All-optical 3R regeneration and format conversion in an integrated SOA/DFB laser

Using a compact, integrated device at 2.488Gb/s, simultaneous NRZ to RZ format conversion and regeneration was achieved. The regenerated signal has a negative BER sensitivity of -1.5dB compared with a data signal transmitted down 101km of standard fiber.

10-Gbits/s all-optical 3R regeneration and format conversion using a gain-switched DFB laser

A strain-compensated multiple quantum well device is used as a DFB laser, this has been optimized for low jitter gain switched operation at 10 GHz. The signal is transmitted down 80 km of standard fiber then amplified, filtered and polarization controlled before being injected into a DFB laser. The purpose of this regeneration process is to gain switch the DFB with the extracted clock signal in order to retime the converted signal. This process also simultaneously converts the input NRZ format to an output RZ data to format and results in a signal whose optical power and extinction ratio are considerably improved by the regeneration process.

A Videogrammetric As-Built Data Collection Method for Digital Fabrication of Sheet Metal Roof Panels

A roofing contractor typically needs to acquire as-built dimensions of a roof structure several times over the course of its build to be able to digitally fabricate sheet metal roof panels. Obtaining these measurements using the exiting roof surveying methods could be costly in terms of equipment, labor, and/or worker exposure to safety hazards. This paper presents a video-based surveying technology as an alternative method which is simple to use, automated, less expensive, and safe. When using this method, the contractor collects video streams with a calibrated stereo camera set. Unique visual characteristics of scenes from a roof structure are then used in the processing step to automatically extract as-built dimensions of roof planes. These dimensions are finally represented in a XML format to be loaded into sheet metal folding and cutting machines. The proposed method has been tested for a roofing project and the preliminary results indicate its capabilities.