is delivered to the receiver. Both of
these cause the stable time within each delivered bit (the
Framing “eye” opening) to decrease. When operated with
The next step is for the HOTLink receiver to locate the multimode optical media, both chromatic and modal
beginning and ending points of the characters embedded dispersion also cause the received signal eye to shrink.
within the data stream. This process is known as framing, Similar effects are present with copper cables, caused by
and operates by detecting a specific sequence of bits the frequency selective attenuation of the media.
within the serial data stream. This specific bit sequence is
contained within the K28.5 special character. Four types of fiber are in common use with optical links:

Upon power-up, or if framing is ever lost, the HOTLink  Plastic Optical Fiber (POF)
transmitter should be configured to send K28.5 characters
until proper framing is accomplished. If phase and
 Hard Clad Silica (HCS®)
frequency lock have already been achieved by the  Multimode graded index
HOTLink receiver, framing should occur upon reception of
one or two K28.5 characters (depending on the present  Single-mode
framing mode of the HOTLink receiver). Once proper
framing is established, the transmitter can resume sending  Single-mode
data. POF is a step-index multimode plastic optical media that
transfers light by optical reflection. This limits its use to
BIST relatively short operational lengths, and only moderate
HOTLink contains a Built-In Self Test (BIST) capability that data rates. It is the lowest cost media to use for optical
can be used to verify the stability of a link, or simply as a interconnect, and the simplest to connectorize.
method of easily testing a link. BIST may be initiated at
Hard Clad Silica (HCS) is a step-index multimode glass
anytime by asserting the BISTEN input to both the
fiber that uses a plastic cladding. The step index of this
HOTLink transmitter and receiver. Once enabled, the
fiber also limits its use to only moderate lengths and data
HOTLink transmitter continuously sends a pseudo-random
rates. The glass core has much less attenuation and
sequence of characters to the receiver, which checks the
allows it to be used with longer wavelength (1300 nm)
received characters to verify their accuracy. BIST provides
optical sources. Its lower loss also allows it to be used with
a simple method of link testing with minimal management
optical drivers that deliver less power.
control logic.
Multimode graded-index glass fiber propagates light by
refraction (instead of reflection like step-index fibers). It is
Evaluation Boards designed to correct for some modal dispersion that would
CY9266 Evaluation boards for HOTLink (see Note 1) are otherwise occur with a step-index fiber. This allows much
available for both optical-fiber and copper cable interfaces. longer distances than multimode step-index fiber. It does
These boards may be interfaced to host systems through not have the capability to correct for the chromatic
either a simple edge connector or an IBM OLC-266 dispersion that occurs with LED drivers. This media is also
compatible connector. The CY9266-F (and -FX) card used with many shortwave LASER drivers.
supports standard 1X9 optical modules from Hewlett Single-mode glass is the highest performance optical fiber.
Packard and other manufacturers. The operating It is used for the highest data rates and longest distances.
character rate for these cards is set by either an external Such as the multimode graded-index fiber, it also operates
character-rate clock, or through a socketed oscillator. by refraction. Because of its narrow 9-mm core diameter,
Custom frequencies may be provided by the Cypress this fiber is only usable with 1300-nm optical sources. This
ICD6233 Quixtal programmable oscillator (see Note 1). core diameter also requires very high-tolerance
connectors to insure proper alignment.

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A fifth type of optical fiber has recently been developed, When operated with encoded data, the receiver’s PIN
but is not yet in common use. This fiber is known as pre-amplifier should be AC-coupled to a limiting amplifier
Graded-Index Plastic Optical Fiber or GIPOF. This fiber and comparator as shown in Figure 1. AC-coupled
corrects for modal dispersion and offers the promise of fiber-optic receivers tend to be lower in cost, much simpler
longer link lengths with a plastic media, while preserving to design, provide better sensitivity, and contain fewer
the simple assembly characteristics of step-index POF. components than their direct-coupled counterparts.
Another problem associated with direct-coupled receivers
is the accumulation of DC-offset. With direct coupling, the
Optical Receivers receiver's limiter stages amplify the effects of undesirable
An optical receiver converts optical pulses into electrical offsets and voltage drifts due to temperature changes or
pulses. In these receivers, light is detected by a PIN aging. These amplified offsets are eventually applied to
photodiode. The changes in light cause small changes in the comparator and result in reduced sensitivity of the
current through the photodiode. These current changes fiber-optic receiver and can appear as duty cycle distortion
are then converted to voltage changes in a (DCD). Problems with DC-offset can be avoided by
transimpedance preamplifier, followed by multiple limiter constructing the receiver as shown in Figure 1.
gain stages to convert the weak signal to full digital levels.
Advantages of Encoded Run-Limited Data
The limiter stages of optical receivers are either As the data rate of a fiber-optic link increases, the reasons
AC-coupled or direct coupled. The selection of the for encoding the data become very compelling. The
coupling type is based primarily on the type of data that encoded characters which replace the original data
the receiver must deal with. With scrambled interfaces that characters are selected so that the encoded data is
may contain long runs of ones or zeros, the optical compatible with simple, highly sensitive, AC-coupled
receiver must be direct coupled. This requires the fiber-optic receivers. Encoding enables the construction of
fiber-optic receiver to detect DC levels or edges to optimal fiber-optic receivers which are limited by the
determine the proper logic state during these long periods random noise inherent in the receiver’s first amplifier
of inactivity. stage. Optimal noise-limited AC-coupled receivers can
Unfortunately, direct-coupled optical receivers suffer from provide very low error-rates in applications with long
numerous drawbacks. Direct coupling decreases the optical fibers.
sensitivity of a digital fiber-optic receiver, since it allows
low-frequency flicker noise from amplifiers to be presented
to the receiver's comparator input. Any undesired signals
coupled to the comparator reduce the signal-to-noise ratio
(SNR) at this critical point in the circuit, and reduce the
sensitivity of the fiber-optic receiver.
Figure 1. Simplified +5 Volt ECL (PECL) Compatible Fiber-Optic Receiver Block Diagram for High Data Rate Applications with
Encoded Data

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Optical Link Design Without changing the form-factor or printed circuit design,
the fiber-optic transceiver documented in this application
The CY7B923/933 HOTLink transmitter and receiver are note may be populated with alternate component sets that
designed to interface to optical components at PECL can communicate over:
(Positive ECL) signal levels. These signal levels are used
by all manufacturers of high-speed optical modules.
 Large-core step-index POF
Guidelines for interconnecting HOTLink to optical modules  Step-index HCS fiber
are located in the “CY9266 HOTLink Evaluation Board
User’s Guide”.  Multimode graded-index glass fiber

Only One Transceiver Design Needed  Single-mode glass fiber

The schematics and artwork in this application note This makes this single design suitable for an extremely
document a fiber-optic transceiver design that can accept wide range of data communication applications.
various Hewlett Packard LED transmitters and PIN-diode
pre-amplifiers. This transceiver both provides and accepts
differential PECL signal levels and is directly compatible
with HOTLink. This transceiver design may be embedded
into a wide range of products to provide very low-cost data
communication solutions. To simplify the integration of this
transceiver into HOTLink-based communications links, the
complete fabrication artwork for the fiber-optic transceiver
is available as a self extracting archive (Gerber photoplot
and drill files) from http://www.hp.com/.

Distances Limits at 160 MBaud Signaling Rate

The simple transceiver design recommended in this
application note can be used to address a very wide range
of distances and system cost targets. While the focus of
this application note is on the 50-meter POF transceiver
highlighted in Table 2, alternate combinations of optical
fiber and fiber-optic transceiver components in this same
table can be used to address specific link requirements.
Transceivers based on these components require no
adjustments when operated within the distance ranges
listed in Table 2.

Table 2. Low Cost Optical Components Compliant With Figure 4

Safety
The HFBR-15X7 LED-based optical transmitter meets
IEC-825-1 Class 1 safety standards for optical sources.
That means that it poses little or no hazard to human
vision and that no external or special measures are
required for eye protection.

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Simple PECL Compatible LED Transmitter Simple High Sensitivity PECL Compatible
A high-performance low-cost PECL-compatible fiber-optic Receiver
transmitter design is shown in Figure 2. This design looks A very simple PECL-compatible receiver, with excellent
deceptively simple but has been highly developed to sensitivity and suited for a wide range of applications, is
deliver the best performance achievable with a wide range shown in Figure 3. A single low cost 10H116 ECL line
of Hewlett Packard LED transmitters. The recommended receiver is used to amplify and digitize the output of the
driver for the LED is also very inexpensive, since the Hewlett Packard PIN-diode pre-amplifier component,
74ACTQ00 gate used to current modulate the various which functions as the receiver’s first stage. The third
optical transmitters. When used with the recommended section of the 10H116 integrated circuit is configured to
component values listed in Table 3, the transmitters and provide hysteresis such that when no light is applied to the
receivers listed in Figure 2 can be used to address a wide optical detector, the digital output of the receiver does not
range of applications. chatter.

Figure 2. +5 V ECL (PECL) Compatible 160 MBd Fiber-Optic Transmitter

Figure 3. +5 V ECL (PECL) Compatible 160 MBd Fiber-Optic Receiver

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Designers interested in inexpensive optical links are

Table 3. Optical Driver Component Values encouraged to embed the complete fiber-optic transceiver
described in Figure 4 into their products. This design
matches the electrical functions of industry standard 1X9
transceiver modules, except for the lack of a signal detect
output. Since the HOTLink receiver RVS output provides a
direct indication of link transmission errors, and can
therefore be used to qualify a link, this status indicator is
not generally necessary.
For those designs that do require a signal detect output,
the 10H116 can be replaced by a ML6622 at only slightly
higher link cost. The schematic and artwork for this
modified receiver can be found in the Hewlett Packard
application note 1123.
The design in Figure 4, when implemented on the board
layout documented in Appendix B. Printed Circuit Artwork,
A Complete Fiber-Optic Transceiver can be directly inserted into boards designed for industry
Solution standard fiber-optic transceiver modules with a 1X9
footprint (including the HOTLink CY9266-F evaluation
Figure 4 shows the schematic for a complete fiber-optic board) and used as a lower-cost alternative in industrial,
transceiver. This transceiver may be constructed on a medical, telecom, and proprietary data communication
1" x 1.97" printed circuit board, using surface mount applications.
components. When this transceiver is operated at
160 MBaud through 50 m of 1 mm diameter plastic optical Error Rates and Noise Immunity
fiber (numerical aperture of 0.35), it provides a typical eye
opening of 3.6 ns with very lowerror rates. The probability that a fiber-optic link will make an error is
related to the optical receiver’s own internal random noise,
its ability to reject noise originating from the system in
which it is installed, and the jitter tolerance of the clock
and data recovery (CDR) circuit. The total noise present in
any fiber-optic receiver is normally the sum of the PIN
diode, preamplifier, and the host system’s electrical noise.

Figure 4. Lowest Cost 160 MBaud Fiber-Optic Transceiver

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At any fixed temperature, the total of the receiver’s

Figure 5. Receiver Signal-to-Noise Ratio vs. Probability of random noise (flicker, thermal, shot) and the host system’s
Error (BER) noise can be assumed to be a constant. While the most
obvious way to reduce the probability of an error is to
increase the amplitude of the optical signal applied to the
receiver, a less obvious technique is to improve the
receiver’s ability to reject electrical noise from the system.
The fiber-optic receivers documented in this application
note have sufficient noise immunity to be used in most
systems without electrostatic shielding. The Hewlett
Packard PIN-diode preamplifiers (used in the receiver’s
first stage) are physically small hybrid circuits, and do not
function as particularly effective antennas. For extremely
noisy applications, Hewlett Packard offers PIN diode
preamplifiers in electrically conductive plastic or all metal
packages. The overwhelming majority of the fiber-optic
applications do not require conductive plastic or metal
receiver housings.

As the optical signal applied to the receiver increases, the

probability that the receiver’s total noise will alter the data
decreases. Small increases in the receiver’s SNR result in
a very sharp reduction in the probability of error. Figure 5
shows that the receiver’s probability of error is reduced by
six orders of magnitude from 1x10–9 to 1x10–15 when the
receiver’s signal-to-noise ratio improves from 12:1 to
15.8:1.

Signal Terminations and Power Supply Filtering Requirements

The most overlooked source of noise is usually the host system’s power supply. This supply normally powers the fiber-optic
receiver, the fiber-optic transmitter, the serializer, CDR, deserializer, and a system comprised of relatively noisy digital circuits.
The simple and inexpensive power supply filter in Figure 6 has been proven to work in a wide range of system applications. A
filter of this type is normally sufficient to protect the fiber-optic receiver from very noisy host systems.

Figure 6. Recommended Power Supply Filter and +5 V ECL (PECL) Signal Terminations for the Cypress HOTLink

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When used with HOTLink, the power supply filter and Conclusion
terminations shown in Figure 6 are recommended. In this
environment, the transceiver in Figure 4 has been proven The fiber-optic transceiver design documented in this
to provide excellent performance. The capacitor values application note can be used to implement data
are chosen based on series resonance considerations as communication links that operate at high data rates and
discussed in the Cypress application note AN1032 - Using provide better noise immunity than is possible with copper
Decoupling Capacitors. cables. When fiber-optic media and transceivers are used
in place of conventional copper cable alternatives, it is
Printed Circuit Artwork possible to build industrial, medical, telecom, or
The performance of any fiber-optic transceiver is partially proprietary communication links with much higher
dependent on the layout of the printed circuit board on tolerance for noise transients (caused by utility power
which the transceiver is constructed. To achieve the link switch gear, motor drives, lightning strikes, and so on),
performance listed in Table 2 for the transceiver shown in while emitting no EMI, RFI, or other electrical disturbance
Figure 4, designers are encouraged to embed the printed of their own.
circuit artwork provided in Appendix B. Printed Circuit These same low-cost optical transceivers can be coupled
Artwork of this application note. with HOTLink as a general replacement for both serial and
parallel copper interfaces. When used with plastic optical
Parts List fiber, the cost for the entire solution is competitive with
The PECL-compatible fiber-optic transceiver documented copper implementations. By embedding the solution
in this application note is simple, inexpensive, and uses shown in this application note, designers can quickly
only a few external components. For those interested in develop high-speed noise-immune optical communication
implementing this transceiver design, a complete parts list links with minimal development costs.
is provided in Appendix A. Parts List. All of the
components listed in the parts list were selected to assure
that they are compatible with the artwork shown in
References
Appendix B. Printed Circuit Artwork. 1. Cypress Semiconductor Application Note,
AN1130, "Interfacing the CY7B923 and CY7B933
Plastic Optical Cables (HOTLink) to Clocked FIFOs"

Plastic optical fiber cables are both low in cost and simple 2. Cypress Semiconductor Application Note,
to assemble. An individual connector can be assembled in AN1032, "Using Decoupling Capacitors"
around 45 seconds. The optical fiber is protected by a 3. CY9266 HOTLink™ Evaluation Board User's
jacket that makes it durable and resistant to damage. The Guide
normal mechanical stresses encountered during
installation, or the limited mechanical movement of usage, 4. Hewlett Packard application bulletin 78, "Low
have little effect on its performance. Cost Fiber-Optic Links for Digital Applications up
to 155 MBd"
The assembly of plastic fiber-optic cables requires no
complex crimping tools or polishing techniques. The 5. Hewlett Packard Technical Data, "Plastic Optical
assembly of the duplex Hewlett Packard HFBR-4531 Fiber and HCS Fiber Cable and Connectors for
connector for POF is described in Appendix C. Assembly Versatile Link"
of POF Connectors and Cables. These same connectors 6. Hewlett Packard Technical Data, "Crimpless
may be used for simplex fiber links, with minor changes to Connectors for Plastic Optical Fiber and Versatile
the assembly process. Additional information on these Link"
connectors is available through Hewlett Packard.
7. Hewlett Packard Application Note 1123,
"Inexpensive 20 to 160 MBd Fiber-Optic
Solutions for Industrial, Medical, Telecom, and
Proprietary Data Communication Applications"
8. Hewlett Packard Application Note 1066, "Fiber-
Optic Solutions for 125 MBd Data
Communication Applications at Copper Wire
Prices"

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 Replacing Wire with Inexpensive Plastic Fiber Solutions

Appendix A. Parts List

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 Replacing Wire with Inexpensive Plastic Fiber Solutions

Appendix B. Printed Circuit Artwork

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 Replacing Wire with Inexpensive Plastic Fiber Solutions

Appendix C. Assembly of POF Connectors and Cables

As s e m b l y o f P O F C o n n e c t o r s a n d C a b l e s Figure 9. Fiber With Jacket Removed
POF media and connectors are both low in cost and very
simple to assemble. The Hewlett Packard HFBR-4531
connector documented here may be used for either
simplex or duplex cable assemblies. The following
instructions are primarily for a duplex (two-fiber) assembly.
Figure 7. HP Duplex Crimpless POF Connector

Step 2: Putting on the Connector

The HFBR-4531 connector is a hermaphroditic assembly
that allows two simplex connectors to be used to make a
duplex connector. Insert each fiber into the ferrule of a
connector-half until the fiber jacket stops it. This is shown
in Figure 10. The fiber should protrude at least 1.5 mm
(0.06 inches) beyond the end of the ferrule.

Only limited supplies or tools are needed to assemble a Next the two connector halves are assembled to each
POF cable: other. This locks the fibers in place prior to finishing the
ends of each fiber. Place one connector-half on top of the
 Plastic optical cable other so that the non-ferrule half of each connector is over
 Wire cutters or scissors the ferrule half of the opposite connector-half.
 16 gauge (AWG) wire strippers Manually press the connector-halves together over the
 Hewlett Packard Crimpless POF connectors center of each fiber. Secure the fiber by latching the
(Figure 7)Hewlett Packard polishing tool (Figure connector halves together.
8) Figure 10. Fibers Inserted Into Connector Ferrules
 600-grit abrasive paper
Figure 8. Fiber Polishing Fixture

Figure 11. Assembled Duplex Connector

Step 1: Stripping the Fiber
After separating the two jacketed fibers by 100–150 mm
(4–6 inches), use the wire strippers to remove
approximately 7 mm (0.3 inches) of the fiber jacket. For a
duplex assembly, both fibers should be stripped
approximately the same amount. The stripped fiber is
shown in Figure 9.

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 Replacing Wire with Inexpensive Plastic Fiber Solutions

Step 3: Trimming and Polishing Step 4: Finishing

Any fiber protruding more than 1.5 mm (0.06 inches) from Additional polishing on Hewlett Packard 3 mm pink
the connector end should be trimmed off with a pair of lapping- film can achieve a 2 dB improvement over just
scissors or cutters (Figure 11) then insert the connector 600-grit abrasive paper (Figure 13).
into the polishing fixture with the trimmed fiber protruding
from the bottom of the fixture as shown in Figure 12. Press Figure 14. Finished Connector Assembly
the polishing tool down on the 600-grit abrasive paper and
polish the fiber using a figure eight motion as shown in
Figure 13.
Figure 12. Assembled Connector and Polishing Fixture

Figure 13. Fiber Polishing

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 Replacing Wire with Inexpensive Plastic Fiber Solutions

Document History
Document Title: Replacing Wire with Inexpensive Plastic Fiber Solutions - AN1077
Document Number: 001-42045

Revision ECN Orig. of Submission Description of Change

Change Date

** 1600125 SAAC 10/11/2007 New Spec.

*A 3388959 SAAC 09/29/2011 Technical edits and template update.
*B 4545990 YLIU 10/20/2014 Sunset Review
Updated Template
*C 5836778 AESATP12 08/04/2017 Updated logo and copyright.

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 Replacing Wire with Inexpensive Plastic Fiber Solutions

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