Here is one of the most popularly searched queries – What are the advantages and disadvantages of optical fibers, fiber optic cables and fiber optic communication systems? There are several advantages for optical fibers and fiber optic cables compared to the conventional copper cables or any other traditional communication medium.
There are many advantages than that mentioned here but some of the major advantages of optical fibers and fiber optic cables are;
Low loss or attenuation, generally in the range of 0.2dB/km at 1550nm.
Reduced diameter of the fiber optic cable and reduced weight compared to metallic cables.
Lower cost compared to copper cables of equivalent transmission capacity
Greater safety and immunity to electromagnetic interference and radio frequency interference compared to metallic cables
Optical fibers are resistive to corrosion
Flexibility and ease of installation in smaller ducts
High information carrying capacity
Immunity to tapping information
Immunity to cross talk
The whole scenario is not in favor for optical fibers in fact. There are some disadvantages for optical fibers. The biggest advantage of fiber optic cable is that the advantages outweigh the disadvantages. The disadvantages of fiber optic cables and optical fiber communication system as whole are given below;
The termination equipments for fiber optics is costly compared to that of copper cable communication
Repeated electrical to optical to electrical conversion is required as the whole communication is in optical domain
Some of the components like amplifiers, splitters, multiplexers, de-multiplexers etc., are still under development stage.
Lack of clear-cut international specifications and guidelines for latest optical communication based systems
Optical fibers are delicate and trained people are required to handle optical fibers
Optical fiber splicing and protection is still expensive and add to the cost of the optical networks
Even though there are disadvantages, as the optical fibers offer almost enormous bandwidth, fiber optic communication systems are being widely deployed all over the world.
