In the age where security, speed, and efficiency are fundamental concepts for digital communication, fiber optic has become indispensable. The transport of huge amounts of data from one place to another is possible through hair-thin optic fibers in a matter of seconds. Whenever you pick up your smartphone and place a long-distance call, there is a very good chance that light waves are carrying your conversation over hundreds or thousands of kilometers of optical fiber.
Considering that fiber optic technology was first built more than 43 years ago, progress was slow. Only in the last 25 years, because of its higher-ranking qualities and capability to send information, fiber optic has been consistently replacing other techs and has already become the backbone of the information superhighway. In this post, we will discuss how this happened – or how fiber optic has revolutionized communication technology.
Communication and internal reflection
The invention of the heliograph represents the beginning of fiber optic tech. The heliograph reflects the light of the sun from a transmitting station to a receiving one through a code. This physical phenomenon is better known as internal reflection. Light travels from one transparent medium to another. In 1854, John Tyndall proved that guiding of the light is possible in a transparent medium. In this experiment, the light was guided along a stream of water flowing from a holder.
As for fiber optics, the internal reflection is utilized to stop a light ray from leaving the inside of a core. The light rays journey down the core in a zigzag pattern via a succession of complete internal reflections at the borderline of the core glass and the less dense glass that surrounds it.
Modulating the light source
Fiber optic communication systems come with a unique set of issues and solutions for the immense task of moving mountain-like piles of information from one place to the other, however, like any form of communication, the transmitted signal needs to be encoded onto the carrier at the source (transmitter) and decoded from the carrier at the destination (receiver).
If the carrier is a light wave, signal encoding is physically done either through external modulation or direct modulation. For instance, varying the current of a diode laser (and hence its light output) is a type of direct modulation. While modulating the intensity of a CW Nd:YAG laser beam with a Pockels cell is a type of external modulation.
The sub-revolution of fiber optic internet
Fiber optic internet is internet which is provided through fibers or strands that are bundled into optic cables. Unlike copper lines, that a cable or DSL service uses, fiber optic lines are composed of glass or plastic that are utilized for light transmitting. Light travels and reflects along the bends and curves in the optical cable. This particular transmission method easily transports more information than copper, which was originally developed for transmitting voice only (early telephone service). Fiber optic internet is enormously faster and more reliable than its predecessors.
Internet fiber optic offers are available all over the world. Residential and business locations are utilizing high-speed fiber internet all across Europe (Norway, Denmark, the UK, Sweden, etc.), Asia (South Korea, Japan, etc.), and the Middle East (Saudi Arabia, Jordan, the UAE, etc.)
Fiber internet speed doesn’t degrade over longer distances like copper-based internet connection does. In addition, a fiber connection has greater data capacity while limiting interference and loss of information.
The advantages of optic fiber over copper
Fiber tech can be utilized for data (TV and internet) and voice (phones). There are two distinct advantages of fiber optic over copper wire communication:
- Less interference – electromagnetic interferences influence the electrical circuits. This can obstruct, interrupt, limit or degrade a circuit’s performance, in the end causing data limitation or total loss of data.
- Smaller attenuation – the loss of intensity of any type of physical property through a medium. (For instance, the signal strength over the fiber optic).
Glass – a transparent solution
We all know that glass is transparent. We can look directly through it. So why do we need even more transparent glass? The soda-lime or Pyrex glass we have in our daily lives isn’t transparent enough for the fiber optic solution. It only looks transparent since it comes in thin layers. When examined from a side or narrow edge, you can easily notice how glass actually has a green-brownish color.
In the 1960s, the need for more transparent glass fibers for sending light over longer distances was imperative. Then, Standard Telecommunications Laboratories Ltd found a concept that reinforced the idea that fiber optic has revolutionized communication – the attenuation happens usually because metal ions (copper, vanadium, iron and chromium) are present in the components of glass fiber. If the attenuation is only 20 dB/km, then communicating through fiber optic will become possible. Nowadays, fabrication processes eliminate such impurities.
The data-carrying ability of fiber optic is more powerful than that of coaxial cables or wires since they carry light. The frequency of the light beams which journey along optical fibers is around two hundred trillion cycles per second. Fiber optic cables don’t need big investments for production, aren’t degraded by storms, do not conduct electricity and come in small sizes. Fiber optics have revolutionized the communication tech by enabling the transmission of larger data capacities over much longer distances, with less interference than the traditional copper technologies.
Raul is a B.Sc. in Innovative entrepreneurship and has a lot to say about innovations in all aspects of digital technology and online marketing. While he’s not enjoying football and great food, you can find him on Technivorz.com
