In 1970, the construction of fiber-optic communication lines by Corning began, recognized as the start of a new industry. Today, the development of fiber optic technologies is ahead of other sectors of the world economy, increasing fiber output by 40% per year!
The main developer and licensor of these technologies - the United States - has produced 10 million kilometers of optical fiber in recent years, which is equivalent to 250 girths of the globe at the equator. Fiber-optic communication lines are an ideal environment for information exchange. Their property - to share the signal to millions of consumers - has no alternative. They, like nerve endings, transmit signals between continents, countries, regions, within the city, through the enterprise, forming fiber-optic communication lines (FOCL).
Their active elements convert, shape, amplify the transmitted light signal. Let's list them. The source of monochrome-coherent radiation is a laser.
Modulators create a light wave that varies according to the structure of the input electrical signal. Multiplexers combine and disconnect signals. Regenerators restore the parameters of the optical pulse. The photodetector performs the reverse transformation: light - electricity. Fiber-optic communication lines have significant advantages: they are relatively easy to install using couplings, are able to transmit a light signal with virtually no loss, and reliably protect information.
Among the global fiber-optic communication lines, transatlantic ones are the most numerous. They connect European countries with the United States and Canada.
The largest in length are trans-Pacific, bringing the US closer to Japan, China, South Korea, Hong Kong, Hawaii. The laying of fiber-optic communication lines is carried out by specialized courts. Russia also participates in similar projects. Last year, construction began on a line connecting Kamchatka, Sakhalin and Magadan. Note that for backbone FOCL, a fiber with a core/cladding size of 1.3-1.55 microns is used.
Regional FOCLs between the center and districts and within cities are important for the state. They are made up of gradient fibers - 50/125 microns. Large enterprises are using fiber-optic communication lines to improve management in the “electronic office” model, as well as to automate production.
Characteristically,that developed countries (among them - Japan, England, Italy, France) use only optical fiber in construction. The regional level corresponds to a faster, lower loss factor, single-mode cable. A cheaper and easier to install multi-mode cable is suitable for the enterprise. Optical fiber is used as a temperature, pressure, voltage sensor. It is used in hydrophones, sonar, seismology, and navigation. Used in security and alarm systems.
Summing up, it should be logically emphasized that this technology has not yet exhausted itself, being at the middle point of its development. Leading manufacturing firms CISCO, 3COM, D-LINK, DELL, ALLIED TELESYN modernize optoelectronic products in every possible way. A new multi-mode (cheaper technology) optical fiber with improved performance has been developed. Optical connectors have been designed with simplified manufacturing standards (the current ones assume micron accuracy). For more efficient transmission of the light signal, innovative planar laser diodes equipped with a vertical resonator have been developed. Research is ongoing into structured cabling.
