Monday 30 March 2015

Optic Fiber for Faster and Easier and Faster Communication

Have you ever thought how you can communicate quickly and clearly with someone miles away and why your internet speed has increased remarkably in the last decade?

The revolution of high speed internet and VOIP technology has made it possible, and that has a lot with the large scale manufacturing of fiber optics.

Optically pure glass is converted into very thin strands, as thin as human hair, and this is packed together in the form of cable which is called optical cable. Light signals are passed through the fiber cable over a long distance. The cables are used in telecommunication to carry digital information faster, and with better clarity.  Material used in most of cases is silica glass but other materials like fluorozirconate and chalcogenide glasses are also used for infrared functions.

Optical fiber cable is much cheaper than the copper cables which are normally used, and it take very little space to store and is easy to transport because it is much thinner than the copper cables and light in weight. 

Uses of Optic Cables

Mainly optic cables are used in Cable TV, Internet and Telephone lines because they carry light signals at very high speed and long distance without degeneration.

These cables are very flexible and send out light signals instead of electrical signal, so it is used in flexible digital cameras for medical and mechanical purposes like endoscope, laparoscope, welding pipes etc.  Many industrial plant and electric utility companies use these cables.

Advantage of Optic cables

Optic cables have many advantages over the conventional copper cables and the main benefits are:

•    Higher speed
•    Longer distance
•    Large carrying capacity
•    Easy to upgrade
•    Non-Flammable

Light signals travel at higher speed than electrical signal, and it can cover long distance without repeating the signal in between.

 These cables can carry large amount of information quickly because optic fibers are very thin and more fiber can be packed into the cable. This will accommodate more channels and telephone lines in a cable.

For upgrading, only optics needs to be replaced at the end of the cable, unlike in copper cable where all the underlying cabling needs to be changed.

Light signals are passed through the cable for data transfer, so there is no danger of fire, whereas in copper wire electricity is passed and it has the possibility of catching fire.

There are numerous other advantages and so these cables are used in many industries today for better and faster communication.

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