DESIGN OF A FOUR BIT NUMERIC DATA TRANSCEIVER USING OPTICAL FREE SPACE COMMUNICATION

1.2 Project Motivation

In today's data rich world, high speed connections has become almost as important as the internet itself, broadband is faster and more accessible than ever before. Almost 60 million people now pay premium to access data all over the world with high speed connection, millions more want to join but cannot [3]. Service providers are always tasked to deliver high-speed internet access to eagerly waiting customers but, lack of infrastructure, long distance challenges, cost, competitive and regulatory issues are a constant problems especially in Nigeria and Africa in general. But with development of (FSO) technology a shortcut to broadband connectivity can be created to link with existing networks such as wired and wireless local area networks (WLANs), fiber optics and even satellite. These networks can then be extended using invisible beams of light (LASER or IR-emitting diodes), resulting in a very fast broadband wireless connections with merits such as no spectrum licenses, no electromagnetic interference (EMI) and highly secured from vandalisation.

1.3 Aims and Objectives

The aim of this project is to design and produce an optical-base system for transmission of 4-bits single digit numeric data from one point to another using free-space optical communication to illustrate the working principle of an (FSO) system.

The objectives of this project are:

1. To design an optical-base transceiver system using free-space optics.

2. To design the model using infrared (IR) beams.

3. To achieve a reasonable distance of at least 10 meters.

4. To illustrate the basic fundamental principle of the (FSO) systems.

1.4 Methodology

The implementation of this project uses a digital serial transmission system where single numeric integers are sent using 4-bits coding system over an optical path sequentially. This system is efficient because it requires less signal processing thereby less chance of error compared to parallel transmission and thus a faster transfer rate. The model uses a transmitter which encodes the integers into 4-bit codes then to a binary-to-frequency converter, next is to an optical emitter over free-space and a receiver, which reproduces the numeric integer from the received optical signal using a seven segment display.

1.5 Scope of Study

This project seeks to cover the design and implementation of a 4-bit transceiver using optical transmission channel. The maximum range of communication between the optical transmitter and receiver is between 10 to 20 meters. Intercommunication link between both the transmitter and receiver systems is completely based on line of sight.

1.6 Project Outline

The Chapter one of this project introduce the entire work. Chapter two reviews LASER in free-space optical and modulation in data transmission, Chapter three deals with the design procedure, Chapter four covers the construction, testing and result analysis. Chapter five is the summery which consist of the conclusion, recommendation and references