Educational fiber optic transmission equipment with dedicated BER features

Abstract

We designed a low cost optical transmission system for use in undergraduate courses in physics and engineering. The system includes boards for bit error rate (BER) measurements, digital and analog transmitters and receivers. master clock, pseudo-random sequence. and noise generators. Programmable logic components were used for both, the BER meter and the pseudorandom seqnetice generator. The cost. of the equipment and its design simplicity makes it suitable for most teaching laboratories.