ECE 466
ECE 466 - Optical Communication Lab
Spring 2025
| Title | Rubric | Section | CRN | Type | Hours | Times | Days | Location | Instructor |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Optical Communications Lab | ECE466 | AB1 | 74747 | LAB | 1 | 0800 - 1050 | W | 5074 Electrical & Computer Eng Bldg | Peter D Dragic |
| Optical Communications Lab | ECE466 | AB2 | 74748 | LAB | 1 | 1300 - 1550 | W | 5074 Electrical & Computer Eng Bldg | Peter D Dragic |
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Official Description
Subject Area
- Microelectronics and Photonics
Course Director
Description
Detailed Description and Outline
Fiber components and measurements, transmitters and detectors, fiber amplifiers, multimode fiber links, and wavelength division multiplexing.
Lab Projects
One 3-hour lab session per week.
Laboratory Topics1 Contact hours
|
Lab 1: Basic Fiber Measurements (attenuation, numerical aperture, scattering) |
3.0 |
|
Lab 2: Multimode Fibers (bandwidth, dispersion, time and frequency domain) |
3.0 |
|
Lab 3: Single Mode Fibers (bandwidth, dispersion, pulse propagation) |
3.0 |
|
Lab 4: Transmitters (Lasers, LEDs, bandwidth, spectra, modulation) |
6.0 |
|
Lab 5: Receivers (PiN and APD detectors, SNR, noise, bandwidth) |
3.0 |
|
Lab 6: Links (intersymbol interference, components, SNR, eye diagrams) |
6.0 |
|
Lab 7: Jitter and Mask Testing (standards, system optimization) |
3.0 |
|
Lab 8: Bit Error Rate Testing |
3.0 |
|
Lab 9: Fiber Amplifiers (spectra, gain, saturation) |
3.0 |
|
Lab 10: Amplified Link Project (Final Lab project, 80km link) |
3.0 |
Topical Prerequisites
Credit or concurrent registration in ECE 465.
Texts
None. Laboratory notes are provided to the students.
Course Goals
Course Objectives and Relationship to Program Educational Objectives:
To reinforce fundamentals of lightwave communication systems. Emphasizes theory with elements of design and applications.
Instructional Objectives
Course Outcomes and Relationship to Program Outcomes:
A student completing this course should, at a minimum, be able to:
- Understand and measure the basic properties of the propagation of light in a guided-wave dielectric optical fiber, including attenuation, coupling, and handling (1,3,6,7)
- Understand the difference between single mode and multimode fiber and where the two are appropriate in a real-world system (1,3,4,6,7)
- Understand waveguiding principles, the concept of a mode in fiber, and how this limits the bandwidth in such systems, and to be able to make measurements that directly and indirectly determines these parameters (1,3,6,7)
- Understand how a pulse (or a bit) propagates in optical fiber and is influenced by dispersion (1,3,6,7)
- Understand the differences between types of light sources utilized in lightwave systems, including bandwidth, power, modulation, and spectra, and the appropriateness of each in a given system configuration (1,3,4,6,7)
- Understand the differences between types of receivers utilized in lightwave systems, and the appropriateness of each in a given system configuration, including bandwidth, signal-to-noise, and the statistical nature of light-matter interactions (1,3,4,6,7)
- Understand how to perform eye-diagram measurements and how to utilize this to understand system jitter, intersymbol interference, and signal-to-noise ratio (1,3,4,6,7)
- Be able to quickly assemble a fiber optic link, including source, receiver, and propagation medium and understand its main performance limitations (13,4,6,7)
- Be able to perform standard mask testing utilizing Telcordia standards and to understand power and system margins and budgets (1,3,4,6,7)
- Be able to perform bit error rate testing and to understand how it is limited by system impairments, and how to optimize system performance (1,3,4,6,7).
- Understand the basic principles of fiber amplifiers (1,3,4,6,7)