Month: November 2013

Plastic Optical Fiber System

There are numbers of services providing large-volume information content, such as high-definition movies, continues to increase rapidly. Single-mode glass optical fiber has been widely deployed in data trunk lines and pipelines to connect large cities and nations. It has already become indispensable as an information transmission medium. However, SM GOF is mechanically weak and lacks sufficient bending ability. Moreover, as the core diameter is very small, just 10 um, extremely precise techniques and expensive devices are required to connect fibers to signals receiving devices.

Because of this, SM GOF is rearly used for very short reach networks, such as local area networks in buildings. Facing this “last hundred meters” problem in optical fiber infrastructure, plastic optical fiber has obvious advantage over it:

POF fiber is made out of a plastic such as acrylic (PMMA) as the core material and fluorinated or perfluorinated polymers as the cladding materials. It carries optical signals along a core made from plastic, instead of the more traditional silica, the price of which is much cheaper. It can cost approximately one fifth as much as comparable glass fiber. Which puts it within reach of more consumers. Customers who want to connect to the silica fiber optical network maintained by a telecommunications company usually cannot afford traditional optical fiber for internal wiring, but the plastic optical fiber can help to make the connection.

Plastic optical fiber (POF) systems offer the promise for low cost applications in communications, data transmission, illumination, lighting, imaging, sensing and light transmission. Plastic fiber optic systems provide the same advantages of glass optical fiber (GOF) but at lower cost and easier use. Glass optical fiber systems have received more attention than POF, mainly due to their rapid acceptance in telecommunications as data rates up to 100 Mbps and distance up to 100 meters.

Plastic fiber optic cable systems are also finding increased applications for sensors and lighting. The technology is also moving rapidly as evidenced by recent papers on multimode and single mode POF, high temperature fiber, integrated POF circuits, laminated lightguides, discrete components both active and passive, optical switching, and other developments too numerous to mention.

However, POF has two important weaknesses: it has significantly lower bandwidth than GOF, and its attenuation is far higher. Recent developments conquering both of these issues now mean that POF is regarded as the strongest candidate at present for optical data transmission over the last hundred meters.

Affordable Plastic Optic Fiber

Plastic optical fiber, Polymer optical fiber or POF is an optical fiber which is made out of plastic. Similar to the traditional glass fiber, plastic fiber transmits light (or data) through the core of the fiber.

Traditionally PMMA (acrylic) is the core material, and fluorinated polymers are the cladding material. Since the late 1990s however, much higher-performance POF based on perfluorinated polymers (mainly polyperfluorobutenylvinylether) has begun to appear in the marketplace. The perfluorinated polymer fibers are commonly used for much higher-speed applications such as data center wiring and building LAN wiring.

Advantages of POF

  • Plastic fiber is an inexpensive type of fiber and generally lower quality than glass optical fiber. Attenuation is generally higher with plastic fiber. Unlike glass, plastic fiber can easily be cut and bent to fit in hard-to-reach places and the larger core also allows for slightly damaged fiber to work. PoF is much larger in diameter which results in lower data rates making it most suitable for high bandwidth signal transmission over short distances. POF products are most commonly used in medical, automotive, home networks, as well as digital audio and video interfaces.
  • One of the most exciting developments in polymer fibers has been the development of microstructured polymer optical fibers (mPOF), a type of photonic crystal fiber. POF fiber also has applications in sensing. It is possible to write Fiber Bragg grating in single mode and multimode POF.
  • Plastic fiber attenuation over short distances is not a major problem and therefore is becoming popular in more popular especially where there are budget concerns.
  • Plastic fiber is extremely durable and is able to be bent much more than glass fiber, however it is flammable, so care must be taken in deciding whether plastic fiber is correct for particular applications.
  • POF sustains a data transfer speed of 2.5GB/s, which isn’t as fast as glass optical fiber, but is much faster than traditional copper wire.

Although the actual fiber optic cable cost per foot is similar to the plastic fiber, their installed cost is much higher due to the special handling and installation techniques required.  POF offers promise for desktop LAN connections, can be installed in minutes with minimal tools and training. POF cost approximately one fifth as much as comparable bulk fiber optic cable, which puts it within reach of more consumers.  Bandwidth exceeds anyones estimates for the next decade. Prices are competitive with copper. Standards groups are now looking at options for POF. POF could prove the next viable desktop connection.

How Many Types of Fiber Optic Patch Cables Available at FiberStore

FiberStore is a leading manufacturer of broad range of fiber optic and copper data communication cabling and connectivity solutions. Our products include fiber optic and copper cabling, fiber optic and copper connectors, fiber optic and copper patch cables, pre-terminated fiber optic and copper cable assemblies, etc. Fiber optic cable and fiber patch cables can be classified to thousands of types as the various in the fiber structures, fiber numbers, connector types (for patch cables only) as well as the application areas. Then, how many fiber patch cables does FiberStore provide? It is hard to give an actually number, because it is too many to calculate. To better interpret this answer, let’s start an overview on FiberStore fiber patch cable types:

It is well known that an optical fiber patch cord is composed of a fiber optic cables with two fiber connectors terminated on each end. It is typically used to in computer work station to outlet and fiber optic patch panels or optical cross connect distribution center. According to common cable structures, functions, and major applications, fiber patch cable can be divided into different types: common fiber patch cables, armored fiber patch cables, fiber optic pigtails, mpo/mtp fiber cables, fiber pigtails, multi-core fiber patch cables, and other special patch cables such as volition fiber patch cables, military grade patch cables, pre-terminated fiber cables, etc.

Common fiber patch cables
Common fiber patch cables refer to patch cables that commonly structured with fiber, out sheath and tight buffer. According the fiber fiber types, common fiber patch cables are generally divided into OM1 multimode, OM2 multimode, 10G OM3 and 10G OM4 types. All of them can terminated with a variety of connector types such as LC, SC, ST, FC, MU and MTRJ.

Armored Fiber Patch Cables
Armored fiber patch cable can be understanded as the armored fiber optic cable terminated with fiber connectors on each end. This patch cable use rugged shell with aluminum armor and kevlar inside the jacket, and it is 10 times stronger than common fiber patch cable. This will help make the armored fiber patch cord resistant of high tension and pressure. We supply armored fiber optic patch cable, including 10G OM4/ OM3, 9/125, 50/125, 62.5/125 fiber types.

Multi Core Fiber Patch Cables
Multi core fiber patch cord are individually reinforced fibers terminated with fiber optic connectors. When the optical fiber is terminated on both ends it is termed as patch cord. The multi core patch cable is widely used for CATV, LANS, Telecom, Video, active device termination, telecommunication networks and Gigabit. Varies connector types are available including SC, SC/APC, FC, FC/APC, LC, ST.

Fiber Optic Pigtails
Pigtail fiber optic cable can be get by cutting the fiber patch cables in the middle, so that the pigtail is an fiber patch cable with fiber connector at only one side to link to the equipment while the other side can be melt with optical cables fibers. FiberStore supply 10G 50/125, 62.5/125, 50/125 multimode optic pigtail with SC, ST, FC, LC MT-RJ, SC/APC, FC/APC, E2000 fiber optic connectors.

MPO MTP Fiber Cables
MPO fiber cables are designed to meet the multi-fiber technology for fiber optic network. . It uses a high-density multi-fiber connector system built around precision molded MT ferrule. FiberStore’s MPO fiber cables are available in UPC and APC and APC finishes, support both multimode and single mode applications, and optional lengths availableExcept for the mentioned types fiber patch cables, FiberStore also offers many other fiber patch cables, which will be introduced in the next article, you can also go to fiberstore.com to know the details in advance!

Fiber Optics Gives Your Business Fast Internet Speed

As we all know that time is money, so save time is to cut cost. Exactly how should we save the time? The reply is to improve the speed. Fast internet speed, is exactly what I am going to talk about today.

Nowadays businesses are almost symbolic of fast internet speed. Your company is not heading anywhere if you’re working using the old bandwidths that practically take days to transfer information from one server to a different. Well if you are an entrepreneur who’s still stuck within the ancient internet days, you have to upgrade towards the Fiber Optics Internet that is currently taking over the planet. With fiber optics you’re guaranteed fast internet speeds and faster, efficient communication with your clients.

You have to upgrade to fiber optics if you’re still using the digital subscriber lines (DSL) internet, which uses copper lines to transfer data directly to people in residential houses. When using DSL, the internet speeds range from about 1.5 Mbps to six Mbps which is downstream speed. Upstream speeds with DSL are dismal at only 640 Kbps max. A DSL modem needs to be used to get the service up and running.

Compared to DSL internet, Fiber Optics Internet gives you another world of communication. With fiber optics, you receive the chance to transmit video, voice and internet data all at the same time. Rather than electricity, Fiber Optics Internet uses modulated light along with only one strand of optical fiber. This gives it a really clear advantage that DSL won’t ever have regarding this; it never suffers inhibitions brought about by interferences of the electrical nature. This ensures that your internet is always ready to go keeping your business at the top. The bandwidth you receive from optical fiber is really a far cry from the disappointing speeds of DSL yet others enjoy it. You receive up to 40 Mbps for downstreams along with a good 5 Mbps upstream. This means better speeds and ability to deliver data to longer distances. Because of so many activities like watching movies now being carried out on the internet, this higher bandwidth could be the more the better. Audio and videos reception in your devices are also going to get better due to this.

Moreover, unlike copper wires, fiber optic cables don’t transmit electrons and therefore aren’t subjected to interference. Tapping into such a system without having to be detected is nearly impossible. This is the main reason why banking institutions try to use this technology for those their connectivity needs. These cables are also not affected by and EMI or electro-magnetic interference that might be caused because of other device around the cable. EMI can not only leak data but also can create noise in the signal. When information being sent around the world is looked at, this noise will multiply several times and may disrupt our reception. With fiber optics comes an association that is both secure and reliable.

Fiber Optics Internet clearly is better than the older types of internet. However, before you upgrade to fiber optics you must fully comprehend what the implications for your business are and what both you and your business are in position to gain by investing in fiber optics. First and fore most may be the ever mounting pressure that companies are facing to obtain faster internet and also to be able to transfer information faster than normal. Secondly, Fiber Optics Internet enables faster uploading of information which is necessary for almost all businesses today.

FiberStore is one of the major fiber optic cable manufacturers who supplies cables including corning optical cable, tight buffered fiber cable, fiber optics patch cords and so on.

A Comparison Of Multimode And Single Mode Cables

Over the past few years, fiber optic cable has become more affordable and widely used. Fiber is ideal for high data-rate systems such as FDDI, multimedia, ATM, or any other network that requires the transfer of large, time-consuming data files. And the basic cables are multimode optic cable and single mode fiber.

A Comparison Of Multimode Cables And Single Mode Cables

Multimode cables have a larger core diameter than that of singlemode cables. This larger core diameter allows multiple pathways and several wavelengths of light to be transmitted. Singlemode Duplex cables and Singlemode Simplex cables have a smaller core diameter and only allow a single wavelength and pathway for light to travel. Multimode fiber is commonly used in patch cable applications such as fiber to the desktop or patch panel to equipment. Multimode fiber is available in two sizes, 50 micron and 62.5 micron. Singlemode fiber is typically used in network connections over long lengths and is available in a core diameter of 9 microns (8.3 microns to be exact).

Most building cables had 62.5/125 micron multimode fibers for LANs or security systems, while outside plant cables were all single-mode fiber. For some time, we have been encouraging people to install hybrid cables with both multimode fibers for today and single-mode fibers for the future regardless of the fiber optic cable price.

If you are transmitting from a smaller fiber core to a larger one, it is not a problem since the larger fiber like large core optical fiber will collect all the light from the smaller one with minimal loss. But if you transmit light from a larger fiber to a smaller one, the light in the larger core will overfill the smaller core and large losses will occur. How big are the losses we are talking about? Coupling a multimode fiber to a single-mode fiber will cause about 20 dB loss. Connecting a 62.5 fiber to a 50 micron core fiber will cause 2 to 4 dB loss, depending on the type of source (laser or LED). In any case, it can be enough loss to prevent network equipment from working properly.

Both 50 micron and 62.5 micron multimode fibers have the same cladding diameter and can use the same connectors and termination processes, but testing still requires using the correct matching fiber optics patch cords or the measured loss will be too low by a few tenths of a dB in one direction (50 to 62.5), or 2 to 4 dB too high the other way (62.5 to 50.)

Needless to say, these mismatched fiber losses affect the end user the same way they affect the installer, creating excess connection loss that can cause systems to malfunction or have high error rates, causing an expensive and annoying service call. Unfortunately, there is no optical mating adapter that will match two dissimilar fibers—although it has been tried many times. There is no solution other than preventing mismatched fiber terminations.