Optical fiber is made by drawing glass or plastic to a desired length and diameter (slightly larger than a human hair). This flexible and highly pure fiber is most commonly used to transmit light for a wide range of applications including visible light displays, sensors, and high-speed communications networks which we will discuss in this article.
Topics: optical fiber, multimode fiber, single mode fiber
The first instances of glass being drawn into fibers date back to the Roman times, however it was not until the 1790’s that a pair of French brothers named Chappe, invented the first “optical telegraph”. This primitive system was made up of towers outfitted with a series of lights that operators could use to relay messages back and forth.
Topics: optical fiber
Often not considered, it is important to remember that looks really do matter!
Topics: optical fiber, network simulation, latency
While fiber optic technology has been utilized for many years in the communications industry, consumers generally identify with the role that it plays in wired communications such as Cable TV, Fiber-To-The-Home, and the related networking equipment. However, what most overlook or do not realize is the significant impact that deploying optical fibers has also had on something consumers use every day – mobile devices. In order to achieve the high speed data levels that we have become accustomed to when using mobile devices, cell towers and their supporting networks had to be retrofitted with optical fiber cables.
Topics: optical fiber
If your company is like most that are involved with building or utilizing fiber optic systems, chances are you have a few spools of bare optical fiber laying around the lab. Since it is critical to ensure fiber-based equipment works as intended prior to deployment in the field, it is a recommended and common practice for engineers to simulate networks using spools of bare optical fiber. Because there have been a variety of different fibers available over the years, engineers can end up with fair amount of spools at their disposal.
Topics: optical fiber
As virtualization and cloud applications become more and more prevalent in Data Centers, POPs, Head-ends, and Central Offices, the available rack space needed to house the equipment for these applications is shrinking. While the space needed to store, process, route, or switch the data becomes more compact, one thing that remains difficult to reduce is the physical layer infrastructure. As traffic enters or exits a facility, most providers want the capability to monitor what is being delivered or sent to/from their site. At the larger sites, this data traffic is riding on fiber, and in many cases, there are a number of fibers coming into or out of a given site. To be able to accurately monitor this traffic, a passive optical tap is used to duplicate the traffic and send it to a monitoring device that can analyze the header information native to the traffic type. In the past, these optical taps were relatively expensive and bulky. Even today, most vendors cannot provide more than 24 taps in a single 1RU footprint.
Topics: optical fiber, optical taps
Fiber optic splitters enable a signal on an optical fiber to be distributed among two or more fibers. Since splitters contain no electronics nor require power, they are an integral component and widely used in most fiber optic networks. As a basic example, the diagram below shows how light in a single input fiber can split between four individual fibers (1x4):
Topics: optical fiber
Chromatic dispersion is a phenomenon that is an important factor in fiber optic communications. It is the result of the different colors, or wavelengths, in a light beam arriving at their destination at slightly different times. The result is a spreading, or dispersion, of the on-off light pulses that convey digital information. Special care must be taken to compensate for this dispersion so that the optical fiber delivers its maximum capacity.
Engineers performing fiber optic network simulation testing with the goal of certifying that their equipment will work as intended once deployed in the field, often require the use of optical fiber spools to complete these procedures. Since it is crucial these tests produce both correct and reliable results, below are some tips for ensuring the most positive results.
Topics: optical fiber, network simulation
Written by: Kyle Miller @ JEM Electronics, Inc.
Topics: optical fiber
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