This unit entry is for students who completed this unit in 2016 only. For students planning to study the unit, please refer to the unit indexes in the the current edition of the Handbook. If you have any queries contact the managing faculty for your course or area of study.

ECE4043 - Optical communications

6 points, SCA Band 2, 0.125 EFTSL

Undergraduate - Unit

Refer to the specific census and withdrawal dates for the semester(s) in which this unit is offered.

Faculty

Engineering

Organisational Unit

Department of Electrical and Computer Systems Engineering

Coordinator(s)

Dr B Corcoran (Clayton); Dr Bakaul Masuduzzaman (Malaysia)

Offered

Clayton

Second semester 2016 (Day)

Malaysia

First semester 2016 (Day)

Synopsis

Students will study the characteristics of key components that make up optical communications systems, including: lasers and advanced lightwave sources and direct modulation, optical modulators, optical fibres, optical amplifiers, filters and multiplexers, optical receivers and associated electronics. Secondly, students will use this knowledge to analyse and design optical communications systems. Examples will include local-area networks, metropolitan area networks, long-haul links and transcontinental networks.

Outcomes

At the end of this unit, students are expected to:

explain the underlying physical principles of optical subsystems, including transmitters, fibres, amplifiers and receivers
develop methods of increasing the data bandwidth of optical systems including dispersion compensation, wavelength division multiplexing and polarisation multiplexing
evaluate the performance of optical components within optical systems, including lasers, modulators and amplifiers
simulate the interactions of components and understand performance measures
design optical communication links for short, medium and long-haul applications

Assessment

Continuous assessment: 30%
Examination: (3 hours): 70%.
Students are required to achieve at least 45% in the total continuous assessment component (assignments, tests, mid-semester exams, laboratory reports) and at least 45% in the final examination component and an overall mark of 50% to achieve a pass grade in the unit. Students failing to achieve this requirement will be given a maximum of 45% in the unit.

Workload requirements

3 hours lectures, 3 hours laboratory and practice classes and 6 hours of private study per week

Chief examiner(s)

Prof Tom Drummond

Prerequisites

ECE2021 (or ECE3202 or PHS2022) and ECE2041 (or ECE3402)

Prohibitions

ECE4405, ECE5043, ECE5405