Attenuation and bit-rate limitations in single-mode fibers with light-emitting diode sources are analyzed with the help of a computer model. Distortion of the spectral distribution of the light due to the wavelength dependence of the loss in the fiber is taken into account. Our computations show that the system performance of a given fiber type may be characterized by three parameters, one for attenuation and two for dispersion. The attenuation in the fiber may be modeled by an average attenuation per unit length, whereas the bit rate that limits the sensitivity degradation in the receiver due to intersymbol interference to less than 1 dB may be modeled by a bit-rate distance product and a constant bit rate valid for long lengths of fiber. As a design aid in system planning, we have prepared diagrams showing the three parameters as functions of the diode center wavelength and the spectral width for typical single-mode fibers.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.