wHAt iS oPTiC fIbRe caBLE

A fiber optic cable consists of tubes of
glass or plastic fiber which transmit
digital data over longer distances and
at higher data rates than other forms
of wired and wireless communications.
A typical optical fiber consists of a very
narrow strand or fiber of glass called
the core. This core is surrounded by a
concentric layer of the glass called
cladding. The diameter of a core is 62.5
microns and the diameter of cladding
is about 125 microns. The cladding is
coated with insulating material such as
plastic jacket.
In twisted-pair cable and coaxial cable,
data is transmitted in the form of
electric frequencies. So copper wire
has to be protected from water and
electromagnetic waves. In fiber optic
cable, these types of problems are not
occurred.
The data transmission speed is very
high because fiber-optic cable uses
light to transmit data. The data
transmission speed is up to billions
bits per second. An important
characteristic of fiber optic is refraction.
Refraction is the characteristic of a
material to either pass or reflect light.
When light passes through a medium,
it bends as it passes from one medium
to the other.
The advantages of fiber optic cable are:
Its transmission capacity is about
26,000 times greater than twisted pair
media - up into the gigabits and more
reliable (lower data transmission
errors).
It has high level of security and much
thinner and lighter than other metal
wires.
Fiber optic not affected by
electromagnetic noise for example
radios, motors and others cables.
The disadvantage of fiber optic is that
the cables are very costly and difficult
to install.
Therefore the fiber-optic cable is
becoming more popular and replacing
all old cable system. Today telephone,
banks, and television companies are
replacing their existing telephone and
coaxial cables with fiber-optic cables.