ELEC3405 Lab Notes Optical Communication Systems

Electrical and Information Engineering
University of Sydney

ELEC3405/5738
COMMUNICATIONS ELECTRONICS AND
PHOTONICS

LABORATORY NOTES

SEMESTER-2 2011
Rui Hong Chu

CONTENTS

GENERAL INFORMATION .................................................................................................... 1
INTRODUCTION LAB ............................................................................................................. 4
EXPERIMENT 1 TUNED AMPLIFIER .............................................................................. 7
1.1 Aims ............................................................................................................................. 7
1.2 Introduction ................................................................................................................. 7
1.3 Circuit Description ...................................................................................................... 7
1.4 Pre-lab Work ................................................................................................................ 9
1.4.1 Theoretical Calculation ................................................................................. 9
1.5 Experimental Work ...................................................................................................... 9
1.5.1 DC condition ................................................................................................. 9
1.5.2 Tuned gain .................................................................................................... 9
1.5.3 Input impedance............................................................................................ 9
EXPERIMENT 2 LC OSCILLATOR ................................................................................. 10
2.1 Aims ........................................................................................................................... 10
2.2 Introduction ............................................................................................................... 10
2.3 Circuit Description .................................................................................................... 10
2.4 Pre-lab Work .............................................................................................................. 10
2.5 Experimental Work .................................................................................................... 11
2.5.1 DC conditions and classification ................................................................ 11
2.5.2 Output impedance ....................................................................................... 11
2.5.3 Power efficiency of LC oscillator ............................................................... 11
EXPERIMENT 3 MIXER and IF Amplifier ...................................................................... 13
3.1 Introduction ............................................................................................................... 13
3.2 Circuit Descriptions ................................................................................................... 13
3.3 Pre-lab Work .............................................................................................................. 14
3.4 Experimental Work .................................................................................................... 14
3.4.1 Measure the transfer characteristic of the JFET ......................................... 14
3.4.2 Test IF amplifier ......................................................................................... 15
3.4.3 Check the operation of the entire setup ...................................................... 15
EXPERIMENT 4 ELECTRONIC COMMUNICATION SYSTEM ................................ 16
4.1 Introduction ................................................................................................................. 16
4.2 Assessment .................................................................................................................. 16
4.3 Experimental work .................................................................................................... 16
EXPERIMENT 5 OPTICAL LINK ..................................................................................... 19
EXPERIMENT 6 OPTICAL WDM SYSTEM ................................................................... 25
ELEC3405 Communication Electronics and Photonics - 2011 1

GENERAL INFORMATION
Lab Scope
The lab work of ELEC3405 is designed for both electronic and optical communication
systems. To give you a big picture of how the labs are applied in the systems, the block
diagram of a superheterodyne AM radio receiver and optical communication subsystem,
along with experiments are summarized in the following:

(a) Electronic communication system

Antenna
RF tuned
amplifier
Tuned IF
amplifier
Demodulator
Audio
amplifier
Mixer
Local
oscillator
speaker
Experiment 1
Experiment 2
Experiment 3

Experiment 4, Electronic communication system, integrates Experiments 1,2, and 3 to
build an AM radio receiver, in which students can receive and listen to radio stations.

(b) Optical communication system

Experiment 5: Optical link

Experiment 6: Optical multi-channel Wavelength Division Multiplex (WDM) system

Tx
Tx
Tx
Rx
Rx
Rx
1
Optical fiber
Multiplexer Demultiplexer

Signal
Input
Optical
Source: LED
Fibre communication
channel
Photodetector Demodulator
Output

In the electronic part of the laboratory work, you are to investigate key elements in a radio
receiver. In the optical part of the laboratory work, you are to investigate a simple optical
link as well as WDM communication system. By completing these labs you are expected
to understand the basic electronic and optic communication system.

Prework
The pre-lab work must be completed in the logbook before entering the laboratory (and
may be checked by teaching staff for marking purposes at the start of any lab).
The prework usually consists of some mathematical analysis that is closely related to the
experimental work and is intended to prepare you for the lab. The labs are designed so that
a student who has done the prework should be able to complete the lab in the allocated
time. Please contact the teaching staff or refer to the related books/chapters (mentioned in
the prework in each experiment) if you have difficulties to complete the prelab work.
Assessment
The lab workcomprises 20% of the UoS. Experiment 1, 2, 3, 5 and 6 are worth 3 marks
each and Experiment 4 is woth 5 marks.
The six experiments will be assessed by the log books. Your log book should include pre-
lab, measurements, graphs, diagrams, analysis and comments.

Laboratory Schedule (including lectures and tutorials)
Week: starting Lecture Lab/Tut

1: 25
th
July Electronic & optical commun; Tuned amp. Introduction Lab
Tuned amplifiers

2: 1
nd
Aug Oscillators Tut 1: Tuned Amplifier
Oscillators

3: 8
th
Aug Mixers Lab 1: Tuned Amplifier
Mixers

4: 15
th
Aug Modulation/demodulation Lab 2: LC Oscillator
Modulation/demodulation

5: 22
nd
Aug Feedback amplifiers Tut 2: Oscillator & Feedback amp
Feedback amplifiers

6: 29
th
Aug Feedback amplifiers Lab 3: Mixer and IF Amplifier
Feedback amplifiers

7: 5
th
Sept High frequency amplifiers Lab 4: Electronic commun. syst.
Optical sources: LED

8: 12
th
Sept Photonics Tut 3: Optical Sources
Optical sources: Laser

9: 19
th
Sept Optical sources: Laser Tut 4: Laser
Laser/Optoelectronic transmitter

Mid semester break

10: 3
th
Oct Optical Photodetectors Lab 5: Optical Link
Optical Receivers

11: 10
th
Oct Basic optoelectronic links Lab 6: Optical WDM system

12: 17
th
Oct Electro-optic modulators Tut 5:Opt Rx, modulator, amp, link
EOM/Optical amplifiers

13: 24
th
Oct Optical amplifier

Lab Session Time: Friday 9am-12pm in Room 440 J03 Bldg.

Notices by email/www
Your university email account will be used to deliver important course information and
notices to you so it is important that you check it regularly.
Teaching materials will be available on the website of the UoS. Updated information will
be posted on the web or sent to the class list by emails.

INTRODUCTION LAB

It is important for students taking this UoS to have electronic background knowledge, lab
testing skills, and operation of the equipment in the lab 440, which are normally acquired
from completing the UoS of ELEC3404. If you are an exception, it is essential to take a
time to go through this section, which describes the equipment and required laboratory
testing skills used for this subject. In the Introduction Lab, a simple electronic circuit (RC
low-pass filter) was designed to help you get familiar with them.

Test a RC Filter
Construct the circuit of RC low-pass filter shown in Fig.1 on a breadboard. Use the testing
skills described in the next section of Testing Skills to complete the tasks below.

Figure 1 RC low-pass filter

Apply a function generator to the input of the low-pass filter and measure the 3dB
cut-off frequency. Compare with the calculated frequency (f=1/(2tRC).
Use x-y mode of CRO to look the phase relationship between input and output
within the bandwidth, and find out the middle frequency for the filter.
Measure the input or output impedance of the filter at mid-frequency and compare
with calculated value.

Testing Skills
Bandwidth measurement
Without altering the input signal, display the output as y(t) and expand the signal to more
than 7 divisions. Use VAR to reduce to 7 divisions. Raise or lower the frequency until the
display becomes 5 divisions. Measure the frequency using either the multimeter or the
vertical cursor lines on the oscilloscope. Do not rely on the value on the function generator
dial. This method uses the approximation 5/7 = 1/\2. Remember that DC coupling may be
necessary for some low frequencies.

Gain measurement
Students have been taught to limit the AC voltage drop across any diode (including a base-
emitter diode) to 30 mV p-p to get linear operation. The procedure to measure amplifier
gain is:
o Display the output and input in Y/X mode (X/Y mode if you like).
o Both saturation and phase shift may be evident, as shown in Figure 2 (a) and (b).
o Reduce the input signal until the distortion disappears.

o Change the function generator frequency until the ellipse degenerates to a straight
line, as shown in Figure 2 (c) If it is a wideband amplifier, move the frequency
slightly to a near digit value.

Figure 2 X-Y mode display on the CRO for input and output

Input resistance
Make the input resistance part of a voltage divider. Choose a known, series resistance at
least ten times bigger than the expected input resistance. There is usually plenty of signal
available so that choosing a large value resistor gives a good measure of the current
flowing. If the measurement is not through a capacitor then make sure account is taken of
any DC current through the reference resistor. Figure 3 (a) shows the schematic diagram of
the simple circuit, where R is a series resistor.

(a) input resistance measurement (b) output resistance measurement

Figure 3 The schematic diagram for measuring an input/output resistance

Output resistance
The voltage source can be external or it can be the output of the amplifier being tested.
Figure 3 (b) shows the circuit of using output of the amplifier as a voltage source to
measure an output resistance. Vs is the open circuit voltage of the amplifier, and R is a
known resistance which is in the vicinity of the value of the output resistance.

Distortion
This is measured by using the oscilloscope to subtract the fundamental component of the
output from the distorted output. Please seek helps from tutors if you inquire more details
on it.

Equipment
DC power supply
The dual supplies are floating. Generally the inner terminals need to be grounded by a wire
or the special shorting link.

(a) saturation (b) phase shift (c) phase shift 180
V
s

R
V
in

~
R
in
V
s
R
V
R

~
R
out


Multimeter
This is appropriate for DC and sub-100Hz voltage measurements and for measuring
frequency from the pulse output of the function generator. Encourage students to use the
oscilloscope instead for measuring AC voltages and currents (by measuring voltage drop
across a small resistor).

Function generator
Commonly the SYMMETRY switch is on, giving distorted sinewaves. Switching it off or
turning the knob to centre will fix this.

Oscilloscope
If you don't know how to use the oscilloscope then please ask for a demonstration of
features, including how to use the cursors. I discourage students from using the auto set
button because I want them to work out why they don't see what they expected.

Common problems are:
o Getting a weak, flat trace because the timebase is too fast.
o Not triggering from the larger, noise-free signal via the appropriate trigger filter.
o Not selecting the appropriate DC/AC coupling for signals.

For more details of operating the equipment in lab440, please check the videos on the web
site of http://www.ee.usyd.edu.au/people/ruihong.chu/ELEC3405.html.

EXPERIMENT 1 TUNED AMPLIFIER
1.1 Aims
- Equivalence of series and parallel forms of high-Q tuned circuits.
- Choose proper values for L and C for a specified frequency.
- Effect of CRO loading on resonant frequency and quality factor, Q.

1.2 Introduction
The amplifiers we have dealt with so far can generally be classified as wide-band
amplifiers, which amplify signals of a wide range of frequencies. In some applications we
may wish to amplify only part of the frequency range of the signal and exclude the other
parts. For example in radio receiver, a tuned amplifier is used to select a signal with a
specified frequency (representing a particular radio station, e.g.630kHz for ABC news,
873kHz for 2GB). This experiment investigates a narrow-band amplifier which makes use
of a tuned circuit as the frequency-selective device.

1.3 Circuit Description
Figure 1-1 shows the tuned amplifier circuit. A number of things related to the circuit and
measurement are described as follows.
- The amplifier comprises a self-biased JFET common-source amplifier having a
parallel tuned drain impedance.
- To facilitate measuring |Z
in
| there are positions to place several resistors in series in
the input circuit.
- The CRO capacitance forms part of the tuned circuit capacitance and therefore the
CRO must always be connected.
- Typically L=75 H and Q
coil
=40 @ 1 MHz. For the JFET typically I
DSS
=6 mA,
V
P
=-1.8 V and r
ds
=25 kO @ V
ds
=6 V, I
D
=4 mA.


Figure 1-1 Tuned amplifier circuit diagram


1.4 Pre-lab Work
1.4.1 Theoretical Calculation
With the information in the section of Circuit Description and the reference to the chapter
12 (p1141-1145) in [1], complete the tasks below before you go to the lab.

1) Calculate parallel internal resistance of the inductor R
p
.
2) To make the JFET (BF256A, typically V
P
= -1.8 V and I
DSS
= 6 mA) work in the
pinchoff region with I
D
=4mA (implies V
GS
= -0.33 V and g
m
= 5.4 mA/V),
calculate the value of source resistor Rx shown in Figure 2-2.
3) If you want the tuned amplifier to choose the station of 2GB, what is the value for
Cx in the circuit to make the resonant frequency at 873 kHz?

1.5 Experimental Work
1.5.1 DC condition
Power the circuit and select a parallel source resistor Rx to increase I
D
to 4 mA; Measure V
s

to check the current I
D
. If your I
DSS
is low then make I
D
= 3 mA. Note and record the
voltages at the source, gate and drain.
1.5.2 Tuned gain
1) With a small signal obtained from the function generator applied to the input and
the CRO connected to the output, add to the drain capacitance to cause resonance
within 10% of 873 kHz.
2) Measure the gain at resonance. Note the tuned amplifier should be in the linear
region. The real test of linearity is for output to remain proportional to input.
3) Plot the frequency response from 0.2 MHz to 1.5 MHz and related the 3 dB cut-off
frequency, and calculate the bandwidth and Q.
1.5.3 Input impedance
Measure and plot the magnitude of the input impedance as a function of frequency between
0.3 MHz and 1.5 MHz.

It is suggested that you drive the circuit from a constant current source by placing resistors
in series at the input of tuned amplifier. Note that a resistor typically has shunt capacitor of
a 0.2 pF at the frequency of about 1MHz. Remember that if you remove a CRO probe from
the output you must replace it with a capacitor of equal loading effect. Estimate the AC gate
voltage for the impedance calculation from the measured drain voltage using the gain
characteristic determined in the Section 1.5.2.

Plot Z
in
versus frequency and explain qualitatively why the magnitude of Z
in
deviates from
the expected 1/f form.

Reference
[1] Adel S. Sedra, and Kenneth C. Smith, Microelectronic Circuits, Oxford University
Press, 5
th
Ed. 2004.

EXPERIMENT 2 LC OSCILLATOR

2.1 Aims
- Understand oscillation criterion and Colpitts LC oscillator.
- Choose proper values for L or C to set up a specified resonant frequency.

2.2 Introduction
Oscillators are AC waveshape generators, usually powered from DC voltage sources. They are
to be found in many electronic instruments and systems, and probably rate close to DC power
supplies in importance in electronic systems. The type of oscillator circuit chosen for a
particular application depends on the frequency and waveform shape required, and on the
desired stability of the output frequency and amplitude.

This experiment investigates the design and performance of an LC oscillator which makes use
of a tuned LC circuit to define the frequency of oscillation. This method is probably still the
favourite choice for generating sinewaves at high frequencies with good frequency stability.
Although superior stability can be achieved by using a quartz crystal in the tuned circuit, the
simple LC oscillator has adequate stability for applications such as local oscillators in radio
frequency receivers.

2.3 Circuit Description
The LC oscillator circuit shown in Figure 2-1 is known as a Colpitts oscillator. The tuned
circuit comprises a single inductor with two capacitors C1 and C2 in series. The tapped
capacitors formed by C1 and C2 provides a ground reference and scaled version of the output
signal which is in the correct phase for feeding back to the input of the amplifier.

In the pre-wired LC oscillator circuit board, the following typical values are to be used in your
theoretical calculations: Inductor L=75 H, Q=40@1MHz. For the BJT at I
C
=0.6 mA and
V
CE
=5 V, |=300 and r
0
=30 kO.

2.4 Pre-lab Work
With the circuit description above and the reference to the chapter 13 (page 1179-1182) in [1],
complete the following tasks before you go the lab.

1) Calculate the DC bias voltages at the collector, emitter, and base of the BC547.
2) Calculate suitable values of C
x
to give open-loop gain A|=1.2 at 1.15 MHz i.e. a 20%
gain margin to ensure oscillation. Remember to take into account the effect of the
capacitive loading of the CRO probe and CRO in your calculations (adds approx. 100
pF to the value of C
2
in the circuit.).


2.5.1 DC conditions and classification
1) Oscillating frequency set up: Add an extra capacitor C
x
with the value as calculated to
your circuit board and switch on the circuit. Check that the circuit oscillations. Measure
the frequency of oscillation and see whether it is in the range of within 10% of 1.15
MHz. Then fine tune to precisely 1.15 MHz by adjusting the tuning slug of the inductor.
2) DC conditions of BC547: Measure and sketch on the same time axis the voltage
waveforms on the collector, emitter and base of the transistor. Also measure the DC bias
voltages and compare them with the calculations in the pre-lab work.
3) Using 10 O emitter resistor observe the emitter current waveform. Sketch it, note the
conduction angle and hence identify class of operation (class A or class AB, Refer [1]).

2.5.2 Output impedance
At oscillating frequency of 1.15 MHz, use the method described in the INTRODUCTION part
of the manual to measure the output impedance of the oscillator. This parameter is significant
when connecting the oscillator to the next stage, for example mixer in the experiment 4.
2.5.3 Power efficiency of LC oscillator
Ensure that the jumper of the power supply link to the Tuned Amplifier is removed ( Note: the
oscillator is on the same PCB board and share the DC supply input with tuned amplifier).
Measure the input and output powers and hence calculate the efficiency. Note: the input power
is DC power and output is AC power.

Reference
[1] Adel S. Sedra, and Kenneth C. Smith, Microelectronic Circuits, Oxford University Press, 5
th

Ed. 2004

Figure 2-1 LC Oscillator diagram


EXPERIMENT 3 MIXER and IF Amplifier

3.1 Introduction
A "mixer" or "converter" shifts a signal up or down in frequency. The process involves
MULTIPLICATION followed by FILTERING. Suppose a signal out of an RF tuned amplifier
is Acose
a
t, as shown in Figure 4-1, is mixed with an "carrier" signal of Ccose
c
t from a local
oscillator. Due to the nonlinearity of the mixer, the two signals are multiplied and the unfiltered
output y is:
y = AC/2 [cos([e
c
+ e
a
]t) + cos([e
c
- e
a
]t)]
sum difference

When the filter passes the (e
a
+ e
c
) frequency the device is an "up converter" and when it
passes the difference frequency (e
a
- e
c
) it is a "down converter". A down converter was
selected because the filter requirement is less stringent than would be needed for an up
converter. Therefore the signal out the mixer in the diagram below is with the frequency of (e
c
-
e
a
).

Antenna
RF tuned
amplifier
Tuned IF
amplifier
Demodulator
Audio
amplifier
Local
oscillator
speaker
Wa
Wc
Wc-Wa
Mixer

Figure 3-1 Block diagram of superheterodyne receiver

The input signal is not limited to a single cosine function: it can be a band of frequencies such
as for sound or vision. The mixer is linear in the sense that the relative amplitudes and absolute
frequency differences are preserved by the frequency shifting process.

3.2 Circuit Descriptions
Figure 4-2 shows the circuit diagram of the mixer, and IF amplifier, where the mixer is from a
pre-wired board and the IF amplifier needs to be built on a breadboard.

Normally a Square Law device such as either a diode or a field effect transistor in its saturation
region, will be used for multiplication. In this experiment a JFET is used for three reasons,
namely a) compared with a MOSFET it is less likely to be damaged by static electricity during
handling, b) the AC voltage range at the FET input is around 1 V p-p compared with around 50
mV for a diode, and c) the FET transfer characteristic is more nearly parabolic than the diode
characteristic which contains significant cubic and higher order polynomial terms which cause
distortion.

Signals from the tuned amplifier and local oscillator are connected with the input x1 and x2 of
the mixer respectively. The two signals are multiplied by the JFET and the output from the
terminal T2 is with multi-frequencies, such as f
1
-f
2
, f
1
+f
2
, 2 f
1
, 2f
2
, and so on. These signals are
inputs to the IF amplifier where they are amplified by a BJT amplifier and filtered by an IF

transformer. By fine tuning the IF transformer, the signal out of the secondary of the
transformer should be with the difference frequency of signal x1 and x2, which is f
1
-f
2
.

X1
X2
T2
T1
R1 6.8k
R3
100k
R2 6.8k
R5
3.3k
R4
3.3k
C1
82nF
2N5245
+12V
C2
10uF
+Vcc=12V
IF Tx
C3
100nF
100nF
C4
100nF
100nF
C5
BC547
BC547
C6
R6
100O
R7
22 kO
R8
22 kO
R9
10 kO
R10
100 O
IF Amplifier Mixer

Figure 3-2 The circuit diagram of the mixer

3.3 Pre-lab Work
1) Show that cos A * cos B = 0.5 [cos(A+B) + cos(A-B)] . Some English is essential in
addition to the algebra. Note that cosine is an even function so that cos(A-B) = cos(B-
A).
2) A mixer has a local oscillator at 1157 kHz and a bandpass filter centred at 455 kHz.
What are the centre frequencies of signals which would cause output from the filter?
How is it that a radio receiver accepts only one channel of input signal?

There are three parts in the experiment. The first part is to measure the transfer characteristics
of the JFET when it is in the pinch-off region. It can be used to predict the theoretical output
from the mixer. The second part is to measure the DC biases for two BJT and the voltage gain
of IF amplifier. The third part is to connect the mixer with IF amplifier and measure the output
when applying two input signals from function generators. (Note: Components in the small case
letter are for AC signals, while the ones in capital letters are for DC signals)
3.4.1 Measure the transfer characteristic of the JFET
Assume the transfer characteristic of the JFET is a parabola y = a x
2
+ b x + c, and calculate the
constants a, b and c from the following measurements.


1) Remove the link between T2 and T3 on the mixer board.
2) Apply the +12V DC to the mixer only and measure the DC bias at the gate, drain and
source, respectively, to ensure the JFET is in the pinch-off region.
3) Set the input x
1
to 2 Vp-p at about 30 kHz and display it on ChII of the CRO. Ground
the input x
2
.
4) Display drain voltage of JFET v
D
on ChI of the CRO, DC coupled on 2 V/div, and then
change the CRO display to y~x mode. After adjusting the frequency to eliminate the
phase shift effect you should get the convex transfer characteristic for the unloaded
condition. If there is obvious cut off towards +12 V then decrease the input until it
disappears. Centre the x-display and carefully measure the y-values at the zero input and
the two input extremes.
5) Use three pairs of y and x values measured in the Step 4 to calculate the constants a, b
and c of the assumed parabola y = a x
2
+ b x + c. These constants should be validated
by checking another point on the transfer characteristic. The constant 'a' should be about
-1.3.
6) Use the parabola transfer function of the JFET to calculate the theoretical output of the
mixer for the case of inputs of 1.2V p-p (for x2) and 0.5V p-p (for x1). This calculated
output will be compared with the measured output from the IF amplifier in the Section
3.4.3 later on. Note: you need to consider the gain of the IF amplifier measured in the
Section 3.4.2 below.
3.4.2 Test IF amplifier
Measure DC biasing and voltage gain of the IF amplifier.
1) Apply a DC supply of 12V to the IF amplifier only (without connecting to the mixer).
Measure the DC conditions for BJTs to ensure they are in the active region.
2) Apply a signal with the frequency of 455kHz from a function generator to the IF
amplifier and measure the voltage gain.
3.4.3 Check the operation of the entire setup
Now connect the mixer with IF amplifier, and follow the steps below to check signals at the
secondary of IF transformer.
1) Set a signal from a function generator as 1.2V p-p at about 1.2 MHz and connect it to
the input x
2
of the mixer. (mimic the local oscillator)
2) Set a signal from another function generator as 0.5V p-p at about 702 kHz and connect
it to the input x
1
of the mixer. (mimic the signal from the tuned amplifier)
3) Measure the signal out of the secondary side of the IF transformer by fine tuning it.
Sketch the output waveform. Check if the frequency is the difference of the two input
signals from the function generators. Compare the output amplitude with the value
calculated in the Section 3.4.1 step 6 and comment on the discrepancy.


EXPERIMENT 4 ELECTRONIC COMMUNICATION SYSTEM

4.1 Introduction
The experiment is to make an AM radio receiver based on the three experiments (tuned
amplifier, oscillator, and mixer and IF amplifier) you have completed. These three experiments
are key blocks in a superheterodyne receiver shown in Figure 1, in which the demodulator and
audio amplifier are pre-wired on a vero board for you to use.

Antenna
RF tuned
amplifier
Tuned IF
amplifier
Demodulator
Audio
amplifier
Mixer
Local
oscillator
speaker
Pre-wired
board
Experiment 1
Experiment 2
Experiment 3
Figure 1. Block diagram of superheterodyne receiver

You are required to put these blocks together to make an AM radio receiver which can receive a
couple of local radio stations, such as ABC (702 kHz) and 2GB (873 kHz). As it is important to
ensure the specifications to be matched between stages, you are suggested to review the
performance of each block measured in the previous labs before connecting it with the system.

4.2 Assessment
The experiment is assessed by an individual logbook and a group demonstration. The books are
the technical diary which should cover the following items and signed by tutors and yourself.
Name of yourself and the group partner
Detailed descriptions of the development of the receiver at each stage, including graphs,
measurements, calculations, problems, and solutions.
Conclusions, analysis, and comments.

A quick demonstration will take place in the end of the lab session. Except for presenting the
final results (the number and quality of radio stations can be received), each stage of the system
has to be explained and demonstrated for its proper functionality. If you would like to get more
time to work on the experiment, you can start it before the scheduled lab time in the laboratory
by checking with Ms. Kavitha.

4.3 Experimental work
The circuit diagrams of the blocks (tuned amplifier, oscillator, and mixer and IF amplifier) in
the receiver are illustrated in corresponding experiments respectively except for the

demodulator and audio amplifier, which is shown in Figure 2. The blocks are prewired on the
boards. On the mixer board, the original Butterworth filter will not be used. In return, the mixed
signal out of the JFET from terminal T2 (in Figure 3-2 in the lab manual) will be filtered by the
IF amplifier. Figure 2 shows the circuit diagrams of the demodulator and audio amplifier with
the IF amplifier as they are built on the same vero board.
O
O
O
O
O
O

Figure 2. Circuit diagram of demodulator and audio amplifier with the IF amplifier.

Follow the steps and block diagram below, add and test a block step by step to complete the
receiver:
1) Start with the mixer. Connect the modified mixer (by disconnecting T2 and T3, and
ignoring the rest part of the mixer after T2) with IF amplifier as done in Experiment 3.
Apply the two inputs x1 (0.5Vpp, 702 kHz) and x2 (1.2Vpp, 1.2MHz) from two function
generators to the mixer. Measure and sketch the signal out of the IF transformer (output1)
which should have the frequency of the difference of two inputs x1 and x2 because the IF
transformer only passes the intermediate frequency of 455 kHz.

2) Connect the demodulator and audio amplifier with IF amplifier output, as shown in Figure
2. Change x1 into a modulated signal: 702 kHz and 100 mV pp for the carrier, modulated
by a signal of 1 kHz and with modulation depth of 50%. Keep the input x2 as the same as in
the step 1). Use a dummy load (8 resistor) to replace the speaker. Measure and sketch the
output from the audio amplifier (output2) which should be a signal with frequency of 1 kHz.
IF Amp.
x1 702 kHz
x2 1.15MHz
Mixer
Output1
(1150-702) kHz

3) Replace the function generator for the input x2 of the mixer by connecting the output of the
oscillator. Tune the inductor L on the oscillator to make an oscillating frequency at about
1.15 MHz. (If you cannot get oscillating frequency at about 1.15 MHz by changing the L
and Cx of the oscillator (in Figure 2-1 in the lab manual), you may change the carrier
frequency of the modulated signal accordingly to make the frequency difference of the two
inputs still at about 455 kHz.) Measure and sketch the output (output3) from the audio
amplifier which should be similar as the output2 in the above step. If you find the circuit
does not work properly by directly connecting the oscillator with the mixer, you may need
to think if the output impedance of the oscillator matches the input impedance of the mixer.
Also you should bear in mind that the oscillating frequency can be affected when the output
impedance of the oscillator is changed. Review the experiment 2 Oscillator for more
details.

4) Add the tuned amplifier to the system. Remove the function generator for x1 of the mixer.
Connect an antenna to the tuned amplifier. Connect the output of the tuned amplifier to the
x1 of the mixer, as shown in the following block diagram. Also replace the dummy load of
the audio amplifier by an earphone or speaker. Tune the tuned amplifier and oscillator
concurrently you should hear some music/news from a radio station.

To improve the volume of the voice from a radio station, you could tune the IF transformer and
10k rheostat at the non-inverting of LM368.

IF Amp.
x1 702 kHz
modulated
with 1kHz
Mixer
Output 3
~ 1 kHz , similar
as above
Demodulator and
Audio Amp.
Mixer
Oscillator
~1.15 MHz
IF Amp. Mixer
Demo-
dulator
Mixer
Diff.
Amp.
Oscillator
~1.15 MHz
Tuend
Amp.
Antenna
Speaker or
Earphone
IF Amp.
x1 702 kHz
modulated
with 1kHz
x2 1.15MHz
Mixer
Output 2
1 kHz
Demodulator
and audio Amp.
Mixer

EXPERIMENT 5 OPTICAL LINK

Aims
Be familiar with a simple optical link - DIMOTO TX/RX board and plastic optical fibre.
Use direct modulation to transmit electronic signals by the optical link.
Investigate the performance of key elements in the optical link, such as attenuation of
fiber, modulation bandwidth of the optical link, and responsivity of photodiode.

Experiment Equipment
Lab kit sponsored by DIMOTO Technology is used for this experiment, including:
Assembled PCB board with 2 channels transmitting and receiving signals;
2.2mm plastic optic fibre (POF);
POF cutting and finishing tool;
Pocket fibre optical power meter
Oscilloscope
Function generator
DC power supply
Speakers, audio signal source, such as microphone or radio.

DIMOTO Circuit Board
The DIMOTO board has two channels red and green each with a LED light source and
photodiode receiver (specifications of LEDs and photodiode are in ref.[1]). Electronic (audio,
analog, digital) signals are modulated to the LED, sent through a POF, received and
demodulated by the photodiode. The overlay and circuit diagram of the PCB (Tx/Rx board) are
shown in Figure 1 and 2 respectively. The details of each part are described below.

Board inputs
Each channel has four input options:
Microphone Jack (MIC IN)
BNC IN for connection to arbitrary waveform/signal generator in kHz range, 50
terminated. Recommended amplitude is less than 0.5Vpp.
Analogue Loop back (RX fed back into output following amplification ANG LB)
Digital Loop back (RX fed back into output following amplification and digitisation
DIG LB)

Mode is selected via jumper (J100 and J200) as indicated on the board. Only the first two input
options are required in this lab.
Board outputs
Each channel has two output options:
Headphone or Speaker Jack (left one is from red channel and right one is from the green
channel).
Test points for connection of CRO:
Preamplifier output TP102 and TP202
Analog output TP101 and TP201
Digital output TP100 and TP200

Receiving signals are digitised via comparator circuit LM393N, U100A and U200A in Figure 2.

Figure 1. PCB overlay of DIMOTO circuit board

Figure 2. The circuit diagram of DIMOTO TX/RX board (attached in Lab5 Figure2.pdf )

LED Tx
Main specifications of LEDs are listed in Table below (see ref.[1] for more details).
LED peak wavelength
p
(nm)
spectral bandwidth
A (nm)
switching times (10% to 90%
and 90% to 10% @I
F
=10mA)
Red 660 20 t
R
=0.1s t
F
=0.1s
Green 530 50 t
R
=3.5ns t
F
=16ns

LED driving circuitry consists of AC coupled noninverting amplifier stage U101A and U201A
in Figure 2. AC gain of driving circuit is set via variable resistors RV101, RV201. LED devices
are biased at approximately 30mA. Test points (TP103 and TP203) are available to measure
signals in LED driving circuits.

Photodiode Rx
Photodiode devices are operated in photovoltaic mode. Photodiodes exhibit responsively of
~0.2 uA/uW @ red and ~0.11 uA/uW @ green. The normalized response of the photodiode is
shown in Figure 3.

Figure.3

Preamplifier provides transimpedance gain of 100KV/A by U101B and U201B in Figure 2. A
secondary amplification (U101C and U201C) stage provides additional gain set via variable
resistor RV100, RV200.

Power supply
Board requires +12VDC power supply via banana plug sockets. Onboard voltage of 9V rail is
provided, which is regulated by U300 in Figure 2 from 12V DC supply.
Safety Issues
Equipment: The pocket fibre optical power meter is expensive and fragile. Ask a tutor for the
operation when required. Care is required to operate optical fibres, particularly glass fibres. All
the garbage from handling fibres should be dumped to a bin.

Personnel: Lights could damage your eyes at different extents depending on wavelengths and
intensities. Protections are necessary to work with lasers, such as wearing goggles. In this lab,
you may not need to wear a goggle, but do not look at the light source directly with your eyes.

Pre-lab Work
1) According to theoretical characteristic of a LED and using direct modulation, if an input
signal is a sine wave, what would the output signal be?
2) If receiving optical powers for the red and green channel are 200W, and a same
photodiode is used for both channels, calculate currents received by both channels. Use
the specifications of the photodiode in Appendix I and Figure 3 in the notes to find out
responsivities for red and green light.

Experimental Task
1. Handling Fibers:
The laboratory kit uses 1mm plastic optical fiber with a 2.2mm cladding. LED and photodiodes
use plugless termination system avoiding the requirement for fiber termination. A fiber cutter is
provided for cutting both simplex and duplex fiber. The cutter permits:
Fiber to be cut to length (front of tool);
Duplex pair to be separated (bottom of tool);
Cladding to be stripped (single hole).


Practice with the cutter and a piece of plastic fiber for the functions listed above to prepare the
fiber for the following tasks as required. Note: optical fibers are fragile, bending and twisting
fiber cause extra fiber loss.

2. Fiber Attenuation
Figure 4 illustrates POF attenuation at a range of wavelength. In this section, you will use
cutback method to measure fiber attenuation for red and green light.
Figure 4

The cutback method is often used for measuring the total attenuation of an optical fiber. It
involves comparing the optical power P
out1
transmitted through a long piece of fiber (L1) to the
power P
out2
transmitted through a short piece of the fiber (L2). Fiber attenuation coefficient o

can be calculated by the different equations below.
For optical power in mW
, where o has the unit of
1
m
.
For optical power in dBm
, where o has the unit of / dB m
.

Follow the steps below, measure and calculate the attenuation of POF for the red and green
light, respectively.
1) Cut two pieces of fibre of 3 meters long and connect one end of each fibre to the Red LED
D101 (blue terminal) and green LED D201 respectively.
2) Switch on the Pocket Fibre Power Meter. Connect the other end of the fibres to the proper
adapter hole on the optical power meter. Adjust the Power Meter to the proper wavelength
(=660nm for red and =520 nm for green). Measure the optical power
1 out
P

in mW and
dBm respectively for two channels and fill in the table1.
Table 1

1
L (m)
red
1
( )
out
P mW
green

Red
1
( )
out
P dBm
green

3
3) Cut back the two pieces of the fibres to 1m long respectively. Without disturbing the input
conditions, measure the optical power
2 out
P at receiving end of the fibres for both red and
green channel again, and fill in the table2.
Table 2
2
L (m)
Red
2
( )
out
P mW
green

Red
2
( )
out
P dBm
green

1
4) Calculate the fiber attenuation coefficients for the red and green light respectively and fill in
the table3. Compare them with the data in Figure 4 and comment on the discrepancy.
Table 3
Red
( )
1
m o

green

Red
( ) / dB m o
green

3. Transmit an Analog Signal by Red-Channel
In this section, you will investigate direct modulation by transmitting an analog signal between
TX and RX of the red-channel in a loop configuration.
1) Connect the 1m fiber between the D101 (blue terminal-optical out) and the D100 (black
terminal-optical in) on the board.
2) Change the jumper JP100 to BNC IN.
3) Power on the DIMOTO board by a 12V DC supply.
4) Set up a sine wave of 10 kHz 20 mV on a Function Generator (at no load), and connect
it to the BNC IN P100 on the board.
5) Measure the driving signal for the red LED at the TP103 by a CRO, which directly
modulates the red light source. Change the resistance of RV101 and record the
maximum driving signal (set DC coupling on the CRO). How much is the input analog
signal amplified by the LED driving circuits?
6) Measure an output signal at the TP101 ANG OUT by the CRO. Vary the resistance of
RV100 to maximize the output signal and sketch it. Compare it with driving signal
measured in the step 5) and comment on it in terms of voltage gain and phase shift.
7) With the same settings as above, sweep the frequency of the input analog signal to find
out the 3dB cutoff frequency for the red channel. What are main factors determining the
cutoff frequency for the red channel? What signals (in terms of frequency) is the channel
suitable to transmit?

4. Responsivity of Photodiode
In this section, you will measure the response of the photodiode by inputting the non-modulated
light source to the photodiode directly.
1) In the Section 2 you have already measured the optical powers, P
2out
, at the ends of 1m
fibers for the red and green light.
2) Make the 1m fibers connected between OPTICAL OUT (D101 and D201) and
OPTICAL IN (D100 and D200) on the board for both red and green channel. Remove
the analog input signal from the board (the circuit board should be grounded with DC
supply).
3) Power on the DIMOTO board by a 12V DC supply

4) Measure output signals by the CRO at TP102 and TP202 (PREAMP), which are the
amplified DC voltages of the photodiode.
5) Calculate the ratio of the voltage at the pre-amplifier and optical power P
2out
for red and
green channel in V/W respectively. With the trans-impedance gain of the preamplifier of
100kV/A, calculate the resonsivities of the photodiode for red and green light in A/W
respectively.
6) Find out the responsivity of the photodiode in ref.[1], and work out the one for red
(660nm) and green (530nm) light using the normalized response in Fig.3. Compare
them with the measured ones and comment on the differences. Note the photodiodes for
both red and green channel are the same.

5. Transmit Audio Signals
In this section, you will transmit audio signals from microphone or radios by two channels
simultaneously and listen to the speakers for outputs.
1) Change the jumper to MIC IN for both JP100 and JP200 on the board.
2) Connect audio signals from available audio sources to the MIN IN phonejack P101
and P201 on the board.
3) Connect speakers to P300 headphone on the board. Listen to outputs from the left
(transmitted by red channel) and right speaker (transmitted by green channel). Is the
loudness from the two speakers the same? Why?
4) Vary the volume of audio sources or the gain of op-amps in the transmitting and
receiving circuits of the two channels respectively. How do the outputs of the speakers
change correspondingly?

Reference
[1] Datasheet of LEDs and photodiode used by the DIMOTO board:
http://i-fiberoptics.com/pdf/IFD91.pdf, http://i-fiberoptics.com/pdf/IFE93.pdf,
http://i-fiberoptics.com/pdf/IFE96.pdf


EXPERIMENT 6 OPTICAL WDM SYSTEM

Aims
Use two channels on DIMOTO TX/RX board to build a simple WDM system.
Investigate performance of the WDM system, such as filter loss and crosstalk.

Equipment
Lab kit sponsored by DIMOTO Technology includes:
Assembled PCB board with 2 channels transmitting and receiving signals;
2.2mm plastic optic fibre (POF);
POF cutting and finishing tool;
Coupler, splitter, and filters
Optical power meter
Oscilloscope
Function generator
DC power supply
Speakers, audio signal source, such as microphone or radio.

Overview
WDM corresponds to the scheme in which multiple optical carriers at different wavelengths are
modulated by using independent electrical bit streams and then transmitted over the same fiber.
The optical signal at the receiver is demultiplexed into separate channels by using an optical
technique. Figure 1 shows a multichannel point-to-point fiber link. Separate transmitter-receiver
pairs are used to send and receive the signal at different wavelengths.

1
Figure 1

WDM has the potential for exploiting the large bandwidth offered by the optical fiber and
significantly increases the system transmitting capacity. For example, WDM fiber links of
transpacific system (TPC-6) are operating at 100 Gb/s. The ultimate capacity of WDM fiber
links depends on how closely channels can be packed in the wavelength domain. The minimum
channel spacing is limited by the extent of interchannel crosstalk which leads to a transfer of
power from one channel to another and further degrades the performance of the WDM system.

In this lab, you will use DIMOTO TX/RX board (used in the last lab) to establish a simple
WDM system, in which a coupler is used as multiplexer to couple two channels (red and green)
into a piece of plastic optical fiber, and a splitter and filters are used to demultiplex the two
channels at receiving end. The circuit diagram and layout of DIMOTO board are illustrated in
Appendix II.


Experimental Task
1. Filter Loss and Crosstalk
In this section, you are to measure the filter loss and crosstalk by a power meter for a simple
WDM system built by DIMOTO board shown in Figure 2.

Figure 2

1) Prepare 6 pieces of fibers of 20cm long and one piece of fiber with the length of 1m.
2) Connect the four pieces of 20cm-fiber to the coupler and splitter, and the1m-fiber
between them as shown in Figure 2. See the Figure in Appendix I for the connection of
coupler and splitter to ensure the maximum light coupled and split.
3) Connect one 20cm fiber to the red LED only (without modulation input). Set the power
meter at the wavelength of 660nm and measure the optical power for two channels at the
position A in Figure 2 (before they are connected to the filter), P1r and P2r, in which 1
and 2 refer to the channel I and channel II).
4) Connect the filters and rest of fibers in the WDM system as shown in Figure 2. At the
position B (before connecting the fiber to the photodiode), measure the optical power at
the wavelength of 660nm, P1rr (power of channel I from the red filter) and P2rg (power
of channel II from the green filter).
5) Repeat the step 3) and 4) for the green LED. Disconnect the filters and red LED.
Connect the fiber to the green LED only without modulation input. Set the power meter
at the wavelength of 520nm and measure the optical power for two channels at the
position A in Figure 2, P1g and P2g. Then connecting the filters and two pieces of
20cm-fiber to the system, at the position B, measure the optical power for two channels
at the wavelength of 520nm, P1gg (power of channel I from the green filter) and P2gr
(power of channel II from the red filter).
6) Calculate the loss of the filter and crosstalk by:
i. Red filter loss= P1r- P1rr
ii. green filter loss= P1g P1gg
iii. Crosstalk of red channel=P2r-P2rg
iv. Crosstalk of green channel=P2g-P2gr
Are the filter loss and crosstalk for the red and green light source the same? Why?

2. Transmit an Analog Signal
In this section, you will use the WDM system to transmit analog signals and investigate
crosstalk in electronic domain.
1) Complete the connections of the WDM system in Figure 2.
2) Change the jumper to BNC IN for both JP100 and JP200 on the board.
3) Power on the DIMOTO board by a 12V DC supply.
4) Input a sine wave of 10 kHz 20 mV from function generator to modulate the red channel
and no modulating signal for the green channel.

5) Measure the modulating and receiving signals at TP103 and TP101 by a CRO. The
output signal at TP101 should be much smaller than driving signal at TP103 which is
caused by the loss in the optical link. Analyze the possible reasons for the loss.
6) With the same settings, measure the receiving signals for the red and green channel
simultaneously at the TP101 and TP201 by the CRO. Record the waveforms. Why is the
frequency of the output from the green channel the same as the one from the red
channel?
7) Repeat the step 4), 5) and 6) for the green channel. Are the results of channel loss (step
5)) and crosstalk (step 6)) for the green channel the same as one for the red channel?
Why?

3. Transmit Audio Signals
In this section, you will transmit two audio signals simultaneously by the WDM system. Listen
to the speakers to check performance of the system.
1) Change the jumper of both JP100 and JP200 to MIC IN.
2) Connect the audio signals from available audio sources (microphone or radio) to the
MIN IN of the phonejack P101 and P201 on the board.
3) Connect speakers to the P300 headphone on the board. Listen to outputs from the left
(transmitted by red channel) and right speaker (transmitted by green channel). From the
loudness of the speakers, check coupling efficiency for two channels at coupler and
splitter.
4) Disconnect the audio input from one channel (first red and then green channel). Listen
to the right and left speaker separately in each case. You should hear the same voice
with different loudness from two speakers in either case, which is caused by the
crosstalk. Which case is worse? Analyze the possible reasons for it.

Appendix I
See the attached file of coupler-splitter.pdf for the connection of fibres to the coupler and
splitter.

Appendix II
See the attached file of DIMOTOboard.pdf for the circuit diagram and layout of the DIMOTO
board.

ELEC3405 Lab Notes Optical Communication Systems

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