Skip to main content

What is Fiber Optic Cable?

By Steve Rogers,
Fiber Optic CableThe world of telecommunications is rapidly moving from copper wire networks to fiber optics. Optical fiber is a very thin strand of pure glass which acts as a waveguide for light over long distances. It uses a principle known as total internal reflection. Fiber optic cable is actually composed of two layers of glass: The core, which carries the actual light signal, and the cladding, which is a layer of glass surrounding the core. The cladding has a lower refractive index than the core. This causes Total Internal Reflection within the core. Most fibers operate in duplex pairs: one fiber is used to transmit and the other is used to receive. But it is possible to send both signals over a single strand. There are two main types of fiber optic cables:  Single Mode Fiber (SMF) and Multi-Mode Fiber (MMF). The difference is basically in the size of the core. MMF has a much wider core, allowing multiple modes (or “rays”) of light to propagate. SMF has a very narrow core which allows only a single mode of light to propagate. Each type of fiber has different properties with its own advantages and disadvantages.
Why use optic fiber cable?
They have practically unlimited information
They have high carrying capacity (very broad bandwidth, THz or Tbits/s)
They have very low transmission losses (<0.2dB/km, cf1dB/km microwave, 10db/km twisted copper pair)
They do not dissipate heat
They are immune to cross-talk and electromagnetic interference
fiber-optic-cableFiber optic cables have many uses in a variety of situations in industries and applications. Check out some of these uses:
Medical
Optical fibers are suited for medical use. They can be made in flexible strands, extremely thin for insertion into the lungs, blood vessels, and many hollow parts of the body. These optical fibers are utilized in several instruments that allow doctors to observe internal body parts without performing any surgery.
Telecommunications
Optic Fiber is installed and used for receiving and transmitting purposes. Telephone transmission uses fiber optic cables. These fibers transmit energy in the form of light pulses. Its technology is comparable to that of the coaxial cables, apart from that the optical fibers are able to handle thousands of conversations concurrently.
fiber optic certified
Networking
Optic fibers are used to connect servers and users in a variety of network settings and also help in increasing the accuracy and speed of data transmission.
Industrial/Commercial
Fibers are used for imaging in reach areas, such as sensory devices to make temperature, as wiring where EMI is an issue, pressure, as wiring in industrial settings and automobiles. Broadcast/CATV Cable companies use fiber optic cables for wiring HDTV, CATV, video-on-demand, the internet and many other applications.
Defense/Government
They are used as hydrophones for SONAR and seismic uses, such as wiring in submarines, aircraft, and other vehicles.
Data Storage
Fiber cables are used for data storage as well as transmission. Fiber optic cables are also used for imaging and lighting and as sensors to monitor and measure a vast array of variables. Furthermore, fiber cables are used in development, research and testing across all the aforementioned applications.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The most popular method and the method required in TIA-568

By Steve Rogers,
Choice of the reference method Some reference books and manuals show that to establish the reference power for loss, only a reference launch cable, launch and reception cable connected with a coupling adapter or even three reference cables is used.  In fact, industry standards include all three methods to establish a "0dB loss" reference.  The two or three-wire reference methods are acceptable for some tests and are the only way you can test some connectors, but it will reduce the loss you measure in the amount of loss between your reference wires when you set your "  You could start the test with faulty launch wires, which would cause all loss measurements to be incorrect.  This means that the inspection and testing of the reference cables are very important, in order to ensure that they are in good condition.  You could start the test with faulty launch wires, which would cause all loss measurements to be incorrect.  This means that the inspection and...
1 comment
Read more

If we detect N photons from a coherent state of light for a measurement,

By Steve Rogers,
Short answer: A good order of magnitude rule of thumb for the maximum possible bandwidth of an optical fibre channel is about 1 petabit per second per optical mode. So a "single" mode fibre (fibre with one bound eigenfield) actually has in theory two such channels, one for each polarisation state of the bound eigenfield. I'll just concentrate on the theoretical capacity of a single, long-haul fibre; see roadrunner66's answer for discussion of the branching in an optical network. The fundamental limits always get down to a question of signal to noise in the measurement (i.e. demodulation by the receiver circuit). The one, fundamentally anavoidable, noise source on a fibre link is quantum shot noise, so I'll concentrate on that. Therefore, what follows will apply to a short fibre: other noise sources (such as Raman, amplified spontaneous emission from in-line optical amplifiers, Rayleigh scattering, Brillouin scattering) tend to become significant roughly in pro...
2 comments
Read more

The cable types, the cable network hardware

By Steve Rogers,
The ways to build the OSP cables are specifically oriented to the strength of the cable, depending on whether they are buried directly or inside conductors, located underwater, or installed in the air on poles. The proper way for cable routing must be chosen. In some installations, several types of cable are even used. Having good construction plans can be useful when working with cable manufacturers to find the right types of cables and request sufficient quantities. You should always request more cable than is needed for the length of the path, in order to be able to store the service cable in the form of a loop, prepare the termination of the cable and save what you need in case it is necessary to Make a repair in the future. As well as the cable types, the cable network hardware types are very diverse and should be chosen in a way that is compatible with the cable types used. With so many hardware options, working with cable manufacturers is the most expeditious way to choose ha...
2 comments
Read more