Fiber Optics :: essays research papers fc

Fiber Optics Fiber Optic Cable Facts "A relatively new technology with vast potential importance, fiber optics is the channeled transmission of light through hair-thin glass fibers." [ Less expensive than copper cables [ Raw material is silica sand [ Less expensive to maintain If damaged, restoration time is faster (although more users are affected) [ Backbone to the Information Superhighway Information (data and voice) is transmitted through the fiber digitally by the use of high speed LASERs (Light Amplification through the Simulated Emission of Radiation) or LEDs (Light Emitting Diodes). Each of these methods create a highly focused beam of light that is cycled on and off at very high speeds. Computers at the transmitting end convert data or voice into "bits" of information. The information is then sent through the fiber by the presence, or lack, of light. Computers on the receiving end convert the light back into data or voice, so it can be used. ORIGIN OF FIBER OPTICS Information (data and voice) is transmitted through the fiber digitally by the use of high speed LASERs (Light Amplification through the Simulated Emission of Radiation) or LEDs (Light Emitting Diodes). Each of these methods create a highly focused beam of light that is cycled on and off at very high speeds. Computers at the transmitting end convert data or voice into "bits" of information. The information is then sent through the fiber by the presence, or lack, of light. So, all of the data is sent light pulses. Computers on the receiving end convert the light back into data or voice, so it can be used. All of this seems to be a very "modern" concept, and the technology we use is. The concept though, was the idea of Alexander Graham Bell in the late 1800's. He just didn't have a dependable light source... some days the sun doesn't shine! He thought of the idea that our voices could be transmitted by pulses of light. The people who thought that audio, video, and other forms of data could be transmitted by light through cables, were present day scientists. Most of the things that are possible today, Alexander Grahm Bell could never even have dreamed of. Although the possibility of lightwave communications occurred to Alexander Graham Bell (who invented the telephone), his ideas couldn't be used until the LASER or LED had been invented. Most of these advances occurred in the 1970s, and by 1977 glass-purifying and other fiber-optic manufacturing techniques had also reached the stage where interoffice lightwave communications were possible. With further technological development, many intercity routes were in operation by 1985, and some transoceanic routes had been completed by 1990.