Before one go through, it's important to know about fiber optics first, the one that make fiber to the home,FTTH happened. Basically, fiber optic is a lightwave guide (normally intrared) . It is a technology that uses glass (or plastic) threads (fibers) to transmit data. A fiber optic cable consists of a bundle of glass threads, each of which is capable of transmitting messages modulated onto light waves.
Fiber optic cabel consists of 3 layers which is core, cladding and buffer coating.
- Core - Thin glass center of the fiber where the light travels.
- Cladding - Outer optical material surrounding the core that reflects the light back into the core.
- Buffer coating - Plastic coating that protects the fiber from damage and moisture.
Core and cladding are made up from transparent element such as glass or plastic with different reflection index. Fiber optics work based on total internal reflection principle. So, to achieve this the reflection index for cladding must be smaller than the core.
Fiber optics has several advantages over traditional metal communications lines:
- Fiber optic cables have a much greater bandwidth than metal cables. This means that they can carry more data.
- Fiber optic cables are less susceptible than metal cables to EMI interference.
- Fiber optic cables are much thinner and lighter than metal wires.
- Data can be transmitted digitally (the natural form for computer data) rather than analogically.
- lower loss compare to copper
The main disadvantage of fiber optics is that the cables are expensive to install. In addition, they are more fragile than wire and are difficult to splice.
