Basic Information

  • Course Code: EE 606
  • Course Name: Fibre Optic Communications
  • Course Offered In: 2022-‘23
  • Semester Season: Spring
  • Instructors: Prof. R.K. Shevgaonkar
  • Prerequisites: None. But concepts from EE 301 Electromagnetic Waves are useful.
  • Difficulty (1 being easy and 5 being tough): 4

Course Content

Introduction to vector nature of light, propagation of light, propagation of light in a cylindrical dielectric rod, Ray model, wave model. Different types of optical fibers, Modal analysis of a step index fiber. Signal degradation on optical fiber due to dispersion and attenuation. Fabrication of fibers and measurement techniques like OTDR. Optical sources - LEDs and Lasers, Photo-detectors - pin-detectors, detector responsivity, noise, optical receivers. Optical link design - BER calculation, quantum limit, power panelities. Optical switches - coupled mode analysis of directional couplers, electro-optic switches. Nonlinear effects in fiber optic links. Concept of self-phase modulation, group velocity dispersion and solition based communication. Optical amplifiers - EDFA, Raman amplifier, and WDM systems.

Feedback on Lectures

Sir uses the blackboard to teach. Thus, regular attendance is a must since no ppts are uploaded. Some ppts were uploaded towards the end of the course as sir could not stand and use the board due to health issues but even then sir encouraged us to take notes and not rely on the ppts. A reference book was suggested and the prof followed the book to some extent but unlike EM waves all topics from the book were not covered as it is.

Feedback on Evaluations

There were 4 assignments, 2 quizzes, a midsem and a review paper and presentation. The assignments were quite difficult as sir expected you to devote a lot of time to these. The midsem and quiz questions were easier than the assignments. We could choose our own topic for the review paper. The aim was to understand the original paper completely (this includes reading all the papers provided in the references) and write a review paper based on this understanding.

Study Material and Resources

J.Keiser, Fibre Optic communication, McGraw-Hill, 2nd Ed. 1992.J.E. Midwinter, Optical fibers for transmission, John Wiley, 1979.T. Tamir, Integrated optics, (Topics in Applied Physics Vol.7), Springer-Verlag, 1975.J.Gowar, Optical communication systems, Prentice Hall India, 1987.S.E. Miller and A.G. Chynoweth, eds., Optical fibres telecommunications, Academic Press, 1979. G.Agrawal, Nonlinear fibre optics, Academic Press, 2nd Ed. 1994.G. Agrawal, Fiber optic Communication Systems, John Wiley and sons, New York, 1992F.C. Allard, Fiber Optics Handbook for engineers and scientists, McGraw Hill, New York (1990).

Final Takeaway

The highlight of this course is Prof Shevgaonkar’s teaching. The course will seem very interesting if all lectures are attended regularly.