Popularization of weak current knowledge: understanding optical fibers and cables

Popularization of weak current knowledge: understanding optical fibers and cables

First, the concept and relationship of optical cable and optical fiber:

1. Optical fiber: It is the abbreviation of optical fiber. It is drawn by a special process of pure quartz into a glass tube with a few mediums in the middle. Achieved light transmission tool. Its texture is brittle and easy to break, so an extra layer of protection is required.

2. Optical cable: It is mainly composed of optical fiber (glass filament as thin as hair), plastic protective sleeve and plastic outer skin. There is no metal such as gold, silver, copper and aluminum in the optical cable, and generally has no recycling value. An optical cable is a cable core composed of a certain number of optical fibers in a certain way, and is covered with a sheath, and some are also covered with an outer sheath. The protective structure of the outer layer can prevent the surrounding environment from damaging the optical fiber. It is a communication line used to realize optical signal transmission. That is, the optical cable is formed by the optical fiber (optical transmission carrier) through a certain process.

3. The relationship between the two:

Broadly speaking, optical fibers are optical cables, which are all transmission media. But strictly speaking, the two are not the same product. Fiber optic cables contain optical fibers and are part of a fiber optic cable. Optical fiber is the glass fiber in the optical cable, but the abbreviation of the two is often not strictly distinguished in engineering applications.