Fiber optics is a major building block in the telecommunication infrastructure, an entity that is spreading at the speed of light. Its high bandwidth capabilities and low attenuation characteristics make it ideal for gigabit transmission and beyond. This section contains content on various phenomena that are pertinent to the development of a remote fiber optic communications laboratory.
Telecommunications refers to the science and technology of exchange of information such as audio signals, video signals and computer data over significant distances by electronic transmission of impulses as radio, light or electrical signals (The American Heritage® Science Dictionary, 2005).
A complete, single telecommunications circuit consists of two basic terminal entities: the transmitter and receiver, which when combined form a transceiver. The receiver and transmitter communicate by means of a channel/ medium, which could be copper wire, coaxial cable, fiber or free air (wireless). The key sectors of telecommunications include: Telephone service companies, Broadcast networks (satellite) and Cable television (Telecom, 2009).
No other industry is as deeply intertwined with as many technology-related business, communication and entertainment sectors as telecommunications, which, as defined above, encompasses not only the traditional areas of local and long-distance telephone service, but also advanced technology-based services including wireless communications, the Internet, fiber optics and satellites (Plunkett, 2010).
Early modes of telecommunication included bells to signify beginning of the church service, use of mirrors to send messages in Rome, signal fires in the Iliad, carrier pigeons in the Olympic Games, smoke signals in North America and China as well as drums in Africa, New Guinea and South America (Alven, 1998). The first long-distance optical semaphore telegraph by Frenchman Claude Chappe hit the scene in the 1793 and later followed the electric telegraph in the 1830's, the Warner Brothers' motion pictures, the Photophone and Telephone by Alexander Graham Bell and the television broadcasts (New York Times Company, 2010). The 20th Century also witnessed the use of arrays of hollow pipes to transmit television and facsimile systems' images, from which stemmed the various trials of use of fiber. The summer of 1970 witnessed the invention of optical waveguide fibers capable of carrying 65,000 times more information than copper wire. Further developments were undertaken in fiber optics and the world's first live telephone traffic through a fiber-optic system running at 6 Mbps was installed in Long Beach, California, which was soon followed by an optical telephone communication system. Today, more than 80 percent of the world's long-distance voice and data traffic is carried over optical-fiber cables.
Uganda has also experienced tremendous growth in the telecommunications sector, from the use of traditional means of drums and pigeon to fixed and then mobile local and international telephone sservices, soaring rural telecommunications, trunk capacity resale, and reasonable internet coverage. The number of recognised mobile service providers has grown from one in 1994 to six in 2009, with more Internet Service Providers covering more districts. This has led to an increase in the traffic handled and thus a need to adopt optical fiber networks. The East African Marine Systems (TEAMS) fibre-optic cable has finally arrived at Mombasa and is expected to aid in the anticipated switch from the more expensive and unreliable satellite connections. Two other broadband cables are expected: the East African Submarine Cable System (EASSy) and Seacom.
Fiber Optic Communications
Fiber Optic Communications (FOC) refers to the technology of transmission of data from source to destination by sending pulses of light through thin strands called optical fiber. A fiber optic cable consists of a bundle of glass or plastic threads, each of which is capable of transmitting messages modulated onto light waves. First developed in the early 1970's fiber optic communications systems have revolutionized the Telecommunications Industry and have played a significant role in the advent of the Information Age. Optical fiber has become the leading transmission medium because of its low loss, light weight, small size, flexibility, low susceptibility to interference and high intrinsic bandwidth.
Dating back to the Roman times, glass has been drawn into fibers but to get to the current state of optical telecommunications, numerous modifications/experiments have been made such as: invention of the optical telegraph, directing of light along jets of water for fountain display (as proof that light signals can be bent), invention of a system of light pipes lined with a highly reflective coating that illuminated homes by using light from an electric arc lamp placed in the basement, use of bent glass rods to illuminate body cavities and use of arrays of transparent rods to transmit images for television and facsimile. From the maser to the laser, single mode fibers with attenuation less then 20dB/km was reached and the first non-experimental fiber-optic link was laid by the Dorset (UK) Police in 1975. In 1977, the first live telephone traffic via optical fiber cable occurred in California. For the next decade, telephone companies worldwide laid fiber cable extensively in rebuilding their communications infrastructure, after the invention of long-distance fiber systems that eliminated the need for optical-electrical-optical repeaters (; Ltd, Timbercon- History of Fiber, 2010).
The first transatlantic telephone cable went into operation in 1988 and later an all-optic system that could carry 100 times more information than cable with electronic amplifiers. The first all-optic fiber cable, TPC-5, that uses optical amplifiers was laid across the Pacific Ocean in 1996. Today, fiber optic technology finds application in a variety of long-distance and high-demand industries including the biomedical, military, telecommunication, industrial, data storage, networking, and broadcast industries. Optical fibers have largely replaced copper wire communications in core intercity, transoceanic, submarine and intercontinental communication.
Role of Experimentation in Engineering Education
Engineering is a practicing profession; a profession where hands-on is key, a profession devoted to harnessing and modifying three fundamental resources that are available to humankind for the creation and manipulation of all technology: energy, materials, and information. "The overarching goal of engineering education is to prepare students to practice engineering and, in particular, to manipulate the forces and materials of nature, energy, and information, thereby creating benefit for humankind. To do this successfully, engineers must have a knowledge of nature that goes beyond mere theory-knowledge that is traditionally gained in educational laboratories" (Lyle D Feisel, 2005).
Laboratories exist at the nexus of commerce, academic disciplines, and the State. Three basic types of engineering laboratories are considered in science: development, research, and educational. While Research laboratories facilitate the discovery of fundamental new knowledge, and Development Laboratories apply the new-found knowledge to develop potential new services or products, Educational laboratories are meant to sharpen concepts that form the theoretical basis. Educational laboratories can be categorized into; traditional, virtual and remote.
Traditional Laboratory
This is the setting where experiments are performed in a physical laboratory supervised by an instructor or technician. During the laboratory investigations, groups of students follow prescribed procedures in order to reproduce and measure some scientifically explainable event. While there are clear pedagogical benefits to replicating scientific processes in a controlled classroom setting, students often have difficulty comprehending how such phenomena manifest on larger scales and connecting their lab results to the real world. This arrangement is also costly in terms of staff time and equipment.
Remote Laboratory
Advances in technology have made it possible to devise and run computer-based e-laboratories accessible to any user with connection to the Internet, equipped with very simple technical means and making full use of web services. Physical equipment is set up in one location and with the help of a web server, students remotely access and conduct experiments as desired. This is an ultimate solution because students get to use expensive laboratory equipment, which is not usually available to them (Chen, 2008).
Virtual Laboratory
This contribution deals with the use of software applications to simulate and conduct laboratory experiments. This enables experimentation anytime, anywhere. Tests are conducted as if it were a real laboratory, results interpreted and applied to practical situations. However, the results are usually the same and do not depict the real systems (Budhu, 2002).
Implementation of Remote Engineering
Technological advances have enhanced automation and remote control of data acquisition and process instruments in almost all Engineering work places. To this end, the students with the most exposure to remote control technologies will best understand these automated technologies. The fast-paced changes in the technological environment demand that the engineers and technologists keep up-to-date with the new hardware layers as they emerge. The remote control software component shifts the
hands-on nature of design and programming of the new systems constructed from that new hardware towards a computer-controlled work culture. The Internet itself evolves through this interplay between hardware and software advances.
The advent of the Internet has allowed for a whole new teaching paradigm, that of online learning. The advent of widespread and inexpensive broadband services allows for new dimensions in online learning whether they are real time interactive video conferencing of class material or asynchronously accessed and controlled streamed lecture material, laboratory instructional videos, and even laboratory simulations that can be performed by the student (Deniz Gurkan, 2008).
iLabs Infrastructure
iLabs Shared Architecture (Introduction- basics)
Interactive Architecture
LabVIEW
ELVIS
FOTEx
System Development Life Cycle
System Requirements- (functional and non-functional specs)
Design Specifications (Software and Hardware Requirements)
