ABSTRACT
The availability of information depends on the transmission speed of data, voice, and multimedia across telecommunication networks. Optical fibre communications technology became available to bring the connection to the residential areas. There are two distinct modes of optical communications: fibre optics, and optical wireless, based on free-space optics technology. Optical wireless comes into play because it complements fibre optics in metro area networks and local area networks, with considerably less expense and faster deployment. The advantages of optical communications systems for many applications are well recognized: expanded data handling capacity, immunity to electrical noise, electrical isolation, enhanced safety, and data security. Optical communication uses lasers to superimpose electronic data onto an optical carrier using amplitude modulation. Transmission links in an optical communication system are the fibre optic cables that carry light signals between the senders and receivers, and between the communication system’s components and peripherals. The use of the wavelength-division multiplexing offers a further boost in transmission capacity.
