Introduction to Fiber Optic Technology - Coursework Example

Yours Introduction to fiber optic technology Introduction Among different kinds of cables available for communication, Fiber Optic cable is one of them. In purpose, all types of cables are same, but they differ in quality provided by them. On the basis of quality demand is increased. The fiber optic technology is based on the glass or plastic threads, which are known as fibers for the transmission purpose. The data transmission rate is very high for using fiber cables. Core difference among fiber optic cable and metal cable The light signals in the glass medium are the core and basic principle of fiber optic technology. This is the main reason behind high data transfer rate of fiber cable when compared with traditional metal and other coaxial cable used for data transmission. It gives more difference in data transmission rate when distance is long. Data is travelled along with fiber cables without amplification and it maximizes the accuracy of data being transferred. (The International Engineering Consortium) Fig.1 Fiber Optic Cable & Metal Cable Structure of Fiber Optic Cables A bundle of glass threads called fibers formed a fiber optic cable and all threads are worked for the transmission of data in the form of light waves. (Mynbaev and Scheiner, 238) Fig. 2 Structure of Fiber Optic Cable The basic structure of fiber optic cables consists on the core, cladding, coating, strengthening fibers and cable jacket. Core: The actual physical medium that is used for the transmission of data signals is core. Cladding: This is on the outer side of the core and protect core for transmitting data. This is the thin layer and covering the core. Coating: This is the plastic type layer outer of cladding. This layer protects the cladding and fiber core. Strengthening Fibers: Strengthening fiber layer is built only for protecting the inner sensitive layers. This is made of Kevlar yarn strands. Cable Jacket: The cable jacket is the outmost layer of fiber optic cable. (Black Box Network Services) In telecommunication, fiber optic cables are the major building blocks. Use of fiber optic as a medium for transmission of data and signals is also increasing. The data is travelled in the form of light. Increase in speed of light results into a high data transmission rate. Fig. 3 Basic communication system with fiber optic cable (Massa) The less loss of transmission, minimum interference, and the high bandwidth of fiber technology is becoming the ideal medium for transmission of data with seep and security. Fiber optic systems are more reliable and accurate in case of transmission of sensitive and critical data. The core and internal working of fiber technology is based on the internal reflection of light. For transmission of signals, fiber angle is made for light wave that transmits the data. The waves of light are guided by the core of fiber as guided by coaxial cable in the radio frequency. The ability of fiber to reflect light is performed through the composition of cladding glass with a core glass. (The International Engineering Consortium) Fiber is giving “future proof” network for transmission; future proof gives the meaning, which is taken in the way that fiber contains the unlimited bandwidth. Bandwidth is the capacity of medium for carrying data. The more bandwidth means more data is travelled by the medium. Fiber optic is constructed using such a technology that contains a high bandwidth. The fiber optic is composed of different elements and these elements are core, cladding, coating buffer, strength member and the outer jacket. The fiber cable is made up of combination of all these elements. The light is carried internally in the central point that is packed properly. All elements are equally important in the construction phase of the fiber optic cables. This technology is emerged more in the last decade and bloomed the world of telecommunication. The high bandwidth and secure medium for transmission enhanced the telecom sector and internet technology extremely. (Transition Networks USA) Advantages of Fiber Optic over Traditional metal cables Fiber optic has many advantages as compared with traditional metal cables being used for transmission of data. The difference are like bandwidth, thickness, data transfer format. Bandwidth The bigger difference between fiber and metal cables is bandwidth. Fiber cables have greater bandwidth. The high bandwidth increases the rate of data transmission that enhances the reliability of fiber cables. The data transfer rate in gigabyte and more than this is only possible due to the high bandwidth provided by fiber optic cables (Mynbaev and Scheiner, 245). Fiber optic provides a high bandwidth for voice and video calls, thousands time more data is transmitted through fiber optic cables than metal wire. (Transition Networks USA) Thickness The fiber cables are thicker in structure as compared with metal cables. The diameter of fiber cable is less that makes it thick and light weight. (Massa) Fiber cables are lightweight and fast in working. The copper cable is almost near to 80lbs./1000 feet but the weight of fiber wire is 9lbs./1000 feet. This is a huge different in the weights of copper and fiber cables. (Transition Networks USA) Data transfer format In fiber cables data is transmitted in digital format, the same format of computer. The metal cables transmit data into analog format. Transmission of data using fiber optic cables make less amount of loss as compared with other transmission medium like metal or copper coaxial cables network. The life of fiber wire is more than a traditional copper wire (Transition Networks USA) Data transmission for long-distance Due to the low attenuation and strong signals grip, fiber cables are recommended for long distance data transmission. It takes less time to deliver data in a correct and reliable form. (Massa) Non-conductivity The dielectric nature of fiber cables is another advantage. In the area of electromagnetic interference (EMI), counting radio frequency interference (RFI) installation of fiber optic cables is also possible. (Massa) Security The security is a high concern of communication. The fiber optic technology is highly secure due to the easy detection. The security feature is highly recommended for government, banks, and any other agencies, which are security concerned. The security surveillance can easily detect the intervention made within the fiber optic cables. (Massa) The fiber network is more secure than traditional network. The electromagnetic interference could not be emitted by fiber cables. The fiber is also difficult to tap for unauthorized use. This feature of fiber improves the reliability of users who are security concerned. (Transition Networks USA) Disadvantages of Fiber Optic over Traditional metal cables The higher rate is one significant disadvantage of the fiber cables. These are expensive in installation. The splice process in fiber cables is quite difficult to manage and this is the other disadvantage of fiber cables. The expensiveness is the disadvantage of fiber optic cables but in the future it will become the advantage because the output given by the cables is more as compared to a price. In future, fiber optic technology will fully capture the market as it fulfills the demands of consumers. (Massa) In some cases, rays of light may cause effects on the performance of fiber optic technology. The ray of light passes from the transparent medium as it directly harms the working of the transmission of fiber optic cable. Three different kinds of impacts are recoded when a ray passes through fiber optic cable. The impacts are totally depending on the angle of incident. If the angle is less with critical angle it will result into refraction of light rays, when the both angles are equal the ray of light moves with the surface of the interface, and when the angle is higher with critical angle it reflects the ray of light (Black Box Network Services). Different types of fiber Different types of fiber optic cables are as follows: 1. Step-index multimode: step index works from low to high and then low fiber and it is measured from cladding to the core and again cladding. 2. Step-index single mode: in this type of fiber only single path is allocated for travelling. 3. Graded-index: is conciliation among large diameter and multimode fiber. The higher bandwidth of single-mode fiber. Fig.5 Different types of fiber optics (Schneider) There are some specific topics in fiber optic telecommunication, which are as follows. Dense wavelength-division multiplexing Fiber optic communication Dispersion-shifted fiber Erbium-doped fiber amplifier Fiber optic transmitters Fiber optic modulators Optical networks SONET Fiber optic cable Indoor Cables are Simplex cables, Duplex cable, Multi-fiber cable, Breakout cable, Heavy-duty, light-duty, plenum-duty and Riser cable. Outdoor Cables are Overhead, Direct burial, Indirect burial and Submarine cables. (Massa) Applications of Fiber optic Technology The benefits of fiber optic technology are growing very rapidly. Many organizations installed the fiber network for Local Area Networks (LAN) and also for Metropolitan Area Network (MAN). These networks installed fiber optic cables for data transmission. Once they chose the expensive network but in the future they receive the high output from it. The output will be safe, secure, long term, and log lasting. (Transition Networks USA) The fast transmission medium is fiber optic technology; this is becoming the ideal growing technology. In the coming years, the maximum of transmission worldwide is being replaced by the fiber optic technology. This growth of replacement is increasing day by day that results in a high quality of data transmission due to the high bandwidth and covering long distance accurately. (Black Box Network Services) The industrial uses of fiber optic technology Fiber optic technology is for industrial use, factory automation, medical, sensing, and covers the educational markets. The core engineering products are manufactured and the different kinds of fabrication services are made on the basis of fiber optic technology. This is equally useful for educational purposes; the fiber and laser products for training purposes as developed and used throughout in the globe. (Industrial Fiber Optics) Fiber is working on the ability of sine of light moving very fast and covering the long distance in the less time with accurate data delivery. These extraordinary qualities of fiber optic technology making it more and more are demanding in all fields of the technological world. The demand is increased day by day and installation process of the fiber optic technology is maximized. The fiber optic cable technology is installed for a long distance telephone network. The need of amplification is vanished because one single fiber optic cable can carry the data for transmission without extra consumptions. Signals are not jammed in the fiber optic cable technology; this becomes the reason of fiber cable in the usage of anti-tank missile. Fiber optic technology is used in field of the medical sector. Many innovative processes are made with the use of fiber technology. It is used in the internal surgery and used for the appliance of high energy of laser pulses. Fiber technology is used for sensing purpose of critical evaluation of the intrusion alarms systems. Fiber technology is spread in many fields of life and working as a strong backbone in all areas. The largest volume of fiber technology is for telephony. The internet technology is converting from the traditional coaxial and metal cables to the fiber technology very rapidly. Due to the reliable features of fiber optic cable technology, it is growing fast to emerge in the communication world throughout the globe. (Schneider) Fiber technology is technically possible to apply in the home telephone, internet and cable television network. All these stuff installed using fiber optic cables technology, this will be fast secure and reliable but only reason is to manage it economically. The economic reason is quite big to handle and capture the normal user to install the finer network for all home uses. (Industrial Fiber Optics) The area where traditional network is already working is little harder to replace with fiber optic cable technology. This is more feasible to capture the areas, which are under served and new for network installation. Such areas could be covered with the installation of fiber optic cable technology although this was an expensive decision at one time but the benefits and long lasting features made it more attractive than the other traditional copper and metal networks. If the price of fiber technology is matched with the data travel rate of the fiber cable, it will be a wise decision to install the fiber network for communication. These features make attractive the fiber technology and rapidly emerging in the industrial applications (FTTH Council). Among all the positive features of fiber optic cable technology one feature is intrinsic safety. This feature is highly useful and recommended in areas such as chemical plan and grain silos, these areas are mostly and potentially explosive in nature. The extra care and focus is made on the electrical wiring and the data communication network. These networks are assured for sparking and other exposures. The fiber optic cables technology is intrinsically safe because the signals travelling through fiber cables will not spark. (Schneider) The communication of fiber optic network consists upon mainly three parts, the transmitter, the fiber’s medium and the receiver. The detector characteristics of fiber signals are calculated, light signals are entered in the path and shines while traveling, and it shines on the detector. The more shine of light shows more output of electrical. The case when there is no shine displayed on the detector, still some electrical signals are produced. The bit error rate (BER) is determined for the data travelled through the fiber optic cable. The performance is a measure to get the accuracy of the data being transferred among two stations, source and destination points. This evaluation rate should less than one error found in one billion bits sent. For achieving this target of Bit Error rate (BER) the 12 db higher light signals are to be transmitted than the noise floor. (Relcom Incorporation) Fiber optic strands are thin as human hair and passes light that is the fastest medium to deliver at a high speed. The digital signals are passed through light waves from the stands. These seems like wires and very strong in production. The collection of hundreds and thousands of strands are forming a fiber optic cable. These glass type sensitive cables are again covered with protected layers. The single mode and multi mode are two basic categories of fiber optic cables. The laser light technology is used for single mode fiber optic cable. These are smaller in thickness as compared with multimode fiber optic cables. The working process of multi mode fiber optic cables is based on light omitting diodes or LEDs. This technology is bigger in thickness as compared with single mode fiber optic cables. (Transition Networks USA) The core working of the fiber is based upon the total internal reflection principle. The transmission of light into cable it bounces within the cable. These processes of bounce continue till the destination will reach. At the point of destination signals received and converted into human useable form. The most advantage of digital transmission of computer and internet networks is provided by the fiber optic cable technology. Transmission of data in the digital form is a big benefit of fiber cables. Different organizations are deeply interested and also using the fiber optic technology and the most important is the telecommunication and internet industry. The issue of eco during the calls is decreased at low by functioning the fiber cable technology for telephone industry. This is the feature highly useful and demanded by the consumer. (Transition Networks USA) Fiber optic technology is known as future proof technology. This is due to the great benefits provided by fiber optic cable technology. The Fiber-To-The Home (FTTH) is becoming the reality for home services. The home user also wishes to have a fast, secure, and reliable medium for data transmission. The home services include telephone, internet, and cable television all that services are provided through the fiber optic cable technology. Almost 10 million home users use the fiber technology and this number is increasing rapidly. (FTTH Council) Conclusions: Fiber optic technology is mostly used for local area network. This is expensive in installation but maximizes the results for data transmission as compared with traditional metal cables. Many telephone companies around the world are planning to replace the network with fiber cables for better transmission. The long lifetime with a high data rate and light in weight are the capabilities of fiber optic technology. These features bloomed the fiber technology over traditional copper and metal network. In future the fiber technology will enhance the telecommunication and internet world on its peak with respect to high bandwidth, security and reliability. Work Cited: Black Box Network Services.“Fiber Optic Technology Principles and Advantages”. 2010. Available from http://www.blackbox.com/resource/genpdf/White-Papers/Fiber-Optic-Technology.pdf Accessed on 22-02-2014. FTTH Council. “Fiber to the Home advantages of optical access”. 2011. Available from http://www.broadbandproperties.com/2007issues/feb07issues/ftthprimer_feb.pdf Accessed on 21-02-2014. International Engineering Consortium. “Fiber-Optic Technology”. 2014. Available from http://www.iec.org/ Accessed on 2/21/2014. Industrial Fiber Optics. Optical Fiber/Cable. 2014. Available from http://www.i-fiberoptics.com/ Accessed on 2/22/2014. Massa, Nick. “Fiber Optic Telecommunication”. Springfield Technical Community College, Springfield, Massachusetts. 2000. Available from https://spie.org/Documents/Publications/00%20STEP%20Module%2008.pdf Accessed on 23-02-2013. Mynbaev Djafar and Scheiner Lowell, Fiber-Optics communication technology, (6th Ed.), 2009. Print. Relcom Incorporation. Guide to Industrial Fiber Optics. 2001 Available from www.academia-research.com/writer/available/mypreferences Accessed on 2/22/2014 Schneider Kenneth, Fiber Optic Communications for the Premises Environment, Telebyte, 1999. Print. Transition Networks USA. “Fiber Optics Basics”. The Conversion Technology Experts, available from http://www.accu-tech.com/Portals/54495/docs/catalogs/transition/fiber_wp.pdf Accessed on 23-02-2014. Read More