The widespread use of fiber optic cabling stems from 1950s research. These studies eventually made transmitting visible images via glass filament possible. This new technology was eventually used for viewing instruments and remote illumination for surgery. Subsequently, George Hockham and Charles Kao successfully achieved data transmission through glass fiber in 1966.
Fiber optic cabling is composed of glass fiber filaments housed within insulated casing, and these cables were designed for long distance, large capacity, and high performance data networking and telecommunications. In comparison to wired cables, fiber optic has high-bandwidth capability and is capable of data transmission over longer distances. Due to these properties, fiber optic cabling is used for a great portion of telephone, internet, and cable television systems around the world.
Fiber Optic Advantages
Fiber cables provide a number of advantages that make them superior to copper cabling. Due to properties of high bandwidth and low-loss, fiber optic cabling can be utilized over much greater distances than copper cables. Fiber optic cables can run up to 2 kilometers for data networks without repeaters. This is because light can travel much further on fiber cable and still retain its strength.
Fiber optic cables have greater capacity. Through the use of multiplexers, a single fiber optic cable can have the same network bandwidth as several hundred copper cables. It is now standard for fiber cables to be rated at 10 Gbps, 40 Gbps, and 100 Gbps.
Although it has special shielding as protection against electromagnetic interference, copper network cable is still susceptible when numerous cables are close to each other. This is in contrast to the physical properties of the glass used in fiber optic cables.
Fiber optic is also safer to use than copper in volatile spaces, where sparks can lead to disaster. It also has the upper hand in terms of security because tapping fiber cable to steal data transmission is very difficult.
Part 2 will discuss how fiber optic functions, its two main types, and fiber networks.
Progressive Office Cabling
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