The purpose of this paper is to discuss cost effective components for workstation interconnection as Fiber Distributed Data Interface networks transporting data at 100 Mbps proliferate within the next few years. The 1300 nm components called for in the draft standard are relatively expensive and will probably be used in the backbone. However 830 and 660 nm components based on AlGaAs/GaAs technology appear to be suitable and offer significant cost savings for workstation interconnections over 50 to 500 meter distances. The 830 nm interconnection still uses silica fiber while 660 nm interconnetion could be done with cheaper polymer fiber as the medium. The discussion is centered on a comparison of the costs and performance of these alternative components with the l300nm devices. The presently available 830 nm technology could carry the data over 500 meters while the 660 nm technology with polymer optical fiber can be used up to 50 meters. A recently developed receiver based on a monolithic GaAs preamplifier with a sensitivity of -39 dBm average at 125 Mbps and a wide dynamic range is also described here.

Date Published: 1 February 1991
PDF: 7 pages
Proc. SPIE 1364, FDDI, Campus-Wide, and Metropolitan Area Networks, (1 February 1991); doi: 10.1117/12.24616

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 1364:
FDDI, Campus-Wide, and Metropolitan Area Networks
Kadiresan Annamalai; Stewart K. Cudworth; Allen B. Kasiewicz, Editor(s)