What Is a Fiber Optic Cable?

What Is a Fiber Optic Cable?

A fiber optic cable is a network cable that contains strands of glass fibers inside an insulated casing. They're designed for long distance, very high performance data networking and telecommunications.
 
Compared to wired cables, fiber optic cables provide higher bandwidth and can transmit data over longer distances.
 
Fiber optic cables support much of the world's internet, cable television and telephone systems.
 
How Fiber Optic Cables Work
Fiber optic cables carry communication signals using pulses of light generated by small lasers or light-emitting diodes (LEDs).
 
The cable consists of one or more strands of glass, each only slightly thicker than a human hair. The center of each strand is called the core, which provides the pathway for light to travel. The core is surrounded by a layer of glass called cladding that reflects light inward to avoid loss of signal and allow the light to pass through bends in the cable.
 
The two primary types of fiber cables are called single mode and multi mode fiber. Single mode fiber uses very thin glass strands and a laser to generate light while multi mode fibers use LEDs.
 
Single mode fiber networks often use Wave Division Multiplexing (WDM) techniques to increase the amount of data traffic that can be sent across the strand.  WDM allows light at multiple different wavelengths to be combined (multiplexed) and later separated (de-multiplexed), effectively transmitting multiple communication streams via a single light pulse.
 
Advantages of Fiber Optic Cables
Fiber cables offer several advantages over traditional long-distance copper cabling.
 
Fiber optics have a higher capacity. The amount of network bandwidth a fiber cable can carry easily exceeds that of a copper cable with similar thickness. Fiber cables rated at 10 Gbps, 40 Gbps and even 100 Gbps are standard.
 
Since light can travel much longer distances down a fiber cable without losing its strength, it lessens the need for signal boosters.
Fiber is less susceptible to interference. A traditional network cable requires special shielding to protect it from electromagnetic interference. While this shielding helps, it is not sufficient to prevent interference when many cables are strung together in close proximity to each other. The physical properties of glass and fiber cables avoid most of these issues.
Fiber to the Home (FTTH), Other Deployments, and Fiber Networks
Whereas most fiber is installed to support long distance connections between cities and countries, some residential internet providers have invested in extending their fiber installations to suburban neighborhoods for direct access by households. Providers and industry professionals call these "last mile" installations.
 
Some better known FTTH services in the market today include Verizon FIOS and Google Fiber. These services can provide gigabit (1 Gbps) internet speeds to each household. However, even though providers also offer lower cost, they typically also offer lower capacity packages to their customers.
 
FTTP (Fiber to the Premises): Fiber that's laid all the way up to the building.
FTTB (Fiber to the Building/Business/Block): The same as FTTP.
FTTC/N (Fiber to the Curb of Node): Fiber that's laid to the node but then copper wires complete the connection inside the building.
Direct fiber: Fiber that leaves the central office and is attached directly to one customer. This provides the greatest bandwidth but is more expensive.
Shared fiber: Similar to direct fiber except that as the fiber gets close to the premises of nearby customers, it's split into others fibers for those users.
What Is Dark Fiber?
The term dark fiber (often spelled dark fibre or called unlit fibre) most commonly refers to installed fiber optic cabling that is not currently being used.
 
It sometimes also refers to privately operated fiber installations.

评论

发表评论

此博客中的热门博文

Common Armored Fiber Optic Cables

  Armored fiber optic cables are often installed in a network for added mechanical protection, as they have extra reinforcing in the cable housing to prevent damage. Two types of armored fiber optic cables exist: interlocking and corrugated. Interlocking armor is an aluminum armor that is helically wrapped around the cable and found in indoor and indoor/outdoor cables. It offers ruggedness and superior crush resistance. Corrugated armor is a coated steel tape folded around the cable longitudinally. It is found in outdoor cables and offers extra mechanical and rodent protection.   The Structure of an Armored Fiber Optic Cable In basic armored fiber cable designs, the outer sleeve provides protection against wind, solvents, and abrasion. This outer sleeve is usually made of plastic such as polyethylene. The next layer between the sleeve and the inner jacket is an armoring layer of materials that are difficult to cut, chew, or bu
阅读全文

what the Differences Between FBT Splitter and PLC Splitter

  In FTTx and PON architectures, optical splitter plays an increasingly significant role to create a variety of point-to-multipoint fiber optic networks. But do you know what is a fiber optic splitter? In fact, a fiber optic splitter is a passive optical device that can split or separate an incident light beam into two or more light beams. Basically, there are two types of fiber splitter classified by their working principle: fused biconical taper splitter (FBT splitter) and planar lightwave circuit splitter (PLC splitter). You may have one question: what’s the difference between them and shall we use FBT or PLC splitter?   What Is FBT Splitter? FBT splitter is based on a traditional technology to weld several fiber together from side of the fiber. Fibers are aligned by heating for a specific location and length. Because the fused fibers are very fragile, they are protected by a glass tube made of epoxy and silica powder. And then a stainless steel tube covers the inner glass tu
阅读全文

Introduction of Optical Fiber Couplers and How Do They Work?

 What are optical fiber couplers? A fiber optic coupler can be defined as an optical component used with one or more input fibers and several output fibers in fiber optic systems. A coupler essentially puts two or more cores of fibers together to connect. The simple coupler is the fused fiber 2x2 coupler. Couplers are used as multiplexers that are resistant to certain wavelengths. A fiber output depends on the wavelength of light and the frequency of polarization. The fiber refractive index also plays a significant role in the performance. Let’s checkout how do optic couplers work to understand this better. How do fiber optic couplers work? Either fiber optic couplers separate optical signals into multiple paths or combine multiple signals in one direction. Optical signals are more complicated than electrical signals, making it more difficult to design optical couplers than their electrical copy. Unlike electrical currents, the optical signal consists of a stream of signal carriers, in
阅读全文