Optical Transmitters drives the Technology behind the Fibre Optic Cable communications

Modern day communication relies a lot on the fibre optic cable connections. The system includes a series of cables made of fibre optic channels connected to optical transmitter. Amplifier system may also be used to magnify the weak signals in case multi-modal fibre optic cables. For domestic applications, the multiple fibre optic cables are routed through the underground conduits and tubes to ensure minimum interaction with environmental factors and human contacts.

 

Optical Transmitters: The Heart of Technology
The optical transmitters used in the fibre optic cable system are made of semiconductors. The Light-emitting Diodes or LEDs and Laser diodes are the most common optical transmitters used in the modern communication models.  The optical transmitters that have LED source produce an incoherent light beam, while the ones installed with Laser Diodes produce a beam of coherent light source.

What are the properties of a good Optical Transmitter?
For the sake of compatibility with the modern day Fibre optic cable system, the Optical transmitters must be:
-    Compact in design to accommodate large bundles of fibre optic cables
-    Efficient in terms of power consumption
-    Minimum interference with the external signal sources
-    No loss of signal due to heat dissipation
-    Reliable accuracy owing to good quality insulation
The Laser diodes used in the Fibre optic cables are more affordable and reliable in terms of their operational benefits over a wide range of wavelengths and high frequencies. In case of optic channels using the LEDs, the efficiency is ambiguous and hard to predict. LED optical transmitters should be used to reduce cost and not for high-performance applications.

The reduced dependence on the Amplifiers
In a traditional fibre optic cable layout, there could be multiple nodes where amplifiers can be linked. A sequential cable router can have as many as a 10 to 15 amplifiers. The information passed through the fibre optic cable layout is typically encrypted digitally that can be generated using the same set of hardware used in computer, telephone systems and telecom models.
Another advantage of using Laser-based transmitters is the minimized dependence on the optical receivers and amplifiers. The primary photo-dectors for telecommunications are made of conventional photo-diodes with Metal-semiconductor-Metal configuration.

What is the modern LED optical transmitter trend?
LED Optical transmitters are made of Gallium arsenide or Indium Gallium arsenide phosphate. Fibre optic cables used with the LED based optical transmitters can carry a longer wavelength of signals. Despite their high fibre dispersion rate, these transmitters can be used with quantum wells to emit signals over a broader spectrum.

All local area Wavelength- Division Multiplexing networks use fibre optic cables installed with LED-based optical transmitters.

The LEDs are quickly getting replaced by the Vertical Cavity Surface Emitting (VCSEL) Lasers. Speed is the key to transmit signals through the fibre optic cables. VCSEL devices are compatible with all single-mode as well as Multi-mode optic cables.
From stability to high-grade circuit integration, optical transmitters are major components of the optic fibre telecommunication channels.

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Fibre Optic cables: 6 Reasons why it is the Key to Power and Data Transmission

Copper wires have ruled for more than two centuries. Now it is time to phase them out with a more efficient and power saving option. The recent technological demands summed up as data requirements have thrown up a novel item. The fibre optic wires used in the transmission of electrical signals and data are doubling up the digital inventions made every year.

The 6 things about the fibre optic cables and connectors that make them unique are as follows:

1    Abundant Raw Material
Optic fibre cables are made using sand. The silica is the basic raw material used to manufacture the high grade optic cables. Cheaper versions do use the plastic materials but for transmitting power and data over a long distance, silica is the best material. The silica is processed from sands from the river banks and sea shores.
Other compounds being explored as a potential raw materials are:
-    Fluoroaluminate
-    Chalcogenide
-    Fluorozirconate

2    Simple classification
The fibre optic cables are classified as Single mode cable and multimode cables. The wires with diameters less than 10 microns are placed in the segment of Single mode fibre optic cables.
The multi mode cables have a diameter between 100 and 50 microns.
A special set of plastic fibre optics are also included in the family of optic wires. They are referred to as POFs.

3    It works much like your Camera Lens
The fibre optic cables works on the principle of Total Internal Reflection and the signals are transmitted based on Optical properties. The higher the quality of glass material used in the fibre optic cables, higher will be the efficiency in data transmission. The light pulses bounce multiple times from the internal walls without losing the energy. It follows the Law of Conservation of Energy and Charge.

4    It does not get Hot
Industrial sectors can finally breathe a sigh of relief. The fibre optic cables come as welcome solution to fight global warming and heat dissipation issues. The carbon rating from the fibre optic cables is least and it hardly gets hot. It means that the fibre optics can be used to transmit charge infinitely without losing its efficiency over a period of time due to conduction or radiation.

5    Safe to Touch even when it is transmitting
Electrical shocks remain the biggest fear in the minds of the user while handling electrical appliances. The fibre optic cables minimize the risk to a certain degree. The insulation and the internal optical properties of the fibre optic cables make the wires easy to handle and install even when they are connected to the source.

6    No change in efficiency even when it’s bent or twisted
Physical properties are not affected due to twisting or bending of the wire. It continues to carry signals as per its original rating. With no issue of broken fibres or blocked channels, the user can continue to experience highest performance from the appliances even in restricted space.

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Optic Fibre: The Drive behind the Digital Revolution

The space could be expanding, but the technologies on Earth are shrinking every second. The contracting medium with invisible potential to meet daily needs is driven by the fibre optic cables and the semiconductors. The optic fibre cables have been successful introduced in commercial as well as in high-end domestic units with ease. While the industries transform into seamless platforms, it’s the common consumers at home who can benefit much more from using the appliances compatible with the sleek fibre optic cables. The cables can emphatically replace the existing metal wires and hence qualify as the tools of evolution in electronics and electrical segment.

Here’s a list of things you must know about the optic cable fibres that make them compatible with existing wiring systems.

Looking for High Bandwidth: Fibre Optics is the Solution
 

The fibre optic cables have been projected as the simplified tools of network layout. The cables can be used to transfer data across a reasonably larger distance at high bandwidth capacity. It automatically translates into better speed and higher quality of data transfer. The glass fibres ensure minimal interference with the localized magnetic and electric fields. Systems using fibre optic cables experience fewer cross-signal interference and minimum data corruption.


Everything will work at the Speed of Light

Since ages, scientists have been trying to build electrical systems that can match the efficiency of photons and light pulses. When an object travels with a speed close to that of light, it experiences minimum resistance from the medium. Unlike the metal wire cables, the working of the fibre optic cables is independent of the properties of material or quality. If glass is used, the fibre optic cables qualify as a standard light pulses carrier. It means the industry saves material cost and quality testing time to verify the efficiency of the external coating of insulation used in copper wires. Customers can enjoy every appliance working at speed close to light pulses.


It’s time to say goodbyes to electrical failures

The electrical systems using the standard fibre optic cables have shown tremendous efficiency in sustaining fluctuating power loads. The resistance to electrical failures make these wire cables a suitable option for use as Power Transmission and Management element. Imagine the millions of dollars that can be saved by using few kilometres of optic cables that neither breaks or surge under environmental pressure?

 

Building a Hybrid system with Existing wires

Certain operations require the use of copper wires even today. Like fuse wire or grounding circuits. Even the submerged transformers and motors operate with copper wires. The fibre optic cable can be used harmoniously with the wired systems. The cost of expansion or evolution can be saved by simply integrating the new wires with the older hardware and peripheral accessories.


Easy Troubleshooting

The fallouts in system using the fibre optic cable can be easily detected and resolved using spectrometers. The troubleshooting of failure in conventional metal wire layouts take longer time as far as detection and replacement is concerned. With fibre optic cables, the troubleshooting time is reduced by over 400 percent. The cost of replacement is exponentially downsized too!

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Fibre Optic Connectors and Fusion Splicing Technology: Moving Hand-in-Hand

Fusion splicing is a regular unification process used to fuse tow fibre optic cables. Much like welding of the metallic wires, fusion splicing too requires compatibility of the fusing bodies. Depending on the degree of accuracy and precision stripping, industrial fibre optic cables offer close to 95 percent efficiency after completing of the unification process.

The common fibre optic cables that can be joined using fusion splicing are as follows:
-    Distribution cables
-    Indoor/ Outdoor Tight Buffer cables
-    Indoor/ Outdoor Breaker cables
-    Corning Cable Systems
-    Indoor/Outdoor Dry Loose Tube Cable
-    Self-Supporting Aerial Cables
-    Hybrid and Composite Fibre optic cables
-    Armoured cables
-    Low Smoke Zero Halogen

Can splicing be done after terminating the fibre optic cables?
Depending on the application of termination agents, the fusion splicing may not bear desired results. The termination of fibre optic cables is done to save cost of hardware modification and customize the circuit layout. Use of fibre optic connectors makes the terminating effective even if fusion splicing is considered at later stages.
Use of Epoxy and Polish style connectors are preferred over others owing to their ease of use and variety. The terminating style fibre optic cables belong to the Epoxy and Polish variety represents the largest and the cheapest range of connectors. They are available as ST, SC, FC, LC, D4, SMA, MU, and MTRJ.

 What are the benefits of using fibre optic connectors?
There are numerous advantages of using the connectors for splice techniques like:

-    Reliable technology
Using connectors is a time-tested application. They can withstand a variety of environmental and mechanical pressures. Unlike other existing connector designs, the Epoxy and Polish style fibre optic cables offer higher degree of robustness even in idle conditions.

-    Compatible with Every other fibre optic cable
These connectors fit into possibly every single existing cable variety. They can be used with a wide assortment of cable jacket diameters that also includes the 900um buffered fibre and the 3.0mm jacketed fibre.

-    Reduced installation time
Splicing can take more than 45 minutes if the connectors are not compatible. Termination of fibre optic cables take 25 minutes s it requires epoxy curing over oven. Faster curing methods are available for connectors that may not be suitable for all types. Usually, anaerobic epoxies are preferred for fibre optic cables likely to be spliced using fusion splicing tools.

-    Zero supervision while using No-Epoxy & No-Polish
No epoxy and no paint versions can be used even by a layman. It is used to restore the fast field requirements across a larger area of operation. With instant set up, this set of fibre optic connectors can be installed in less than a minute with absolutely no operational training to support the method.
In short, this connector module is cheap, easy to install and highly preferred over other connectors.

Various Fusion splicing tools and accessories
Fusion splicing is done using a dual heater fusion tool. The apparatus comes with a splice protection heat shrink sleeve to protect the internal structure of the fibre optic cables.

The common industrial Fusion splicing tools used to join the fibre optic cables are:
-    Quantum core alignment fusion splicing tool
-    Hand held Fusion splicer with 11 second splicing time with navigational touch screen pad
-    Mass batch Fusion splicer
-    Kit fusion splicer
Fusion splicing technology facilitates high degree of ruggedness, precision transmission, consistency and reliability with zero issues of crash down.

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Fibre Optic Cable: An Essential Requirement in a Datacentre’s Infrastructure

To cope up with modern day data centre’s needs and stringent requirements on its performance, safety, security and modularity, latest technologies and high performance equipment are a must. In the Next-Generation Data centre Forum held recently at Manila, Country Solutions Manager at Dimension Data Philippines highlighted the need to step-up today’s data centre to the next level because of recent emerging technologies in the field of IT including buzzwords like big data, software defined networks, security compliance, hybrid cloud, consumption model and virtualization.Thus data centres are now required to be more agile and must support existing as well as advanced technologies.

Not only the need of IT enhancement was mentioned, rather data centre’s infrastructure was emphasized to be built according to contemporary designs.Today’s data centres must be reliable to provide service 24x7 without any hindrance. It is a mission critical component in a business which is responsible for storing, managing and protecting network’s core operational data. To increase data centre’s flexibility, its infrastructure i.e. cooling, power, cabling etc., should be built in a modular fashion. Damian Hamilton, Data centre Lead at Dimension Data Asia-Pacific, enlightened this fact with his experience in building data centres all over the world.

When it comes to make a future-proofed data centre infrastructure, fibre optics is the first choice of all businesses.Copper cabling has been steadily replaced by fibre optic cables because they provide several advantages over traditional copper communication lines, for example,

•    No other media than fibre optic cables can provide more bandwidth for high-performance networks, which means they can carry more data
•    Fibre optic cables provides immunity towards EMI/RFI, alien cross-talk issues and are less susceptible than metal cables to interference
•    Optical cable and hardware can offer dramatic space savings, because they are much thinner and lighter than metal wires. It is important when data centre real estate is at a premium
•    Fibre optic cables can transmit data digitally (natural form for computer data) instead of analogically

As a result, fibre optics is a growing industry,where manufacturers are trying to bring high end products and that too at a reasonable price.The perfect choice for businesses, both big and small, can be the one that not only provides a solution but also exceptional customer service and 100% product availability.Apollo Technology is a worth mentioning choice particularly when it comes to modern datacentre infrastructure.

Data centres commonly have horizontal networks in their infrastructure, made secured using fibre optics that prevent access to the data. Since fibre optic cables does not emit electronic signals that can be monitored remotely, data transmitted over fibre is highly secured. Also, fibre cannot be tapped into without being detected. Furthermore, data security is accelerating Fibre to the Desktop (FTTD) as a common horizontal network example which can be achieved using fibre optic cables supplied by Apollo Technology.

In the development of data centres, one thing is for sure:data centres will keep growing with the advancement in technology, with more and more demanding requirements in terms of performance, reliability, security and modularity. It will be up to fibre optic providers like Apollo Technology to continue to bring to market high end fibre optics products to meet these requirements and play a vital role in the evolution of modern data centres.

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Growing Adoption of Pre-terminated Fibre Optic Cables in Current Cabling Trends

The aim of modern IT-centric world is to target on having a firm grasp of prevailing cabling trends for flourishing technologies. In recent years, cabling advancements have been a cause of satisfaction for IT and datacentre managers when it comes to installation, usage and maintenance. Moreover, the upgradation and outfitting of datacentres or any other system has now become easier, with savings on both time and cost.

A research on future cabling market done in 2013 by BSRIA - a global market intelligence company, can be summarized as:

• The global market of structured cabling will reach about $8.3 billion by 2020. Of this total, cabling in datacentres is expected to account for $1.6 billion, while LAN cabling alone will contribute $6.7 billion.

• Companies are expected to spend more on LAN structured cabling for wiring IP camera, access points and access controls, building management systems and other equipment.

• Datacentre’s structured cabling will continue to move on utilizing fibre, whereas the smaller datacentres using copper wiring are likely to decrease with the increase in outsourcing and cloud services.

Many IT companies are determined to maximize project ROI in order to improve their commercial sector. They needed to make more sustainable and environmentally sound choices for cables having lower installation costs and requiring less installation time. Here is where pre-terminated fibre optic cable comes into picture. It has proved better results for mission-critical technology networks because it provides high performance and maximum system uptime over long term, without incurring high costs for system upgrades and network maintenance.

Traditionally, once a cabling installation plan is formulated and network topology is approved, installers need to haul large volumes of cables to be installed and terminate at the user’s site. This installation may take days, weeks or even months depending on the size of the project. If the system needs to be upgraded, the installers have to design their schedule in such a way that the network’s performance should not be affected. Furthermore, at the end of the installation process, the installers are left with discarded packaging, unused cabling and even other waste and scrap.

On the other hand, pre-terminated fibre optic cable needs more detailed analysis and planning process, requiring more time upfront to determine the current and future requirements of cabling and termination routes within the cabinets and along the cable trays. Once the plan is formulated, the required cable lengths for various areas are then manufactured by cable providers like Apollo Technology Pty Ltd, and tested to ensure they meet all applicable network standards.

The resulting cabling system is a rapidly deployable ‘plug and play’ system, as there is no need of on-site field termination, because these cables are bundled and pre-terminated at factory. They are ready to install upon arriving on site, without the need of special tools and field termination, leading to lower installation and ownership costs. Furthermore, these cables don’t leave any cable or connector scrap after the installation process is complete. Apollo technology makes pre-terminated cables to your exact specification with improved end-to-end attenuation and throughput. These cables have no termination errors because they have already been inspected for insertion loss and visual defects.

Because of the improved link loss budget, pre-terminated cables have various applications, for example LAN premise and campus applications that utilise pre-terminated cables for their inter-building and intra-building backbones. Also, datacentres deploy these cables in their main, horizontal and equipment distribution area trunk cables for Storage Area Network (SAN) applications requiring high density in limited space.

To conclude, pre-terminated fibre optic cables provide a greener approach and life cycle sustainability to datacentres and enterprise networks because they are economically feasible for a long-term investment. Although implementation of pre-terminated cables require more detailed pre-planning at the early stages, the overall cost/ benefit analysis favors their use.

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