The fiber optic relays are rapidly becoming the preferred medium of communication for telecommunication, television transmissions as well as data networks. According to the writings of Budda Oliver, this mode of transmission boost a bevy of advantages and reaped benefits over the more traditional methods of transmission such as copper and coaxial cables (Oliver, 2010).
Though originally considered as prohibitively expensive, fibre optics have achieved their wide spread applications primarily due to their ability to transmit data at very high transmission rates with minimal losses, while doing at very low error rates.
Through fibre optics, many high date rate protocols such as frame relay, SMDS and ATM have been made possible. As a result, several features of this technology have made fibre channels particularly appropriate for large scale and high demand storage systems. One such feature of the fibre optics is virtually infinite bandwidth over other medium such as copper. Transmissions are carried inform of light, and a fibre optic consists of a glass silica inner core through which light is guided.
The core is on the immediate outside covered with a material with a reflective index slightly less than that of the core, a concept called cladding. The reflective index of the cladding requires only to be roughly 1% less than that of the core in order to achieve the total internal reflection needed to confine the light to the core (MercuryCommunications, 2007).
The Essay on Optical Fibres
Originally, a device known as the ‘photophone’ was used to transmit sound. This replaced Thomas .A. Edison’s ‘phonograph. Since the development of optical fibres ‘photo phones’ and ‘phonographs’ are no longer used or needed. Optical fibres have many advantages; they enable the sound messages to carry for 50km without any need for a repeater unlike ...
A fibre optic cable appears as shown. Fig. 1 Source: MercuryCommunications In addition, light signals travelling in a fibre optic are immune to any Electromagnetic interference (EMI) as well as radio frequency interference (RFI).
Further, other disturbances such as lightning and high voltage interferences are equally eliminated. In applications where safe operations free from interference is necessary, fibre optics form the best transmission mode. This desirable characteristic makes fibre optics the medium choice in industrial and biomedical applications. Low attenuation coupled with superior signal integrity found in optical systems often allow much longer signal transmissions through fibre optic cables. While in copper transmissions well over 1.
2miles require an inline signal repeater, optical systems could go over 62miles without active or passive processing. Lastly, it bears noting that the modern day applications require an ever increasing amount of bandwidth while space constraints of their end users are a factor to consider. As a consequence, the relatively small diameters and the light weight properties of optical cables make them practical, viable and saves conduit space in their end user environment (NovaStars, n.
d).
References MercuryCommunications. (2007).
Fibre Optic Technologies. Retrieved July 12, 2010, from http://www. gare. co. uk/technology_watch/fibre. htm NovaStars. (n. d).
The Benefits of Fiber Optic Technology. Retrieved July 12, 2010, from http://www. novastars. com/optics/optic-benefit. htm Oliver, B. (2010).
Advantages of Fiber Optics. Retrieved July 12, 2010, from http://ezinearticles. com/? Advantages-of-Fiber-Optics&id=1244542
