Fiber

optic
CABLE By
Brendan Parks
 Background

• William Wheeling
o Patented piping light, a method of transferring
light through water
o Never took off

•Alexander
Graham Bell
oInvented the photophone,
a device that when spoken
into, vibrated a mirror, and
the light shown into the
mirror during vibrations gets
interpreted by another
mirror far away as data
 Background (cont.)
• 1950’s
o Laser later used for fiber optic
cable gets invented
 A finely controlled beam of light that can
transmit information over long distances
 Laser had drawbacks; didn’t work in
rain, fog, or when beam is obstructed
Principal components:
• Corning Incorporated 1. Active laser medium
2. Laser pumping energy
o Came up with first low-loss optical 3. Mirror (100%)
fiber 4. Mirror (99%)
5. Laser beam
o Joined up with Siemens
Corporation, another techological
giant, to form Corning Cable
Systems in 1977
 Background
(cont.)
• Corning Cable Systems
o Corning’s fiber expertise combined with Siemen’s cabling technology
helped launch a new era in optical fiber cable and associated products
o Today, is the world leader in the manufacture of fiber optic cabling
system products for voice, data, and video communications applications
• Widely used fiber optic communications
o Internet
 Verizon FIOs
o Television
 Verizon offers television services that incorporate a nationwide fiber-optic
network
o Phone
 Verizon offers a direct-to-home fiber-optic phone service
o Local networking
 Types of Fiber-optic Cable
• Single-mode fibers
o Have small fiber cores
o Uses infrared laser light
o Lots of protective layering
ensure data gets there
o Widely used for telecom
applications, links over
long distances, and in
backbones
• Multi-mode fibers
o Have large fiber cores
o Uses light-emitting
diodes (LEDs)
o Very efficient over
short distances
o Rarely used
 Fiber-optic Throughput
• Multi-mode
– Throughput of 10 Mbit/s to 10 Gbit/s over link
lengths of up to 600 meters
•Single-mode
–Up to 10 Gbit/s over distances at
60 km+
–By use of optical amplifiers, you
could achieve throughput of 40 Gb/s
over several hundred kilometers, and
throughput of 10 Gb/s over thousands
of kilometers
 Fiber-optic Cost
• When boring, it • Hanging on •To lease
existing fiber,
is around $6 a poles can cost it’ll cost $1,500
foot $2 a foot per fiber mile
for a ten-year
indefeasible
right of use
(IRU)

•Cost is influenced by geography, soil composition, and

density of buildings, utilities, and other obstructions
 Cost Comparisons

• Coaxial cable is about 35 cents per foot

– About 5.8 times less costly than fiber
• Twisted-pair cable is about 15 cents per foot
– About 13.3 times less costly than fiber
 Connectors
• ST
– Most popular connector for multimode
networks
– Spring-loaded
– Can have high loss if seated
improperly
• FC/PC
– One of the most popular singlemode
connectors
– Is being phased out by SC and LC
connectors
 Connectors (cont.)
• SC
– Snap-in connector
– Widely used in singlemode
systems for its excellent
performance
– Utilizes a snap-in connector that
latches with a simple push-pull
motion
– Also available in duplex
configuration
 Small Form Factor (SFF)
Connectors
• LC
– A new connector
– Uses a 1.25 mm ferrule that’s half the
size of ST
– Highly favored for singlemode
• MT-RJ
– Duplex connector with both fibers in a
single polymer ferrule
– Uses pins for alignment
– Has male and female versions
– Multimode only
 Small Form Factor (SFF)
Connectors (cont.)
• Opti-jack
– Rugged duplex connector
– Designed around two ST-type
ferrules in the package the size of
an RJ-45 (also known as Ethernet
cables)
– Has male and female versions
• Volition
– Duplex connector
– Uses no ferrule
– Inexpensive
– Has male and female connectors
 Small Form Factor (SFF)
Connectors (cont.)
• E2000/LX-5
– Like LC but with shutter over end of
fiber
• MU
– Looks like a miniature SC connector
– 1.25 mm ferrule
– More popular in Japan than anywhere
else
• MT
– 12 fiber connector for ribbon cable
– Main use is for preterminated cable
assemblies
 Noise Susceptibility
• Fiber is immune to electrical interference
– This is due to the fact that fiber uses light pulses
instead of electricity for data transfer
• Protective coating around fiber prevents any
outside light from getting in

Example of
Light Pulses
 Size & Scalability
• Maximum segment length is 2000 meters
• Maximum number of nodes is 1024
• Total maximum network length is 2,048,000