Advantages And Disadvantages Of Fiber Optics

In society today, the need for innovative technology is exponentially increasing. Better and faster ways of doing things are always being found. In order for these expanses to be possible, communication is heavily relied upon. Communication has formed a neuro-network encompassing the whole world. This network’s performance is of the utmost importance. It must be stable, reliable, and dependable. Over the years, the medium for this communication has constantly been upgraded from telegraphs, phone calls, and fax to the internet, cellular devices, and email. Although we are at an age where wireless is the popular thing, all wireless communication systems must be based upon a wired foundation. This wired system is where fiber optics come in. Fiber …show more content…
A comparison will be made between single and multi-mode fiber, emphasizing the advantages and disadvantages of both. Graded-index and step-index are two different types of multi-mode fiber which will be discussed as well as their advantages and disadvantages. The characteristics of multi-mode fiber will be explained as well as what affects the number of modes. Later on in the paper, different problems will be addressed, their cause, and potential solutions. These problems include intermodal dispersion, intramodal dispersion, bandwidth limitation, polarization mode dispersion, optical cross talk, and attenuation issues. Finally, this paper will end with a mention of current research and future research in the field and then a brief …show more content…
Both of these have different applications, advantages and disadvantages. A mode is defined as the ability to transmit a single beam of light through the medium. A single-mode optical fiber can only carry one beam of light as shown below in figure 3.1. Obviously, by the name, multi-mode can carry multiple wavelengths of light at the same time. Single-mode requires the use of a laser diode. The laser diode emits the light into the core of the fiber. The beam then takes a straight path down the core to the receiver. Attenuation for single mode is small, however, if the distance is great enough, repeaters or amplifiers are used to maintain the signal quality. Single-mode cables are much smaller than there multi-mode counterparts with a core diameter of approximately ten micro-meters. Single-mode has some advantages and disadvantages. The main advantage is that the single mode fiber has very low attenuation at larger distances. “Single-mode cable is capable of transmitting data at up to forty gigabytes at up to hundreds of kilometers with little integrity loss. Over greater distances, into the thousands of kilometers, this type of cable can send data at speeds up to ten gigabytes.” [2] Although this is a significant advantage, some of the disadvantages are drastic as well. It is much more expensive to operate, install, and maintain a single-mode fiber system. Even the cost of