The transmission of information from source to destination in the form of lights is known as a Fiber-optic communication system. Optical fibers are of small size and weight. It has very small diameters so that it is much lighter than copper cables. They have a far greater potential bandwidth and optical carrier frequency than copper cables. They have an enormous potential bandwidth.
Optical fibers are fabricated from glass so that they do not display earth loop and other interface problems.
Also, when too many fibers are cabled together there is no crosstalk and optical interference. It provides a high degree of signal security. That's why it is mostly used for military and banking application. The optical glass which is used in an optical fiber communication system is made from sand, which is vastly available. This is the reason why optical glass is low cost.
The fiber optic communication system provides system reliability, flexibility, and low transmission loss.
The low transmission loss is because of very low attenuation by implementing communication links with extremely wide optical repeater and amplifier spacings.
The fiber optic communication system consists of various block elements like source, destination, transmitter, transmission medium, and receiver. Here, the source used is the optical source and the transmission medium is optical fiber cables.
Similarly, the modulator used is an electrical transmitter and the demodulator used is an optical detector. There is a distortion for both analog and digital transmission in optical fiber communication.
In engineering, the distortion term is called Dispersion. There are various effects of dispersion along optical fibers. They are termed as inter-symbol interference, signal-noise ratio, etc. Also, the different types of dispersion are the chromatic dispersion, material dispersion, waveguide dispersion, inter-modal dispersion, etc.
Types of Optical fiber
There are three types of optical fiber. They are Multimode step-index fiber, multimode graded-index fiber, and single-mode fiber. Multimode step-index fiber may be fabricated from multi-component glass compounds or dropped silica.And, Multimode graded-index fiber has a graded-index profile fabricated using multi-component glasses or doped silica. Also, single-mode fibers have either a step-index or graded-index profile and are fabricated from doped silica to produce high-quality wide-band transmission fibers suitable for all telecommunication application.
Properties of Optical fiber Cable
The important properties possessed by the optical fiber cables are the fiber protection and stability of the transmission characteristics. The optical fiber cables protect against damage and breakage both during starting and throughout the life of the fiber.The optical fibers are classified into two headings on the basis of the profile of the refractive index of the fiber. They are known as step-index optical fiber & graded-index optical fiber.
Advantages and Applications of Optical fiber Communication
There are various applications of optical fiber communication. They are used in various fields in the modern world. They are used in telecommunication applications, space applications, military applications, broadband application, computer application, undersea transmission cables, sensor application, electric power companies, biomedical application, general home appliances application, and so on.One of the main important fields where optical fiber communication is vastly used in the telecommunication field. It could be on voice telephone, message services, video phones, and data network and so on.