JPS59140735A - Repeating device of optical communication system - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To reduce the cost of an optical communication system and to improve its communication precision by constituting the optical communication system by using optical transmitter and receivers of the same constitution. CONSTITUTION:A repeating device III consists of optical transmitter and receivers 100 and 100' of the same constitution. When a light signal is transmitted from an optical transmitter and receiver I to an optical transmitter and receiver II, the light signal A is received by numbers of lenses 20 provided to the device 100 and converted by a photoelectric converting element 21 into an electric signal, which is sent to a signal processor through a lead line 22; and the processor converts the signal into an electric signal equivalent to the received light signal, and the transmitter part of the device 100' is driven by the electric signal to radiate a light signal A' to the optical transmitter and receiver II. The transmission of a light signal from the optical transmitter and receiver II to the optical transmitter and receiver I is also performed through similar operations.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention can be used in an optical communication system that performs optical communication between two remote points, for example, between a fixed station and a fixed station, or between a fixed station and a mobile station. The present invention relates to a relay device that connects between

Optical communication systems are well known in which an optical signal is transmitted from one fixed station to another fixed station, the optical signal is received at the other fixed station, and the optical signal is transmitted and received between the two stations. . Therefore, when the fixed station is installed on the roof of a building to perform the above-mentioned optical communication, especially in modern high-rise buildings, the building may be displaced due to temperature differences between sunny areas and shaded areas. However, the emission direction or position of the optical signal transmitted from the transmitter side becomes incorrect, or the direction or position of the light-receiving surface of the light-receiving lens on the receiver side becomes incorrect, and the optical signal emitted from the transmitter side becomes incorrect. There are drawbacks such as the receiver cannot catch the light, or the amount of light received decreases, resulting in deterioration of communication accuracy.

Furthermore, if the transmitter side and the receiver side are, for example, 2 km apart, then light emitted from a light source with a diameter of 3 cm from the transmitter side will spread to a diameter of about 3 m at the receiver side, It is possible to receive the entire transmitted light amount only by using a 3m lens, and as mentioned above, if the relative positional relationship between the transmitter and receiver breaks down, the received light amount will decrease or
There may be cases where total heat cannot be received. However, since large lenses are expensive, in reality, such large receiving lenses are not used. As a result, a certain degree of redundancy occurs with respect to deviations in the relative positional relationship between the transmitter and receiver, which is advantageous in that sense, but on the other hand, there is a problem that the amount of received light is small and communication accuracy deteriorates. there were.

In view of the above-mentioned circumstances, the present applicant first proposed an optical communication system in which the relative positional relationship between the transmitter side and the receiver side is always kept normal to improve the optical communication accuracy.

FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram of an optical communication system previously proposed by the present applicant. In the figure, I indicates the transmitter side, ■ indicates the receiver side, and there are actually several 100m to several kilometers away. On the transmitter side ■, 10 is a light emitting element such as an LED, 11 is a focusing lens, 12 is a lead wire, and the LED
O is blinked by the image signal sent through the lead wire 12. The optical signal emitted from the LED l 0 is focused into a substantially parallel beam by a lens 11 and is emitted toward the receiver side (2). On the receiver side (2), 20 is a lens, 21 is a photoelectric conversion element arranged near the focal position of each lens 20, and each lens 20 receives the optical signal transmitted from the transmitter side I as described above. Each photoelectric conversion element 21 converts the optical signal focused by each lens into an electrical signal. Each electrical signal received in this way is transmitted to a signal processing device (not shown) through the lead wire 22, and in the signal processing device, it is added in an analog manner and then converted into digital binary values, or each electrical signal is The received digital optical signal is converted into an electrical digital signal and reproduced by converting it into a digital binary signal and then finally converting it into a digital binary signal according to the majority voting principle.

FIG. 2 is a schematic overall configuration diagram showing an example of the receiver side. In the figure, 20 is a lens, and 23 is a lens for detecting the direction of the optical signal transmitted from the transmitter side as described above. The optical sensor section is arranged, for example, in a transparent capsule 30 as shown in the figure. Further, 24 is a support frame body that integrally holds the lens and sensor, 25 is a first rotation shaft for rotating the support frame body 24, and 26 is a rotation shaft for rotating the first rotation shaft 25. first motor for, 27
is a support arm for rotatably supporting the rotating shaft 25; 28 is a second rotating shaft for rotating the supporting arm 27 around an axis orthogonal to the first rotating shaft 25; The rotating shaft 28 is driven by a second motor (not shown). The above receiving device is basically the same as those previously proposed by the present applicant as various sunlight collecting devices (see, for example, Japanese Patent Application No. 57-2156).

The optical sensor 23 detects the incident direction of the optical signal sent from the transmitter side, and the detection signal causes the lens 2 to
The first rotation axis and the second rotation axis are controlled so that 0 always faces in the direction of incidence of the optical signal. Therefore, in the solar light collecting device previously proposed by the applicant, the light receiving end of the light guide is disposed at the focal point of each lens, and the sunlight focused by each lens can be freely transmitted through the light guide. In this optical communication system, a photoelectric conversion element 21 is arranged at the focal position of each lens, as explained with reference to FIG.
The optical signal received by the photoelectric conversion element is converted into an electrical signal and reproduced. Regarding optical sensors, the present applicant has already proposed various types of sunlight direction sensors in connection with solar light collection devices (for example, the patent application filed in 1973
7-128583), the sunlight direction sensor can be used as is in the present optical communication system, so a detailed explanation of the optical sensor will be omitted here. In addition,
Although FIG. 2 shows an example in which the receiver section is housed within the transparent capsule 30, the receiver section does not necessarily need to be housed within the transparent capsule. However, if the device is housed in a capsule, no dust will adhere to the lens surface, optical sensor, etc., and only the dust adhering to the outer surface of the capsule needs to be cleaned from time to time, making maintenance management very easy. In this case, as shown in FIG. 3, it is also possible to accommodate the transmitter part I in the capsule. 31 should be provided. Moreover, this transmitter part I can also be provided within the optical sensor part 23, and in that case, a part 32 of the capsule 30 can be carved into the transmitter part I and directed to the traveling direction of the emitted optical signal. By configuring the capsule portion in a substantially vertical plane, it is possible to prevent the optical signal emitted from the transmitter from being scattered by the capsule portion.

The present invention relates to a relay device suitable for use in the optical communication system as described above, and in particular, enables the relay device to be configured with substantially the same specifications as the optical transmitter/receiver, thereby widening the area of the system. (longer distance) and lower costs.

Figure 4 is an overall configuration diagram of the optical communication system according to the present invention. Optical signals are transmitted and received between the optical transceivers I and II as described above. ■ is installed between these optical transmitter/receivers I and ■ to relay optical signals sent and received between these optical transmitter and receivers.As is well known, when the visibility between optical transmitter and receivers I and ■ is poor, , or used when the distance is long.

FIG. 5 is a detailed diagram of the relay device (2), which includes a first optical transmitter/receiver 100 and a second optical transmitter/receiver 100' having exactly the same configuration as the first optical transmitter/receiver 100. These are arranged back to back in a transparent capsule 30, for example. For example, when transmitting an optical signal from the optical transmitting/receiving device l to the first optical transmitting/receiving device 1,
As described above, the optical signal A transmitted from the optical transmitting/receiving device I is
is received, converted into an electrical signal by the photoelectric conversion element 21, and then sent to a signal processing device (not shown) through the lead wire 22, where it is converted into an electrical signal equivalent to the optical signal received as described above. This electrical signal drives the transmitter section of the second optical transmitter/receiver 100' and emits it as an optical signal A' toward the optical transmitter/receiver (2). When transmitting an optical signal from the optical transmitter/receiver (2) to (2), the optical signal from the optical transmitter/receiver (2) is received by the lens 20' of the second optical transmitter/receiver 100' and converted into an electrical signal. The transmitter section of the first optical transmitter/receiver 100 is driven to emit an optical signal toward the optical transmitter/receiver I. In addition, in FIG. 5, 25 and 28 are the first optical transmitter/receiver 100, respectively.
The first and second rotation axes 25' and 28' are the first and second rotation axes of the second optical transmitter/receiver 100', respectively;
Although these are schematically shown in FIG. 5, they are actually constructed as shown in FIG. 2. Also,
In the above, these first and second optical transmitter/receivers 100,
100' is housed in a single capsule 30, however, it is not necessarily necessary to introduce it into the capsule, nor does it have to be housed in a single capsule. When housed in a single capsule, it can be protected against dust, etc., as mentioned above, and when housed in a single capsule, the installation space is greatly saved;
At the same time, maintenance management becomes easier. Furthermore, the shape of the capsule is not limited to that shown in the drawings; for example, if it is made into a horizontally elongated shape or an adjustable shape, two optical transmitting and receiving devices can be accommodated in the capsule with more room.

As is clear from the above description, according to the present invention, it is possible to configure an optical communication system using optical transmitting and receiving devices with the same configuration, so the cost of the entire system can be reduced, and communication accuracy can be reduced. It is possible to configure a system with high performance.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

Fig. 1 is a block diagram for explaining the outline of an optical communication system in which a relay device according to the present invention is used, Fig. 2 is a block diagram of a receiver side, and Fig. 3 is a block diagram for explaining the outline of an optical communication system in which a relay device according to the present invention is used. FIG. 4 is a schematic configuration diagram of an optical communication system using the relay device according to the present invention, and FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an example of the relay device according to the present invention. FIG. ■... Relay device, 100, 100'... Optical transmitting/receiving device, 20. '20'...Lens, 21, 21'...
Photoelectric conversion element, 22.22'...Lead wire. Figure l ■ ζ] 〉22

Claims (4)

[Claims] (1) An optical transmitter/receiver installed on one site, an optical transmitter/receiver installed on the other site, and a relay device installed between these two optical transmitter/receivers to relay optical information signals. In the optical communication system, the relay device includes a first optical transmitter/receiver that faces the one optical transmitter/receiver, and a second optical transmitter/receiver that faces the other optical transmitter/receiver, The first and second optical transmitting/receiving devices include a light source that emits parallel rays toward the opposing optical transmitting/receiving device, and detecting the parallel rays sent from the opposing optical transmitting/receiving device and determining the direction of the parallel rays. 1. A relay device in an optical communication system, characterized in that it has means for automatically following. (2) The first and second optical transmitting/receiving devices include a plurality of lenses for receiving optical signals transmitted from opposing optical transmitting/receiving devices, and a photoelectric sensor disposed at the focal position of each lens. It has a conversion element, performs arithmetic processing on the output signal of each photoelectric conversion element, converts the received optical signal into an electrical signal, reproduces it, and amplifies the electrical signal to generate an optical signal equivalent to the received optical signal. A relay device in an optical communication system according to claim 1, characterized in that the optical communication system generates and relays signals. (3) Optical communication according to claim (1) or (2), wherein the first and second optical transmitting and receiving devices are housed in a transparent capsule. A relay device in a system. (4) The first and second optical transmitting/receiving devices each include an optical sensor section for detecting an optical signal transmitted from the opposing optical transmitting/receiving device; a transmitter for emitting an optical signal toward the capsule, and a surface through which the optical signal emitted from the transmitter of the capsule passes is configured to be a plane substantially perpendicular to the traveling direction of the optical signal. A relay device in an optical communication system according to any one of claims (1) to (3), characterized in that: