Repeater Powering Plans for Fiber Optic Communication Systems

Repeater powering plans are reconsidered from the standpoint of fiber optic transmission. It is shown that conventional powering plans are quite inefficient. It is also shown that ordinary methods for analyses are inconvenient for studying powering network. A method that significantly simplifies the analyses is proposed. According to this method, the general solution can easily be obtained from a special solution. Repeater powering plans are classified and compared to show the efficiency of the method. The comparison proves to be quite convenient for choosing efficient powering plans in accordance with applications. In general, some classes of parallel powering plans receiving relatively high voltages (a few hundred volts) are preferable from the practical standpoint. Further considerations for realizing economical powering networks have been discussed. It is suggested that the development of optical devices and design of transmission equipment should carefully be based on these considerations. For example, development of photo diode (APD) with low-breakdown voltage is not required and the inclusion of high-voltage generators in repeaters is neither necessary nor desirable from the standpoint of repeater powering.