A fiber optic cable is a cable containing one or more optical fibers in a single cable, is a particularly popular technology for local-area networks. Fiber optic cable is composed of microscopic strands of glass. Information in the form of bytes of data can travel through this glass over longer distances and at higher bandwidths (data rates) than other types of cable. The optical fiber elements are typically individually coated with plastic layers and contained in a protective tube suitable for the environment where the cable will be deployed.
Advantage and Shortage of Fiber Optic Cables
Fiber optic cables carry communication signals using pulses of light, which consist of a bundle of glass threads, each of which is capable of transmitting messages modulated onto light waves. Fiber optic cables have several advantages over traditional metal communications lines:
Fiber optic cables have a much greater bandwidth than metal cables. This means that they can carry more data;
Fiber optic cables are less susceptible than metal cables to interference;
Fiber optic cables are much thinner and lighter than metal wires;
Data can be transmitted digitally (the natural form for computer data) rather than analogically.
While, the main shortage of fiber optic cables is that the cables are expensive to install. In addition, they are more fragile than wire and are difficult to splice.
While expensive, these cables are increasingly being used instead of traditional copper cables, because fiber offers more capacity and is less susceptible to electrical interference. So-called Fiber to the Home (FTTH) installations are becoming more common as a way to bring ultra-high speed Internet service (100 Mbps and higher) to residences. In recent years, the cost of small fiber-count pole-mounted cables has greatly decreased due to the high demand for FTTH installations in Japan and South Korea.
Fiber cable can be very flexible, it can be bent with a radius as low as 7.5 mm without adverse impact. Even more bendable fibers have been developed. Bendable fiber may also be resistant to fiber hacking, in which the signal in a fiber is surreptitiously monitored by bending the fiber and detecting the leakage. But traditional fiber’s loss increases greatly if the fiber is bent with a radius smaller than around 30 mm. This creates a problem when the cable is bent around corners or wound around a spool, making FTTX installations more complicated. Bendable fibers, targeted towards easier installation in home environments, have been standardized as ITU-T G.657.
New Hollow Fiber Optic Cable
Fiber optic cables are usually made of glass or plastic but those materials actually slow down the transmission of light ever so slightly. Researchers at the University of Southampton in the UK have created a hollow fiber optic cable filled with air that’s 1000 times faster than current cables. Since light propagates in air at 99.7 percent of the speed of light in a vacuum, this new hollow fiber optic cable is able to reach data speeds of 10 terabytes per second. Now that’s fast. While the idea isn’t new, it’s previously been hampered by signal degradation when light travels around corners. This new hollow fiber optic cable reduces data loss to a manageable 3.5dB/km, making it suitable for use in supercomputer and data center applications.
FiberStore provides a wide range of power cable products including Indoor Cables, Outdoor Cables, FTTH Cables, Armored Cables and some Special Cables. They are used as Aerial Cables, Building Cables, Direct buried cables, Duct Cables, Underwater/Submarine Cable. Customers have the flexibility to choose a cable to best fit their needs.
