Fiber Versus Copper
Why Fiber Optics is Superior to Copper Cables?
• One of the OLDEST methods of human communications invented by Homer as stated in the Iliad around 1184BC.
…rising in the distance from an island under siege
by an enemy, where men fight all day long
in Ares’ hateful war, struggling for their city—
then at sunset, they light fires one by one on the
mountain tops,
beacons flaming upwards to attract attention
from those on near-by islands, so their ships will come
to save them from destruction—that’s how the light
blazed…
Fast Forward a few 1000 years
- World War II
- Military Communications are critical
- 2 ships out at sea use LIGHT to communicate with each other by a new language call Morse Code. High Power lights blink on and off in certain sequences to each other. On and Off.
- A digital on/off way of communication has begun. A blinking light.
Modern Day Fiber Optics
- Similar to Morse code’s system, a lamp to transmit the light and the eye to receive it.
- Ons and Offs become ones and zeros in the digital version of Morse Code.
- Todays transmitters are high speed lasers the blink on and off unbelievably quickly on multiple ultra high- speed frequencies.
- Todays receivers are semiconductor photodiodes that “see” and record all that blinking, and computers translate it back to what was sent.
- A complete connection is when the 2 points transmit and receive to and from each other using patch cords to inter connect them.
Why Fiber Optics is Superior to Copper Cables?
- Cannot be tapped
- Greater Bandwidth
- Fiber Optic has faster speeds
- Singlemode fiber can go 25 miles versus 330 feet with Copper
- Fiber Optics has less interference from EMI, RF, and the elements.