Fiber Optics

The future of fiber is bright! The core of the converged network is routers connected point-to-point to other routers with fiber. Telephone companies that used to pull copper access wires to every home and business in their service area now pull fiber past every home and business.

The advantages of communication over fiber compared to radio and copper are bandwidth, bandwidth and bandwidth. It is possible to communicate more bits per second by modulating light and guiding the light in a glass tube to the far end than with wireless or copper systems.

In this module, we’ll cover the basics of fiber, the makeup of fiber cables, wavelengths and WDM.

You’ll understand how Optical Ethernet is used to actually implement communications over a fiber connection, and how OE is used in the core, in metro areas, and fiber to the premise via Passive Optical Networks (PONs).

Telecom Module 8

Detailed Outline

8 Fiber Optics

8.1 Fiber Basics

..... 8.1.1 Lambdas

..... 8.1.2 Pulses and Signals

..... 8.1.3 Attenuation and Dispersion

8.2 Fiber Optics and Fiber Cables

..... 8.2.1 Core

..... 8.2.2 Cladding and Coating

..... 8.2.3 Cables

..... 8.2.4 Fiber Count

..... 8.2.5 Redundancy

8.3 Optical Wavelengths, Bands and Modes

..... 8.3.1 Bands

..... 8.3.2 Multimode and Modal Dispersion

..... 8.3.3 Single-Mode Fiber

..... 8.3.4 Chromatic Dispersion

..... 8.3.5 Polarization-Mode Dispersion

8.4 Wave-Division Multiplexing: CWDM and DWDM

..... 8.4.1 WDM

..... 8.4.2 WDM Multiplexers

..... 8.4.3 Optical Ethernet Paths

..... 8.4.4 Current and Future Capacities

8.5 Optical Ethernet

..... 8.5.1 Point-to-Point Connections

..... 8.5.2 SFP Modules and Connectors

..... 8.5.3 IEEE Standards

8.6 Network Core

..... 8.6.1 Optical Ethernet, RPR and MPLS

..... 8.6.2 SONET and SDH

..... 8.6.3 Fiber Rings

..... 8.6.4 Network Core Nodes

8.7 Metropolitan Area Network

..... 8.7.1 MANs to Office Buildings and Apartment Buildings

..... 8.7.2 MANs to Neighborhoods

8.8 Fiber to the Premise (FTTP, FTTH): PONs

..... 8.8.1 Passive Optical Network (PON)

..... 8.8.2 Active Ethernet

..... 8.8.3 PON Splitter Replaced with Layer 2 Switch