TWO MAJOR FORMS OF FIBER OPTICS CABLES

Many people have seen the commercials or heard about fiber optic cable, but how does this system work? Today, we wanted to take a minute to break down some of the basics about fiber optics for our readers here at the Connected Fiber blog. More than just any cabled form of data transmission, you’ll see that fiber optics is an impressive new technology that is much more than meets the eye.

 

Fiber optic systems transmit data across a network through a series of light pulses that travel along cables constructed of high-quality glass. These cables have two essential structures that allow them to send data as a light signal without losing the signal through leakage: core and cladding. The cladding that surrounds the core has a much lower refractive index than the core, allowing light pulses to move along while remaining in the core.

 

There are two major forms of fiber optics cables, as this article published by Design World discusses: single-mode and multi-mode. Single-mode fiber provides many benefits over multi-mode fiber, including a higher bandwidth and a smaller core diameter.

 

Multi-mode fibers and transceivers, however, are often used by companies and organizations that are just getting into fiber optic technologies for the first time. Although single-mode allows for quicker data transmission rates, its higher price renders it cost-prohibitive for many.

 

Businesses can use fiber optics in combination with traditional copper wiring systems, but there are many benefits that may make a complete conversion worthwhile. Data transmission rates are much faster for all fiber optics systems overall, and interference is much lower because these systems aren’t affected by electromagnetic signals.

 

Even though these data systems pose many benefits, poor installation or maintenance of fiber optics cables can quickly turn into an expensive proposition. Trust a professional service with years of experience in fiber optics technologies.