Advantages of optical fiber over copper cables

Since its introduction, optical fiber cables have been known to be the best transmission medium and an innovation that promised to significantly push broadband speeds. And it actually did it.
But there is still a competition between copper and fiber. Both markets are increasing their products and potentially growing. Nevertheless fiber offers a lot of advantages over copper and is quickly replacing it, even in desktop applications.
Greater bandwidth and speed:
Optical fiber provides more bandwidth than copper, reaching speeds from 100 Mbps up to 10 Gbps and beyond. This means fiber can carry more information than copper and with better fidelity. Optical fiber speeds depends on the type of cable, which can be single-mode or multimode.
Longer distances:
When traveling over long distances, optical fiber cables experiences less signal loss than copper cables. Copper cables performance decreases after 9,328ft, while optical fiber installations can go from 984.2 ft to 24.8 miles and have an outstanding performance.
Better security:
It is possible to hack optical fiber, but it is significantly harder than hacking copper networkis. And it is really easy to monitor when a fiber cable is tapped, so you will know if someone tries to break your network security.
Immunity and reliability:
Copper, if not properly installed, produces electromagnetic currents that can cause problems on the network. While optical fiber is immune to electromagnetic interferences, thus they provide reliable data transmission. Fiber is less susceptible to temperature and can be installed underwater, too.
Lighter design:
To reach higher speeds with copper, you need to get a higher grade of cable, which usually are larger and weight more. Optical fiber cables are thin and light, which makes it easier to install because they take up little space.
Costs:
Optical fiber is more expensive than copper in the short run, but its maintaining costs are significantly lower. Fiber requires less hardware installation and lasts longer, which makes it less expensive in the long run.

Optical fiber beyond telecommunication

Optical fiber beyond telecommunication
Optical fiber is great for carrying huge amounts of data over long distances at unimagined speeds and providing us with high-speed Internet connections that nowadays are more a necessity than a luxury, but they also have an excellent throughput in other fields beside telecommunications, since they are used from non-invasive surgeries to pool illumination.
Optical fiber made it possible for surgeries to be minimally invasive and to have advanced diagnostic technologies due to implements like optical fiber cameras. Medical optical fiber applications also include X-ray imaging, ophthalmic lasers, light therapy, dental head pieces, surgical microscopy and endoscopy. The study “Global Market Study on Medical Fiber Optics: Asia to Witness Highest Growth by 2019” says that medical fiber global market will reach a value of USD 1,336.1 million by 2019.
Optical fiber is used in the decoration field because it provides an attractive and economical way of illumination. It is used at museums exhibitions due to their heat-free attribute and in underwater lighting because they don’t conduct electricity.
Optical fibers also provide extremely focused light, they are long-lasting, look like neon, colors can change according to the applied filter and their installment and maintenance is easy. Also they look really cute, don’t they?
Lighting applications with optical fiber are being used in the automotive industry too because they it can be installed in reduced spaces and it transmits cold light. Companies like Volvo, Audi, BMW, Jaguar and Saab use fiber to build the communication system that connects sensors with airbags and traction control devices in order to increase passenger’s safety.
Roll Royce’s trademark “Starlight headliner” is built with over 1300 optical fibers which make Phantom’s ceiling look like a starlight night.
Optical fiber sensors measure, pressure and strain. But they are also used to look for displacements, vibrations and rotations in civil structures such as highways, buildings and bridges or smart structures like airplanes wings and sport equipment. They are also very helpful for monitoring oil, power cables and pipelines in places that are really hard to reach.
Sensors work with a detector arrangement that measures the subtle changes that happen in the light as it travels through an optical fiber.  They offer a lot of advantages because they don’t require electrical cables, therefore can be safely used in high-voltage and electrical environments.

How does fiber optic help oil production companies?

Optical fiber sensor technology has been used in oil and gas companies since 1990 for monitoring temperature and pressure in order to improve safety and raise production. Also, for many years companies have been collecting big quantities of data in order to know what lies behind the surface and how to bring it out.
But what has been the role of optical fiber during the current oil crisis?
During the past months, oil prices have dropped more than 70% since June 2014, from over 100$ per barrel to under 30$ in the last week. The plunge in the oil prices is caused by the rise in the barrels production, USA has doubled its domestic production, Saudi oil is competing in Asian markets and Canada and Iraq exports are also rising, even Russians keep pumping despite the country economic crisis.
The main reason for the rise in production has been the increase in fracking operations, which have been the most affected from the plunge in oil prices, since they have dropped below production prices. At least 250,000 oil workers have lost their job and it is estimated half of the industry could disappear.
Oil companies deal with large quantities of data in order to make technical decisions, using sensors that collect and transmit data, along with new analytic tools and advanced storage capabilities that allows producers to gather detailed data in real time, at lower costs and from areas that were inaccessible in the past, which makes it possible to improve plant’s work.
And as those big quantities of data need to be transmitted in real time, they require high-quality networks that can just be deployed with optical fiber.
As engineer Glenn R. McColpin wrote in the American Oil and Gas Reporter, using fiber optic distributing sensing provides operators the ability to see and hear what’s happening below the surface, making it possible to track fluid and proppant in real time as they move through the well.
According to the paper Big Data analytics in oil and gas fiber optic improves the way companies manage the process of drilling and connecting a well because it allows to transmit microseismic 3D imaging with reduced lag time, which improves delivery performance and production from 6% to 8%.
According the 2015 Photonic Sensor Consortium Market Survey Report published by Information Gatekeepers and Light Wave Ventures, fiber optic sensor market has grown for less than $200 million in 2006 to $600 million nowadays and it is expected that the industry grows to $1.5 billion in 2018, with 70% of that entry coming from oil and gas companies.

What is a fiber optic coupler and how to properly choose it?

The relevance of fiber optic couplers, also called adapters, is constantly eclipsed by connectors.
but the truth is that they are a critical element in fiber optic links and systems and play a serious role in the connection performance.
Why?
Because fiber optic couplers role is to join or mate connectors together and make it possible to connect cables between each other and into active equipment.
Look:
Connectors’ role is to precisely hold, secure and align the fibers into their ferrules. Couplers purpose is to accurately hold, secure and align the ferrules into their mating sleeves, bringing the ferrules together at the midpoint.
What does this mean?
That the alignment precision characteristics between connectors’ ferrule and couplers’ mating sleeves define the interconnection assembly performance.
Usually, fiber optic couplers are used to connect the same style of connectors
SC to SC
ST to ST
LC to LC
But there are some of them, called hybrid adapters, able to mate different styles of connectors, such as
SC to ST
SC to LC and so on
Commonly, most adapters are female and allow the connection between two cables in order to communicate from the distance through a direct connection.
But:
there also are male-female couplers, which are usually plug into a connector port of equipment.
SC coupler
SC couplers are available in simplex and duplex styles. Single mode UPC couplers are blue, multimode UPC are beige and single mode SC/APC couplers are green.
SC/APC couplers are one of the most reliable connection styles, which is why they are broadly used in
FTTH deployments
CATV
LAN
WAN applications.
LC coupler
LC connectors are one of the most popular small form factor connectors which is why, along with LC couplers, are widely used in high density applications.
LC couplers are also manufactured in blue for UPC single mode, beige for UPC multimode and green for APC single mode and in simplex and duplex style.
ST coupler
ST adaptors are manufactured in metal and plastic and, also, in simplex and duplex style for single mode, multimode and APC versions. They are used to link ST connectors and components.
Beyondtech manufactures and supplies a wide range of fiber optic couplers for several applications that comply with all international standards.

why Cloud Computing requires fiber optic broadband

You sure have heard the term cloud computing a lot lately since it has become closely linked to several aspects of our lives. And, surely, you have asked yourself what is the cloud and where exactly is it.
As it turns out, cloud computing means storing and accessing data and programs over the Internet instead of your computer’s hard drive. It allows for customers and businesses to use services and sotfwares without having to build, run and maintain the servers in-house. Therefore, in this case, the word “cloud” is used as a metaphor for “the Internet”.
Cloud computing means not to store data and run programs from computers that are close to you or others computers from that local network because that’s simply local storage and computing. It is just considered cloud computing when you access to your files and applications over the Internet.
You see… there’s a good chance you use Cloud Computing on your daily basis, like accessing to your Gmail, Yahoo or Outlook e-mail, downloading an app from Google Play or the App Store, or watching a Netflix series.
Think about it, instead of running those programs on your computer or phone, you access the web and remotely log-in into your account. The software that stores your e-mails, apps and movies doesn’t exist in your computer, it is on the services’ cloud.
And how exactly does it work?
Cloud computing consists of layers, the front-end, the side you as a consumer interact with, for this you need your computer and the applications required to access to the cloud. And the back-end, that refers to the computers, servers and data storage systems that fuel the interface you see and manage at the front-end. The back-end systems apply high-performance computing able to perform tens of trillions of computations per second.
Cloud computing includes IaaS (Infrastructure as a Service), PaaS (Platform as a Service) and SaaS (Software as a Service) as layers of services.
IaaS (Infrastructure as a Service): Allows you access to storage and computer power through a web-based system. Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Microsoft Azure are accurate examples of IaaS.
PaaS (Platform as a Service): It gives developers the tools to build and host web applications.
SaaS (Software as a Service): The applications are accessible from various client devices through a client interface, such as a web browser.
Where does fiber-optic have a role on Cloud Computing?
Being an Internet-based server layer, cloud computing productivity solutions efficient performance depends on your Internet connection. Without enough bandwidth, cloud computing would be impossible.
With more than 1 Exabyte of data stored in the cloud, connections need to be high-speed, reliable and trustworthy in order to allow computers resources to be easily distributed. Therefore, optical fiber will be persistent in the new network architectures as bandwidth requirements increase.
Currently, there is no technology more effective for meeting data increasing demands than fiber optics, because it is the only practical telecommunication medium able to carry trillions of bits per second.
When migrating to cloud computing infrastructure, businesses need to ensure their Internet connection can keep up, by finding a right commercial ISP that’s able to deliver the type of  fiber WAN that is suited for this architecture.
On the other hand, data centers need to meet these challenging data increasing requirements by using advanced fiber optic cabling in core network functions, backhaul systems, and storage arrays, which delivers reliability and scalability without giving up density.

Why distances matters in fiber optics?

It’s a well-known fact that fiber optics is the way most of the IT infrastructure service companies currently transmit information. It makes sense if you bear in mind that it allows information and data to travel at greater speeds, through greater distances, and in never-before-seen bundles.
Fiber optics also allows these companies to be insured against the future in terms of bandwidth. The amount of data that travels through these conduits is massive and it will only increase through time. Making sure your networks can endure the load now and in years to come is one of the many perks of fiber optics.
Electrical interference of any kind doesn’t faze fiber optics either, making it the best choice for networks that are data-sensitive and handle security issues. This also gives it an extra ounce of reliability which relieves a lot of the worry in terms of maintenance and upkeep.
Choosing the proper fiber optic cable to fit your needs may seem like a daunting task but it really isn’t. Just invest some time to do the necessary research beforehand and you´ll save yourself a lot of time and trouble as well as money.
For Starters,
If you are looking to perfect and/or enhance the build-out of your network through fiber optics, start by doing an in-depth assessment of your current and future needs. Knowing for sure how your networks will be used and for what is essential for this evaluation since it will allow you to properly and accurately select the type of fiber you might need depending on the application.
For example, let’s say you are looking to upgrade the backbone of your network you will more than likely need a cable which differs completely from what you might need if you are looking to install security and surveillance cameras in a given location.
Some other points to consider when selecting the fiber optic solution that best fits your needs are:
Distances of transmission: you must be fully cognizant of the distances that the information you will handle must travel. This is crucial in determining what type of cable best suits you.
Current and future bandwidth requirements: consider the amount and type of data and information that will cruise through these cables. Nobody wants a slow network, right?
Network architecture: the way your entire network (hardware, software, communication and connectivity protocols and modes of transmission) is laid out should be taken into consideration when selecting your fiber optics.
Distances
Fiber optic cables are the wisest choice over copper cables which have been traditionally used until recently. It can most definitely support many further distances of input travel than its metal counterpart but the exact distance is difficult to determine as it is limited by a plurality of factors.
This is a vital issue for optical communications since it prides itself in being super-fast (as it indeed is) putting data transmission distance under the spotlight.
The signal transmitting the information from point A to point B may possibly weaken if the distance is very long. There are many methods that can be applied and components that can be used to diminish the limitations inflicted by optical transmission distance.
Basically, the amount of data or information that can be transmitted through a cable in a fixed or given amount of time is called bandwidth. If it’s referring to a website, for example, bandwidth determines the quantity of information and the level of traffic that can transfer between the site, its users, and the Internet as a whole which is why web hosting companies are prone to offer maximum levels of bandwidth as part of their hosting packages.
 What to look for?
Fast connections and great company CRM that offer the best-in-class of terms of networks, connections, and systems. It stands to reason that the more width of a band that the company can provide, the faster and more efficient your network or site will be in those three categories.
In the digital realm, bandwidth is commonly expressed in bits per second (bps) or bytes per second. Don´t mistake one for the other, though. Both are units used to measure information storage amounts and both have very similar acronyms (Mb and MB) but there is a big difference that can have major repercussions on your network‘s performance levels: one byte is made up of 8 bits.
In terms of data transmission, the distance it can travel decreases proportionally to any bandwidth increase and it’s measured in Hertz (Hz).
While bits and bytes determine the amount of data that given devices can storage, a Hertz is a unit of frequency that can indicate how often an action is done. If something is said to be 120 Hertz then that something has a repetition frequency of 120 times in one second.
When dealing with fiber optics, here’s more or less how it works: a fiber cable that can support 800 MHz bandwidth throughout a distance of 1 kilometer will only be able to support 400 MHz at 2 kilometers and 200 MHz at 5 kilometers.
Types of Fiber Optic Cables
There are two types of well–known optical fiber cables and each has their own set of unique qualities and characteristics: single-mode and multi-mode.
Before we continue, let’s clarify what dispersion is: it is basically the spreading over time of the signal that carries the data through the cables.
There’s chromatic dispersion in which the signal spreads over time due to the action of different speeds of light rays and there’s modal dispersion, in which case the signal is spread out through time as a consequence of the different modes of propagation used in the optic fiber.
Single mode optical fiber usually has an 8.3-micron diameter core and makes use of laser technology and light to send and receive data. A micron is a unit of measure equal to 1 millionth of a meter. So you can picture it: one strand of human hair has a diameter of more or less 100 microns.
So single mode fibers have the ability to carry information for miles without losing too many data which makes it ideal for companies that offer services such as cable and telephone providers.
Transmission distance is affected by chromatic dispersion because the core of single-mode fibers is much smaller than that of multimode fibers. And it is also the reason why single-mode fiber can have longer transmission distance than multimode fiber.
High powered lasers operating within single mode optical fibers lend it its efficiency since they can readily transmit data at far greater distances than the light used in their multimode counterparts.
If you need to handle large amounts of data with the least dispersion, single mode fiber might be your best choice. Just take into consideration that these fibers are noticeably more expensive than multimode ones since the technology used is a bit more sophisticated.
Multimode
Multimode optical fiber, as its very name indicates, allows the signal to travel through different pathways or modes that are placed inside of the cable’s core. For these types of fibers, the transmission distance is largely affected by modal dispersion.
Due to the fact that the fibers in multimode cables have imperfections, the optical signals are not able to arrive at the same time causing a delay between the fastest traveling modes and the slowest ones, which in turn causes the dispersion and limits multimode fiber performance.
This type of fiber uses inexpensive LED (light emitting diode) light sources to transmit data. The signal travels through an LED-based optical transmitter called a media converter, then down the glass in the fiber and bounces from wall to wall within the cable until it reaches its final destination at a rate of 10 or 100 Mb/sec but all that bouncing brings modal dispersion to the mix, diminishing the amount of data transmitted over a specific distance.
The demand for more data and faster reception of it has increased over the years making LED cables seem terribly slow and limited. This caused the creation of cables that use lasers to transmit data along with light, giving the world single mode optic fibers.
Multimode fibers can be found in 4 different presentations identified with the acronym OM which stands for optical multi-mode and varies according to performance criteria determined by ISO/IEC 11801 standards. These presentations are OM1, OM2, OM3, and OM4.