Receiver threshold setting and transmitter power control for ATM communication system

Abstract: Transmitters in substations of the system transmit signals in bursts and in dedicated timeslots to a main station. The latter station converts the received signals to digital signals by means of a processing circuitry included in its receiver. This processing circuitry performs the steps of an iterative process and in each step derives from a received signal Iin a threshold value related to a characteristic of the signal. This value is stored via an analog-to-digital convertor AD in a memory MEM. The characteristic of the signal Iin is then compared in a comparator consisting of two comparator circuits C1 and C2 and a switch S, with a threshold value stored previously for the substation which sent Iin. This value is prior to receipt of Iin, i.e. during a previous timeslot, applied to e.g. C1 via a digital-to-analog convertor DA1. During this comparison a threshold stored for the substation which is next to transmit a signal is retrieved from MEM via a digital-to-analog convertor DA2. The result of the comparison is via S generated at Dout and represents the digital conversion of Iin. The power of the transmitted signals is controlled by a circuit included in the transmitters of the system. This circuit compares the peak power values of a maintenance signal coupled back via a backfacet diode D with reference values REF1 and REF2 and controls a laser circuit L based on the result of the comparison stored in a memory MEM2.

Description: The present invention relates to a transmission system according to the preamble of claim 1. The receiver of such a system which is generally known in the art is described in the article "Burst-Mode Compatible Optical Receiver With A Large Dynamic Range", by Yusuke Ota and Robert G. Swartz, published in the "Journal of lightwave technology", Vol. 8, No 12, December 1990, pp.1897-1903. Therein the processing means determines the amplitude threshold value used to convert a received analog signal to a digital signal "on the fly", i.e. at the beginning of each burst of signals. For high-rate burst signals this implies that the processing means has to perform this operation at a correspondingly high speed and therefore has to be equipped with components allowing such a high speed operation, such components being generally expensive. Moreover, the known receiver cannot be applied in so-called point-to-multipoint systems. An object of the invention is to provide a transmission system of the above type including a receiver of the known type, but which does not present the mentioned drawback, i.e. which has not to perform the derivation of the threshold at a high speed and has therefore not to be equipped with relatively expensive elements, and which is also suited for point-to-multipoint systems. According to the invention this object is achieved by the transmission system of claim 1. By using for each signal received from a transmitter in a substation a threshold value derived from a previous signal received from the same transmitter and applying this signal to the comparator before the former signal is received the receiver in the main station has more time to retrieve the threshold from memory and to perform said derivation operation. Moreover, if the time interval between a signal and a following signal from the same transmitter is not large enough to perform the derivation operation, the next to following signal or the next to next to following signal and so on, can be used therefore. A further embodiment of the invention is that it additionally includes a control means which iteratively retrieves said decision threshold during each of the assigned time slots, said substation which is next to transmit a signal being the one having a following time slot assigned to it, and said comparator performing no comparison and no threshold derivation being performed by said processor means when no signal is received during said time slot. In this way no comparison is performed when no signal is received, whilst when a signal is received it can immediately be compared with the threshold value related to its substation transmitter and while this comparison is going on, the threshold value to be used for the next comparison with the following to be received signal is retrieved and transferred to the comparator. Another embodiment of the invention is that said comparator includes two comparator circuits, first inputs of which are coupled to an input terminal of said receiver, where said signals are received, whilst second inputs thereof are coupled with said memory via respective first and second digital-to-analog converters, said memory and said converters being controlled by control means to alternatively apply successive ones of said previously stored values to said first inputs of said comparator circuits and said comparator additionally including switching means to alternatively connect an output of said first and second comparator circuits with an output terminal of said receiver depending on said previously stored threshold being applied to a first input of said second or said first comparator circuit respectively. In this way the above described steps of the iterative process can be realized. Still another embodiment of the invention is that said main station includes a transmitter which is associated with said receiver and is able to send control signals to receivers located in said substations and associated with a corresponding transmitter therein, said control signals being indicative of the power value, upon receipt by said receiver in said main station, of said signals transmitted by said transmitters in said substations, and that said receivers in said substations include interpretation means to interpret said control signals, and means to control the power of said transmitted signals according to the result of said interpretation operation, thereby controlling the power of the transmitted signals to have a predetermined value. Yet another embodiment of the invention is that it is an optical system and that at least one of said transmitters is able to transmit second control signals, said second control signals being digital signals comprising a predetermined first number of consecutive digital zero values indicative of the lowest peak value of said transmitted signals by said transmitter, and a predetermined second number of consecutive digital one values indicative of the highest peak value of said transmitted signals, and that said transmitter includes a backfacet diode to which said second control signal is applied, said diode generating a signal indicative of said lowest and highest peak values and thus of the high and low power value of said transmitted signals, said transmitter also including comparison means to compare said lowest and highest power values with predetermined reference values, a laser diode included in said transmitter for transmission of said information signals and of said second control signal, being controlled according to the result of said comparison. In this way the laser diode of the transmitter is regulated to work in its optimal power range. Since signals are sent in bursts with no transmission between two successive bursts, it is indeed not the mean power value of the laser diode which has to be regulated as for continuous transmission, but the maximum and minimum values thereof because the mean value is not guaranteed to be half of the difference of these values. To allow the backfacet diode, which is a cheap diode optimized to estimate the mean power of a signal, to provide the transmitter with an indication of this maximum and minimum power value, the above mentioned special pattern of consecutive zeroes and ones is transmitted via the laser diode. In this way, the indication of the mean power values generated by the diode for the sequence of zeroes and ones approximates the latter minimum and maximum power values of the signal respectively. The above mentioned and other objects and features of the invention will become more apparent and the invention itself will be best understood by referring to the following description of an embodiment taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings wherein : Fig. 1 represents a functional diagram of part of a receiver included in a main station of a transmission system according to the invention; and Fig. 2 shows part of a transmitter included in a substation of that system. The transmission system includes a plurality of terminal stations or substations which are coupled to a main station via individual optical links and a common link, i.e. via a so-called tree structure. Each of these stations includes an optical transmitter and an optical receiver, but in Figs. 1 and 2 only the receiver of a main station and the transmitter of a substation are shown in relative detail respectively. Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM) packets or cells are transmitted in bursts from the substations to the main station in dedicated time slots. The time slots are assigned to the substations by the main station as described in the European Patent Application with publication number 0 544975 A1. As a consequence the main station always knows which substation is the next one to transmit a signal. When during its assigned time slot the substation has no information to send, it transmits an idle cell. Between the bursts no substation is allowed to send and consequently the output signals of the transmitters of these substations are ignored by the main station receiver. The above ATM cells are transmitted by the substations on optical links as optical analog signals and the latter are converted to digital signals in the receiver of the main station. To this end the amplitude of a signal received therein is compared with a threshold value substantially equal to half of the sum of the maximum and minimum amplitude value of the received signal. This implies that the main station must know the latter maximum and minimum values and that this values and consequently also the power value or more specifically the maximum and minimum power value of the signals transmitted by the substations have to remain substantially constant. How this is achieved is explained later. The circuit of Fig. 1 represents the receiver part of the main station which realizes the above mentioned comparison. It includes a pinfet circuit PFET to convert an optical signal Iin received from a substation to an electrical signal. An output of the pinfet circuit PFET is coupled via an amplifier module AMP to a peak-to-peak amplitude detector PPD and to first inputs of two comparator circuits C1 and C2. AMP amplifies the electrical signal generated by PFET and performs offset control, whilst PPD detects the maximum and minimum peak values of the amplified signal and stores these values in a sample and hold circuit S/H connected therewith. The sample and hold circuit S/H is coupled to a converter circuitry AD including an analog-to-digital converter circuit and a processor. AD converts the peak values stored in S/H to digital signals, calculates half of the sum of these values and stores the thus obtained reference or threshold value in a memory module MEM to which it is connected via a bidirectional access bus B. The location in MEM in which this value is stored is dedicated to the substation which transmitted Iin, i.e. each substation identity is associated with an address of MEM where the threshold value applicable to the substation is stored as shown in Fig. 1, where SS1, SS2, and so on indicate the threshold derived for a substation 1, 2, ... (not shown) which are stored at addresses derived from the substation identities. Via the same data bus B MEM is also connected to an input of a first and a second digital-to-analog converters, DA1 and DA2 respectively, an output of DA1 being connected to a second input of C1, whilst an output of DA2 is connected to a second input of C2. The outputs of C1 and of C2 are connected to respective inputs of a switching circuit S, an output of which is connected to an output terminal Dout at which a digital signal Dout is generated. PPD, S/H, AD, DA1, DA2 and S are controlled by control signals generated by a control module CO to an input of which a control signal C is applied. C is locally generated by a module TSM of a transmitter of the main station associated with the considered receiver. This control signal C is at each instant in time indicative of an identity of the user terminal to which a next time slot is assigned, i.e. C indicates which user terminal is next to transmit a signal. TSM is a time slot management module as described in the mentioned European Patent Application, which assigns the time slots to the substations. It has to be noted that although in Fig. 1, for the sake of clarity of the figure, there is shown only one control line over which the control signals performing the above controls are transmitted, this line in fact represents different connections to the appropriate circuits. Following is a description of the operation of the circuit of Fig. 1. As mentioned earlier the optical signal Iin is converted by PFET to an electrical signal which is amplified by AMP and the peak values derived therefrom by PPD and stored in S/H are converted by DA to a digital value from which the threshold value is derived and this threshold value is by DA stored in MEM under control of CO. CO has indeed to trigger PPD, S/H and AD when Iin is received and has to indicate to MEM where the calculated threshold has to be stored since, as earlier mentioned, this storage address is related to the identity of the substation which sent Iin. In C1 and C2 the amplified signal is compared with two signal values applied to the respective second inputs thereof. One of these two values is the earlier mentioned threshold value related to the substation which sent Iin and which was earlier i.e. prior to the receipt of Iin e.g. via DA1 retrieved from MEM and applied to C1 as will be explained hereafter. The other signal applied to C2 is a threshold value retrieved before the one applied to C1 as will also be explained hereafter. While the comparison of Iin with its corresponding threshold value is performed by C1, CO controls MEM to apply to DA2 the stored threshold value relative to the next substation to transmit a signal. As explained earlier the main station indeed knows at each instant which substation is the next to transmit a signal and this knowledge is passed to CO via the signal C. DA2 converts the digital threshold value to an analog one and applies it to the second input of C2. In this way, when the signal sent by that next substation is received, the corresponding threshold value is already available at C2 while at the second input of C1 the previously retrieved threshold is then still available. In a next step a new threshold value is, in advance, applied to C1, whilst the previous retrieved threshold is still available at C2 which corresponds to the considered first described situation. To provide at Dout the correct comparison result, i.e. in the considered above described situation the output of C1, S is upon receipt of Iin by the main station controlled by CO to alternately connect the outputs of C1 and C2 with Dout when the threshold relative to Iin is applied to C1 and C2 respectively. In this way the signal provided at Dout is the digital equivalent of Iin, i.e. when In is larger than the related threshold value a 1 value is generated, when it is smaller a 0 value is generated. It has to be noted that each time a new threshold value is calculated and stored the previous value related to the same substation is overwritten. Also, although in the above described embodiment of the receiver of the main station the threshold value used for the comparison with a received signal from a substation is derived from an immediately preceding signal received from the same substation, this value can equally well be derived from a prior or even from a prior to prior, and so on, signal to provide for more time to perform the calculation. In this case the implementation of the circuit becomes more complicated since more than one value has to be stored for each substation and a number of calculations have to be performed in parallel. Also, a same threshold value could be used for a number of consecutively received signals from one substation in which case a control system has to be provided to allow the calculation and storage of the reference value only after that number of signals has been received. At start-up of the transmission system the substations first send a number of idle cells, i.e. cells without information, to allow the main unit receiver to calculate a first reference value. It has to be noted that at the beginning of each derivation the peak detector PPD is not reset by CO to a zero value, but is preset to values which deviate slightly from the previously measured ones, i.e. the maximum and minimum values are set to a value slightly less and higher respectively than the previously measured ones. This because the detector is not fast enough to reach the peak values of the signal when starting from zero. For the same reason it takes a few idle cells at start up before PPD indicates the correct peak values and thus also before a correct threshold value is obtained. Since a threshold value to be used for a signal Iin is derived from a preceding signal received from the same substation, the above described circuit only produces a correct digital signal at Dout when the amplitude of the signals received from that substation remain substantially constant. To this end the main station periodically transmits to each substation in a so-called maintenance cell or control cell an indication of the amplitude of the signals received from that station. This indication is derived from the output signal of PPD. The maintenance cells are transmitted in the same way as normal cells and as described in the mentioned European patent application and they are interpreted and used by each substation unit to control the amplitude and Reference is now made to Fig. 2 for a description of a circuit included in a transmitter for instance of a substation of the system. This circuit controls a laser diode included therein, to convert the signals to be transmitted in optical signals, to work in an optimal way. This optimal working is achieved when the power value of an optical signal generated by that diode is located within a predetermined range, i.e. its maximum power level should not exceed a predetermined upper value, whilst its minimum power level should not be smaller than a predetermined lower value, where these values depend on the characteristics of the laser diode. In case of continuous transmission the mean power value of the to be transmitted signals is controlled to achieve the above purpose, this mean value being equal to half of the sum of the minimum and the maximum power level. In case of bursty transmission the mean power value cannot be guaranteed to be equal to the above half due to the dead spaces between the bursts. For this reason both the maximum and minimum power level of the to be transmitted signal have to be controlled. This control is realized as described hereafter, by making reference to the schematic circuit shown in Fig. 2 which is, as mentioned earlier, part of the substation optical transmitter. This circuit includes a backfacet diode D and an amplifier circuit AMP1, two comparator circuits C3 and C4, a control circuit CO1, a converter module CON, and two memory modules MEM1 and MEM2 which realize the above mentioned optimal working as described hereafter and a laser circuit to perform the mentioned electrical/optical conversion of the signals to be transmitted. The backfacet diode D which is a cheap diode optimized to provide a good estimate of the mean power of a received signal is via AMP1 coupled to first inputs of the comparator circuits C3 and C4 and is controlled by the control circuit CO1. The memory module MEM1 applies to second inputs of C3 and C4 reference values REF1 and REF2 respectively. The results of the comparison performed by C3 and C4 are applied to respective inputs of the control circuit CO1 an output of which is connected to an input of MEM2 which is also controlled by CO1. An output of MEM2 is connected to an input of L which is again controlled by CO1, whilst an input terminal Dout is connected to another input of L and output of which is connected to lout. Iout is optically coupled with D. CO1 generates three control signals C1, C2, C3 applied to D, MEM2 and L respectively. C1 enables D when a periodic second maintenance signal is sent out by L as explained hereafter; C2 indicates to MEM2 when a signal Iout, which can be the mentioned maintenance cell is transmitted and C3 indicates to L that it has to transmit the mentioned second maintenance signal. CO1 includes a timing circuit to generate C1 and C2 at predetermined time intervals and is informed by the main station of the time slots assigned to the transmitter it is included in. On the basis of this information it generates a signal C3 each time a signal may be sent. Since the realization of CO1 is obvious from its functional description, it is not described in further details, neither are the other elements of the circuit since they consist of basis circuitry. Following is now a description of the operation circuit of Fig. 2. The purpose of this circuit is to derive from the above mentioned second maintenance cell a control signal to control a laser included in L to work in its optimal range. To this end and as described earlier, the minimum and the above described 0000FFFF pattern. To this end and as described earlier, the minimum and maximum power values of a generated signal, more specifically of the second maintenance signal may not be smaller, respectively greater than predetermined reference values which depend on the characteristics of the laser. In order to obtain at an output of D and thus also at an output of AMP1 an indication of the earlier mentioned peak power values, of the second maintenance signal, this signal which is under control of C1, interpreted by D, includes a 0000FFFF hex pattern corresponding to a digital 00001111 byte pattern, so that a signal part generated by AMP1 and corresponding to the 0000 part of the pattern is indicative of the minimum value of the signal whilst a signal part corresponding to the FFFF part is indicative of the maximum power value. These maximum and minimum indications are compared with the reference values REF1 and REF2, by the two comparator circuits C3 and C4 respectively. REF1, is the earlier mentioned upper value, and REF2, is the also earlier mentioned lower value. C1 and C2 detect a low-to-high and a high-to-low transition of a signal respectively and compare the high and low value of that signal respectively with the value applied to their second input, i.e. REF1 and REF2 respectively. The results of this comparison are converted in CON which generates a digital control signal to be stored in a memory module MEM2. Each time a signal Duout applied by a user station (not shown) to the terminal Duout has to be transmitted, Duout has to be transmitted, as indicated by the control signal C2 the digital signal is retrieved from MEM1 and applied to the laser circuit L, to control, after conversion into an analog signal, the laser diode included in the latter circuit thereby regulating the power of a signal Iout generated for transmission by the laser diode from Duout. It has to be noted that at start-up of the transmission system the earlier mentioned idle cells make it possible for the substation to determine a first power control signal and that the stored control signal is overwritten each time a maintenance cell is interpreted. It has also to be noted that a laser diode included in the main station transmitter can be regulated in a similar way.

Claims: A transmission system wherein a transmitter in a substation is arranged to transmit bursts of information signals to a receiver in a main station, said receiver includes processing means (P) provided with a memory means (MEM), a comparator (C1, C2, S) and deriving means, said deriving means adapted to derive, during each step of an iterative process, from a signal (Iin) of one of said bursts received from said substation a decision threshold related to a characteristic of said signal, said memory means (MEM) adapted to store said decision threshold, said comparator being arranged to compare the value of said characteristic of said received signal (Iin) with a previous decision threshold having been determined during a previous step of said process and having been stored in said memory means (MEM) for said substation, said threshold being used in order to carry out an analog-to-digital conversion on said signal (Iin) of said burst, said conversion being the result of the comparison between said previous threshold retrieved from said memory and the value of the characteristic of the received signal (Iin), such that a first digital level is generated when the value of the signal characteristic lies below the threshold, while a second digital level results from that value lying above the threshold, characterized in that said system further includes a plurality of substations similar to said substation, each of them being coupled to said main station and adapted to transmit signals similar to said signal to said main station, and that said memory means (MEM) is arranged so that each substation identity of one of said plurality of substations is associated with a memory address where said threshold value applicable to said substation is stored, and that said main station further includes providing means (TSM) adapted to provide the identity of the substation being the next to transmit a signal in an assigned following time slot, and that said processing means (P) further includes retrieving means adapted to retrieve, at least one time slot before said signal is received, from said memory means (MEM) a previous threshold for said substation according to said provided identity and to apply said threshold to said comparator in order to be used during a following comparison with said signal. The transmission system according to claim 1, characterized in that said characteristic is the amplitude of said transmitted signal. The transmission system according to claim 1, characterized in that said decision threshold is iteratively derived from each of said received signals. The transmission system according to claim 1, characterized in that for each one of said substations, said decision threshold is derived from each n th signal received from said substation. The transmission system according to claim 1, characterized in that upon storage in said memory means (MEM) of said threshold a previously stored threshold for the same substation is overwritten. The transmission system according to claim 1, characterized in that said transmission system additionally includes control means (CO) provided to iteratively retrieve said decision threshold during each one of the assigned time slots for said substation being the next to transmit a signal and which is the one having a following time slot assigned to it, and that in the event when no information signal is received during said time slot, said comparator (C1, C2, S) is arranged to perform no comparison and said processor means (P) is arranged to perform no threshold derivation . The transmission system according to claim 2, characterized in that said threshold value equals half of the sum of the minimum and maximum values of said received signal and that said processing means (P) further includes a detection circuit (PPD) adapted to detect said peak values. The transmission system according to claim 1, characterized in that said comparator (C1, C2, S) further includes two comparator circuits (C1, C2), each one of said comparator circuits (C1, C2) including a first input being coupled to an input terminal of said receiver and a second input being coupled to said memory via a first (DA1) and second (DA2) digital-to-analog converter, respectively, and that said transmission system further includes a control means (CO) adapted to control said memory (MEM) and said converters (DA1, DA2) in order to alternatively apply successive ones of said previously stored values to said second inputs of said comparator circuits (C1, C2), and that said comparator additionally includes switching means (S) adapted to alternatively connect an output of said first (C1) and second (C2) comparator circuits with an output terminal (Dout) of said receiver depending on said previously stored threshold being applied to a second input of said second comparator circuit (C2) or of said first (C1) comparator circuit, respectively. The transmission system according to claim 1, characterized in that said main station further includes a transmitter associated to said receiver and adapted to send control signals to receivers located in said substations and associated with a corresponding transmitter therein, said control signals being indicative of the power value of said signals transmitted by said transmitters in said substations to said receiver in said main station. The transmission system according to claim 9, characterized in that said receivers in said substations further includes interpretation means adapted to interpret said control signals, and means to control the power of said transmitted signals according to the result of said interpretation operation. Transmission system according to claim 9, characterized in it is an optical system and that at least one of said transmitters is able to transmit second control signals, said second control signals being digital signals comprising a predetermined first number of consecutive digital zero values indicative of the lowest peak value of said transmitted signals by said transmitter, and a predetermined second number of consecutive digital one values indicative of the highest peak value of said transmitted signals, and that said transmitter includes a backfacet diode (D) to which said second control signal (MC) is applied, said diode (D) generating a signal indicative of said lowest and highest peak values and thus of the high and low power value of said transmitted signals, said transmitter also including comparison means (C3, C4) to compare said lowest and highest power values with predetermined reference values, a laser diode (L) included in said transmitter for transmission of said information signals and of said second control signal, being controlled according to the result of said comparison. The transmission system according to claim 11, characterized in that said transmitters in said substations are adapted to transmit, at start-up time of said system, a plurality of preliminary signals in order to enable said receiver in said main station to derive a first threshold value for each of said transmitters, to adjust the power of said transmitted signals and to obtain a first power value thereof. The transmission system according to any of the previous claims, characterized in that said signals are asynchronous transfer mode cells. The transmission system according to claim 12, characterized in that said preliminary signals are constituted by idle asynchronous transfer mode cells. The transmission system according to claim 12, characterized in that said transmitters are adapted to send idle cells in the event when they do not wish to send information signals during their assigned time slots. The transmission system according to claim 1, characterized in that said system is an optical system. A main station for inclusion in a transmission system wherein a transmitter in a substation is arranged to transmit bursts of information signals to a receiver in said main station, said receiver includes processing means (P) provided with a memory means (MEM), a comparator (C1, C2, S) and deriving means, said deriving means adapted to derive, during each step of an iterative process, from a signal (Iin) of one of said bursts received from said substation a decision threshold related to a characteristic of said signal, said memory means (MEM) adapted to store said decision threshold, said comparator being arranged to compare the value of said characteristic of said received signal (Iin) with a previous decision threshold having been determined during a previous step of said process and having been stored in said memory means (MEM) for said substation, said threshold being used in order to carry out an analog-to-digital conversion on said signal (Iin) of said burst, said conversion being the result of the comparison between said previous threshold retrieved from said memory and the value of the characteristic of the received signal (Iin), such that a first digital level is generated when the value of the signal characteristic lies below the threshold, while a second digital level results from that value lying above the threshold, characterized in that said main station is further coupled to a plurality of substations included in said transmission system and similar to said substation, and that said main station is adapted to receive signals similar to said signal and transmitted by each one of said plurality of substations, and that said memory means (MEM) is arranged so that each substation identity of one of said plurality of substations is associated with a memory address where said threshold value applicable to said substation is stored, and that said main station further includes providing means (TSM) adapted to provide the identity of the substation being the next to transmit a signal in an assigned following time slot, and that said processing means (P) further includes retrieving means adapted to retrieve, at least one time slot before said signal is received, from said memory means (MEM) a previous threshold for said substation according to said provided identity and to apply said threshold to said comparator in order to be used during a following comparison with said signal.

Inventors: ALLAERT JOOST, DE GROOTE JAN LIEVEN BERT, VAN PARYS HANS ACHIEL GILBERTE, VANDEWEGE JAN ALFONS ODA, ALLAERT, JOOST, DE GROOTE, JAN LIEVEN BERT, VAN PARYS, HANS ACHIEL GILBERTE, VANDEWEGE, JAN ALFONS ODA
Applicants: ALCATEL BELL, ALCATEL NV, ALCATEL N.V.
Application year: 1992
Main classification: H04L25
IPC codes: H04L25