CNS-ST 2.

2: SATELLITES AND FIBER OPTICS

15.

GPS or NAVSTAR height is

9500 miles

16.

An antennas angular direction

between east and west?
Azimuth

17.

An antennas vertical angle with

respect to the earths surface.
Elevation

18.

An antennas angle by which it is

offset from the earths axis
Declination

19.

In geostationary satellites,
station-keeping means:
Adjusting the orbits

20.

A reduction of TWT power for

linearity is called:
Backoff

21.

The frequency bands used by Ku-band

satellites are:
12 GHz and 14 GHz

22.

Satellite operating at 27 30 GHz

Ka-band

23.

The law that states that a satellite

will orbit a primary body following
an elliptical path.
1st Law of Kepler

Why is satellite acquisition and

tracking important?
To ensure earth terminal antennas
are always pointed towards the
satellite

24.

Keplers 2nd law is known as

Law of areas

25.

Keplers 3rd law is also known as

Harmonic law

8.

What are the two limitations to an

active satellite communications
system?
Satellite down-link transmitter and
up-link receiver sensitivity

26.

Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellite

orbits around the earth at a height
of
370 miles

27.

9.

If the line-of-sight distance for an

optical beam is 12 km, what would is
be, approximately, for a microwave
beam?
16 km

Medium Earth Orbit (MEO) satellite

orbits around the earth at a height
approximately _____.
6000 miles to 12,000 miles

28.

Geosynchronous satellites are highaltitude earth-orbit satellites with

heights about _____.
22,300 miles or 36,000 km

29.

Iridium is a LEOSAT that has a

height of approximately
480 miles

30.

MEO frequency band is

1.2 -1.66 GHz

31.

All satellites rotate around the

earth in an orbit that forms a plane
that passes through the center of
gravity of earth called
Geocenter

SATELLITE COMMUNICATIONS
1.

2.

What are the two types of

communications satellite
Passive and active
A typical satellite communications
operational link consists of a
satellite and what other two
components?
Earth terminals

3.

What areas of the earth are not

normally covered by satellites?
Extreme polar regions

4.

Satellite orientation in space is

important for what two reasons?
To allow maximum solar exposure to
the sun and satellite antenna
exposure to earth terminals

5.

What types of antennas are generally

used at earth terminals?
Large, high-gain parabolic antennas

6.

7.

10.

11.

Why do earth terminals require

highly sensitive receivers?
To overcome satellite transmitter
low power and permit extraction of
the desired information from the
received signal

The power in the downlink signal

from a typical communications
satellite is in the range of _____
per transponder.
10 to 250 watts
The power level for an earth station
to transmit to a satellite is in the
order of:
10^3 watts

12.

Ku-band antennas can be _____ than

C-band antennas.
Smaller

13.

A geosynchronous orbit is about

_____ km above the earth.
35,780

32.

The point on the surface of the

earth directly below the satellite
Subsatellite point (SSP)

14.

A Global Positioning System (GPS) or

NAVSTAR is
MEO

33.

The minimum acceptance angle of

elevation
5 degrees

34.

The spatial separation of a

satellite is between _____.
3 degrees to 6 degrees

35.

Antenna used with a rotating

satellite whose main beam is
continuously adjusted so that it
will illuminate a given area on the
earths surface
Despun

36.

Satellites radiation pattern that

typically target up to 20% of the
Earths surface
Hemispherical beams

37.

The radiation pattern that has a

satellites antenna beamwidth of 17
degrees and are capable of covering
approximately 42% of the earths
surface
Earth or global beams

38.

Geostats has an earth coverage of

approximately
42.5%

39.

LNA stands for:

Low-noise amplifier

40.

LNA in satellite transponder

commonly used
Tunnel

45.

A receiving antenna with a gain of

40 dBi looks at at a sky with a
noise temperature of 15K. The loss
between the antenna and the LNA
input, due to the feedhorn, is 0.4
dB, and the LNA has a noise
temperature of 40K. Calculate G/T.
20.6 dB

46.

A receiver has a noise figure of 1.5

dB. Find its equivalent noise
temperature.
119K

47.

The receiving installation whose G/T

was found to be 20.6 dB is used as a
ground terminal to receive a signal
from a satellite at a distance of
38,000 km. the satellite has
transmitter power of 50 watts and an
antenna gain of 30 dBi. Assume
losses between the satellite
transmitter and its antenna is
negligible. The frequency is 12 GHz.
Calculate the carrier-to-noise ratio
at the receiver, for a bandwidth of
1 MHz. 30.6 dB

48.

If a satellite has a total

transmitter power (Pt) of 1000 W,
determine the energy per bit (Eb)
for a transmission rate of 50 Mbps.
-47 dBW/bps or -47 dbJ

49.

For an equivalent noise bandwidth of

10 MHz and a total noise power of
0.00276 pW, determine the noise
density and equivalent noise
temperature.
276 x 10^-23 W/Hz or -205.6 dBW/Hz

50.

A typical TVRO installation for use

with C-band satellite (downlink at
approximately 4 GHz) has a diameter
of about 3 m and an efficiency of
about 55%. Calculate its gain and
beamwidth.
G = 39 dB, beamwidth = 1.75 degrees

51.

For an earth station transmitter

with an antenna output power of 40dB
(10000 W), a back-off loss of 3dB, a

system

SATELLITE
41.

42.

43.

44.

Find the velocity of a satellite in

a circular orbit (a) 500 km above
the earths surface (b) 36,000 km
above the earths surface
(approximately the height of
geosynchronous satellite).
(a) 7.6 km/s (b) 3.07 km/s

Calculate the angle of declination

for an antenna using a polar mount
at latitude of 45 degrees.
6.81 degrees

Calculate the length of the path to

a geosynchronous satellite from an
earth station where the angle of
elevation is 30 degrees.
39 x 10^3 km

A satellite transmitter operates at

a 4 GHz with a transmitter power of
7W and an antenna gain of 40 dBi.
The receiver has antenna gain of 30
dBi and the path length is 40,000
km. Calculate the signal strength at
the receiver.
-88 dBm

total branching and feeder loss of

3dB, and a transmitter antenna gain
of 40dB, determine the EIRP
74 dBW

Transmitted
67.

When light strikes a white piece of

paper, the light is reflected in all
directions. What do you call this
scattering of light
Diffusion

68.

What is the basic optical-material

property relevant to optical fiber
light transmission?
The index of refraction

69.

What name is given to the angle

where total internal reflection
occurs?
Critical angle of incidence

70.

List the three parts of optical

fiber
Core, cladding and coating or buffer

71.

Light transmission along an optical

fiber is described by two theories.
Which theory is used to approximate
light acceptance and guiding
properties of an optical fiber?
The ray theory

72.

Light rays that passes thru the

longitudinal axis at the fiber core
are called
meridional rays

73.

Meridional rays are classified as

either bound or unbound rays. Bound
rays propagate through the fiber
according to what property?
Total internal reflection

FIBER OPTIC CONCEPTS

52.

Fiber optics is coined by

NS Kapany

53.

What are three means of producing

light?
Mechanical, electrical and chemical

54.

What is the smallest unit of radiant

energy?
A photon

55.

What unit is used to measure the

different wavelengths of light?
Angstrom unit
What are the three primary colors of
light?
Red, green and blue

56.

57.

What are the three secondary colors

of light?
Magenta, yellow and cyan

58.

A substance that transmits light but

through which an object cannot be
seen clearly is known as what kind
of substance?
Translucent

59.

What type of wave motion is

represented by motion of water?
Transverse-wave motion

60.

A substance that transmits almost

all of the light waves falling upon
it is known as what type of
substance?
Transparent

74.

What mechanisms in fiber waveguides

weaken and distort the optical
signals?
Scattering, absorption and
dispersion

61.

A substance that is unable to

transmit any light waves is known as
what type of substance?
Opaque

75.

62.

What is the law of reflection

The law of reflection states that
the angle of incidence is equal to
the angle of reflection

How can loss be reduced during

construction (or fabrication) of
optical fibers?
By removing the impurities from the
optical fiber

76.

What fiber property does numerical

aperture (NA) measure?
NA measures the light-gathering
ability of the optical fiber

77.

Skew rays and meridional rays define

different acceptance angles. Which
acceptance angle is larger, the skew
ray angle or the meridional ray
angle?
Skew ray angle

78.

The mode theory uses electromagnetic

wave behavior to describe the
propagation of light along the
fiber. What is the set of guided
electromagnetic waves called?
Modes of fiber

79.

Modes that are bound at one

wavelength may not exist at longer
wavelengths. What is the wavelength
at which a mode ceases to be bound
is called?

63.

64.

When a wave is reflected from a

surface, energy is reflected. When
is the reflection of energy
greatest?
When the wave is nearly parallel to
the reflecting surface
When is the reflection energy the
least?
When the wave is perpendicular to
the reflecting surface

65.

Light waves obey what law?

The law of reflection

66.

A light wave enters a sheet of glass

at a perfect right angle to the
surface. Is the majority of the wave
reflected, refracted, transmitted or
absorbed?

Cutoff wavelength
80.

What type of optical fiber operates

below cutoff wavelength?
Multimode fiber

81.

The fibers normalized frequency (V)

determines how many modes a fiber
can support. As the value of V
increases, will the number of modes
supported by the fiber increase or
decrease?
Increase

82.

83.

The number of modes propagated in a

multimode fiber depends on the core
size and numerical aperture (NA). If
the core size and the NA decrease,
will the number of modes propagated
increase of decrease?
Decrease
What is the main loss mechanism
between ultraviolet and infrared
absorption regions?
Rayleigh scattering

84.

Name the two types of intramodal, or

chromatic, dispersion. Material
dispersion and waveguide dispersion

85.

Which dispersion mechanism (material

or waveguide) is a function of the
sine of the fibers core relative to
the waveguide operation?
Waveguide dispersion

86.

Modes of light pulse that enter the

fiber at one time exit the fiber at
different times. This condition
causes the light pulse to spread.
What is this condition called?
Modal dispersion

87.

88.

89.

The reflective index of a fiber core

is uniform and undergoes an abrupt
change at the core-cladding
boundary. Is this fiber a step-index
or graded-index fiber?
Step-index
What happens to the fundamental mode
as the operating wavelength becomes
longer than the single mode cutoff
wavelength?
The fundamental mode becomes
increasingly lossy
Give two reasons why optical fiber
manufacturers depart from the
traditional circular core cladding,
low-loss glass fiber design?
To increase performance and reduce
cost

90.

Why do cable manufactures introduce

a controlled twist to the stacked
ribbons during the cabling process?
To minimize fiber stress when the
cable is bent

91.

Which fiber optic component (splice,

connector, or coupler) makes a
permanent connection in a
distributed system?
Splice

92.

What are the main causes of coupling

loss?
Poor fiber end preparation and poor
fiber alignment

93.

When the axes of two connected

fibers are no longer in parallel,
the two connected fibers are in what
kind of misalignment?
Angular misalignment

94.

Which are more sensitive to

alignment errors, single mode or
multimode fibers?
Single mode

95.

Quality fiber-end preparation is

essential for proper system
operation. What property must an
optical fiber-end face have to
ensure proper fiber connection?
Be flat, smooth, and perpendicular
to the fiber axis

96.

What is the basic fiber cleaving

technique for preparing optical
fibers for coupling?
Score-and-break

97.

Fiber splicing is divided into two

broad categories that describe the
techniques used for fiber splicing.
What are they?
Mechanical and fusion splicing

98.

What fiber property directly affects

splice-loss in fusion splicing?
The angles and quality of the two
fiber-end faces

99.

What is a short discharge of

electric current that prepares the
fiber ends for fusion is called?
Prefusion

100.

Do small core distortions formed by

arc fusions self-alignment
mechanism have more of an affect on
light propagating through multimode
or single mode fibers?
Single mode fibers

101.

Which is the more critical parameter

in maintaining total insertion loss
below the required level, fiber
alignment of fiber mismatch?
Fiber alignment

102.

Fiber optic connectors can reduce

system performance by increasing
what two types of noise?
Modal and reflection

103.

Which type of fiber optic connector

(butt-jointed or expanded beam)
brings the prepared ends of two
optical fibers into contact?
Butt-jointed connectors

104.

Is coupling loss from fiber

separation and lateral misalignment
more critical in expanded beam or
butt-jointed connectors?
Butt-jointed connectors

105.

106.

117.

Which type of optical splitter (Ycoupler or T-coupler) splits only a

small amount of power from the input
fiber to one of the output fibers?
T-coupler

In multimode fibers, how do fiber

joints increase fiber attenuation
following the joint?
By disturbing the fibers mode power
distribution (MPD)

118.

Reflectance is given as what ration?

The ratio of reflected optical power
to incident optical power

119.

When is an OTDR recommended for

conducting field measurements on
installed optical fibers or links?
When installed optical fiber cables
or links are 50 meters or more in
length

120.

An OTDR measure the fraction of

light that is reflected back from
the fiber or link under test. What
causes light to be reflected back
into the OTDR?
Rayleigh scattering and Fresnel
reflection

121.

What is a temporary or permanent

local deviation of the OTDR signal
in the upward of downward direction
called?
A point defect

122.

Why is dead-zone fiber placed

between the test fiber and OTDR when
conducting attenuation measurements?
To reduce the effect of the initial
reflection at the OTDR
The amount of backscattered optical
power at each point depends on what
two properties?
Forward optical power and
backscatter capture coefficient

107.

What two properties of the launch

condition may affect multimode fiber
attenuation measurements?
Launch spot size and angular
distribution

108.

Does underfilling a multimode

optical fiber excite mainly highorder of low-order modes?
Low-order modes

109.

110.

111.

112.

113.

A mode filter is a device that

attenuates specific modes
propagating in the core of an
optical fiber. What mode propagating
along single mode fibers do mode
filters eliminate?
Second-order mode
What are the two most common types
of mode filters?
Free-form loop and mandrel wrap
The cutoff wavelength of matchedclad and depressed-clad single mode
fibers varies according to the
fibers radius of curvature and
length. The cutoff wavelength of
which single mode fiber type is more
sensitive to length?
Depressed-clad
What determines the range of
wavelengths over which meaningful
data is obtained for calculating the
chromatic dispersion?
The wavelength range of the optical
source(s) used
Near-filed power distributions
describe the emitted power per unit
are in the near-field region.
Describe the near-field region.
The near-field region is the region
close to the fiber0end face

114.

How is the core diameter defined?

The core diameter is define as the
diameter at which the near-filed
intensity is 2.5 percent of the
maximum intensity

115.

Far-field power distributions

describe the emitted power per unit
area as a function of angle theta in
the far-field region. Describe the
far-field region.
The far-field region is the region
far from the fiber-end face

116.

Increase

Is coupling loss from angular

misalignment more critical in
expanded beam or butt-jointed
connectors?
Expanded beam connectors

Will fiber coupling loss generally

increase of decrease if the mode
field diameter of a single mode
fiber is decreased?

123.

OPTICAL SOURCES AND FIBER OPTIC

TRANSMITTERS
124.

Semiconductor LEDs emit incoherent

light. Define incoherent light.
Light waves that lack a fixed-phase
relationship

125.

What are the two most common

semiconductor materials used in
electronic and electro-optic
devices?
Silicon and gallium arsenide

126.

Describe the stimulated emission.

A photon initially produced by a
spontaneous emission in the active
region interacts with the laser
material to produce additional
photons

127.

What are the three basic LED types?

Surface-emitting LEDs (SLEDs) edgeemitting LEDs (ELEDs) and super
luminescent diodes (SLDs)

128.

Which types of LEDs are the

preferred optical sources for shortdistance, low-data-rate fiber optic
systems?
SLEDs and ELEDs

129.

130.

131.

132.

133.

What are facets?

Cut or polished surfaces at each end
of the narrow active region of an
ELED
What is the lowest current at which
stimulated emission exceeds
spontaneous emission in a
semiconductor laser called?
Threshold current
Which type of optical source usually
lacks reflective facets and in some
cases is designed to suppress
reflections back into the active
region?
LED
How does the source drive circuit
intensity modulate the source?
By varying the current through the
source
What is a prebias?
A current applied in the laser off
state just less than the threshold
current

134.

What are the two types of output

interfaces for fiber optic
transmitters?
Optical connectors and optical fiber
pigtails

135.

What type of source is typically

used in low-data-rate digital
applications?
LED

136.

Why would a laser diode be used in a

low-data-rate digital application?
When extremely high transmitter
output powers are required

137.

What type of source is generally

used in high-data-rate digital
applications?
Laser diode

142.

Define responsivity.
The ratio of the optical detectors
output photocurrent in amperes to
the incident optical power in watts

143.

How are PIN photodiodes usually

biased?
Reverse-biased

144.

What is the dark current?

The leakage current that continues
to flow through a photodetector when
there is no incident light

145.

Will dark current increase or

decrease as the temperature of the
photodiode increases?
Increase

146.

Should the capacitance of the

photodetector be kept small or large
to prevent the RC time constant from
limiting the response time?
Small

147.

Trade-offs between competing effects

are necessary for high speed
response. Which competing effect
(fast transit time, low capacitance,
or high quantum efficiency) requires
a thin active area?
Fast Transit time

148.

Why is detector saturation not

generally a problem in fiber optic
communications systems?
Because fiber optic communications
systems operate at low optical power
levels

149.

How can the gain of an APD be

increased?
By increasing the reverse-bias
voltage

150.

List the key operational parameters

used to define receiver performance.
Receiver sensitivity, bandwidth, and
dynamic range

151.

List the main types of receiver

noise.
Thermal noise, dark current noise,
and quantum noise

152.

What is the main factor that

determines receiver sensitivity?
Noise

153.

For a reduction in thermal noise,

should the value of the detectors
load resistor be increased or
decreased?
Increased

154.

What are two types of noise that

manifest themselves as shot noise?
Dark current and quantum noise

155.

What are the two basic types of

preamplifiers used in fiber optic
receivers?
The high-impedance amplifier and the
transimpedance amplifier

OPTICAL DETECTORS AND FIBE OPTIC RECEIVERS

138.

139.

140.

141.

Which performance parameter is the

minimum amount of optical power
required to achieve a specific biterror rate (BER) in digital systems
or a given signal-to-noise ratio
(SNR) in analog systems?
Receiver sensitivity
List the two principal optical
detectors used in fiber optic
systems.
The semiconductor positiveintrinsic-negative (PIN) photodiode
and avalanche photodiode (APD)
What are the four most common
materials used in semiconductor
detector fabrication?
Silicon, gallium arsenide, germanium
and indium phosphide
What is a photocurrent?
The current produced when photons
are incident on the detector active
area

156.

157.

158.

Which preamplifier design (highimpedance or transimpedance)

provides improvements in bandwidth
and greater dynamic range with some
degradation in sensitivity from an
increase in noise?
Transimpedance
For what types of applications are
APDs generally used?
For high-data-rate applications and
for low- or moderate-data-rate
applications where receivers with
extremely low sensitivities are
required
What type of modulation do most
analog fiber optic communications
systems use?
Intensity modulation

171.

1 angstrom is equal to how many

microns?
0.0001 microns

172.

1 angstrom is equal to how many

nanometers?
10 ns

173.

A measure of quality of a fiber

optic system.
Maximum distance between repeaters

174.

The average maximum distance between

repeaters in a fiber optic system.
10 - 30 km

175.

Fiber optics performance is usually

indicated by
product of bit rate and distance

159.

What two analyses are performed to

determine if a link design is
viable?
Power budget and risetime budget

176.

The external incident angle for

which light will propagate in the
fiber is known as _____.
Acceptance angle

160.

Optical fibers or cables should

never be bent at a radius of
curvature smaller than a certain
value. Identify this radius of
curvature.
Minimum bend radius

177.

In fiber optics, the dominant loss

mechanisms in silica fiber are
_____.
Absorption and Rayleigh Scattering
Loss

178.
161.

In fiber optics, the main

disadvantage of plastic over glass
fiber is
high attenuation

Rayleigh Scattering Loss at 8020 nm

has a typical value of _____.
2.5 dB

179.

Loss due to valence electron:

UV absorption

The wavelength of visible spectrum

is within the range of
0.4 to 0.8 microns

180.

Laser used in fiber optic

communications.
Semiconductor laser

Range of frequency used for fiber

optic (FO) system is
100 1000 THz

181.

What is the maximum data rate for

fiber optics?
10 Gbps

182.

What is the typical bandwidth of the

single-mode step-index fiber?
50 to 100 GHz/km

183.

What is the achievable rate of

single-mode step-index fiber as used
in digital communication?
2 Gigabytes

184.

What is the typical margin of safety

in dB used in preparing the power
budget for fiber-optic system?
5 10 dB

162.

163.

164.

The bending of light rays due to

change in velocity as a result of
traveling from one medium to the
other.
Refraction

165.

What is the infrared range used for

fiber optics in Angstrom?
7,000 to 12,000

166.

In fiber optic system, the core of

PCs fiber is
Glass

167.

What is the primary specification of

a fiber cable usually expressed as
the loss in dB/km?
Attenuation

168.

What is the most widely used light

generator in fiber optic system?
Injection laser diode

169.

A more widely used and most

sensitive photosensor is _____.
Avalanche photodiode

170.

Attenuation null is fiber optic

occurs at what wavelength?
1.3 microns

FIBER OPTIC PROBLEMS

185.

A fiber has an index of refraction

of 1.6 for the core and 1.4 for the
cladding. Calculate: (a) critical
angle (b) angle of refraction for
angle of incidence of 30 degrees (c)
angle of refraction for angle of
incidence of 70 degrees.
(a) 61 degrees (b) 34.8 degrees (c)
70 degrees

186.

Calculae the numerical aperture and

the maximum angle of acceptance for
the fiber that has an index of
refraction of 1.6 for the core and
1.4 for the cladding.
N.A. = 0.775 / 50.8 degrees

187.

A single-mode fiber has a numerical

aperture of 0.15. what is the
maximum core diameter it could have
for use with infrared light with a
wavelength of 820 nm?
4.2 um

188.

An optical fiber has a bandwidthdistance product of 500 MHz-km. if a

bandwidth of 85 MHz is required for
a particular mode of transmission,
what is the maximum distance that
can be used between repeaters?
5.88 km

189.

The fiber has zero dispersion at a

wavelength of 1310 nm and has a
zero-dispersion slope of 0.05
ps(nm2-km). calculate the total
dispersion of 50 km of this fiber
when it is used with a source having
a linewidth of 2 nm at a wavelength
of 1550 nm.
949 ps

190.

Find the bandwidth and bandwidth

distance product for the fiber with
total dispersion of 949 ps and a
total length of 50km.
B = 526.8 MHz, Bandwidth-Distance
product = 26.3 GHz-km

191.

Find the energy in electronvolts, in

one photon at a wavelength of 1 um.
E = 1.24 eV

192.

A typical photodiode has an input

optical power of 500 nW. Calculate
the diode current.
150 nA

193.

A fiber optic link extends for 40

km. The laser diode emitter has an
output power of 1.5 mW, and the
receiver requires a signal strength
of -25 dBm for a satisfactory
signal-to-noise ratio. The fiber is
available in lengths of 2.5 km and
can be spliced with a loss of 0.25
dB per slice. The fiber has a loss
of 0.3 dB/km. The total of all the

connector losses at the two ends is

4 dB. Calculate the available system
margin.
7.01 dB
194.

A 45 km length of fiber must not

lengthen pulses by more than 100 ns.
Find the maximum permissible value
for the pulse spreading contrast.
2.22 ns/km

195.

A fiber is rated as having a

bandwidth-distance product of 500
MHz-km. Find its dispersion in
ns/km, and the rise time of a pulse
in a 5 km length of this cable.
5 ns