Calculating Power Budget For Fiber-Optic Cable For The Srx5400 Services Gateway - Juniper SRX5400 Hardware Manual

Dispersion is the spreading of the signal in time. The following two types of dispersion can affect an optical
data link:
Chromatic dispersion—The spreading of the signal in time resulting from the different speeds of light
rays.
Modal dispersion—The spreading of the signal in time resulting from the different propagation modes
in the fiber.
For multimode transmission, modal dispersion, rather than chromatic dispersion or attenuation, usually
limits the maximum bit rate and link length. For single-mode transmission, modal dispersion is not a factor.
However, at higher bit rates and over longer distances, chromatic dispersion rather than modal dispersion
limits maximum link length.
An efficient optical data link must have enough light to exceed the minimum power that the receiver
requires to operate within its specifications. In addition, the total dispersion must be less than the limits
specified for the type of link in Telcordia Technologies document GR-253-CORE (Section 4.3) and
International Telecommunications Union (ITU) document G.957.
When chromatic dispersion is at the maximum allowed, its effect can be considered as a power penalty in
the power budget. The optical power budget must allow for the sum of component attenuation, power
penalties (including those from dispersion), and a safety margin for unexpected losses.
Calculating Power Budget for Fiber-Optic Cable for the SRX5400 Services
Gateway
To ensure that fiber-optic connections have sufficient power for correct operation, you need to calculate
the link's power budget, which is the maximum amount of power it can transmit. When you calculate the
power budget, you use a worst-case analysis to provide a margin of error, even though all the parts of an
actual system do not operate at the worst-case levels. To calculate the worst-case estimate of power
budget (P ), you assume minimum transmitter power (P
B
P = P – P
B T R
The following hypothetical power budget equation uses values measured in decibels (dB) and decibels
referred to one milliwatt (dBm):
P = P – P
B T R
P = –15 dBm – (–28 dBm)
B
P = 13 dB
B
) and minimum receiver sensitivity (P
T
162
):
R