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Designers Use Fiber Optic Technology

May 30th, 2007    Subscribe To Our Feed

Every new invention will first be the property of a selected few. This can be either rich people wanting the very best of fanatics that are interested in the technology so that they can’t go on if they don’t have the latest and greatest. It was like that when the first personal computers were invented. It was bigger, more noisy and a lot more expensive than a typewriter but as more and more people bought it became cheaper (because of mass production) and better.

This is exactly what has happened to fiber optic technology. At first it was used in laboratories among scientists and engineers or in larger production companies that had the finances and the capacity. Then, over a period of ten to fifteen years the technology has evolved so that now you will see fiber optic light in things as swimming pools and toys for children. It is all around us and we haven’t seen the end of it yet.

How Did Fiber Optic Technology Get To That Point?
Most people might not know this but it is true for this technology as well as for many others. Because of things that were not meant to happen (some would call them errors) things that would be hard to live without today have been invented. In the same way has material “defects” caused inventions to be known by the public and this is actually the case with the fiber optic technology.

The first thing you must understand is that the main goal of fiber optics is the ability to transmit digital data over great distances. The digital data is made up of intermittent on and off bursts which in result makes is very fragile. The more switching (on and off bursts) a data line can handle the better the quality because the more pure will the transmission of data become.

Unfortunately the scientists can’t just look at a fiber optic string to see the quality of it and therefore they are going to be testing each and every one of the heavily. In order to only use the very best quality for data transmission a series of many tests are being performed and the final result will be bundled into what we know as a fiber optic cable. So if you have fiber optic data transmission either at work or at home you now know that this is something that is top of the notch.

But as with all tests some fail to pass them and in this case it is a substantial amount of fibers that don’t have the required quality and is therefore considered waste material. But instead of just throwing these fibers out they still have the capability to transmit light waves and this can be useful in many different areas.

Using Waste as Raw Material
Some of the very first people that found out that the low quality fibers could actually be used for other things were the special effects makers of the Hollywood movies. So based on the principles of fiber optic technology they know had a tool that would solve some of their major problems which was heat. Normal lighting produces enormous amount of heat and the heat will melt the fragile plastics used in the effects industry. Now they had light that didn’t produced the heat that would melt the plastics and as a bonus created a lighting effect that was even more real than what they were use to.

Not too long ago there was a new phenomenon called the “laser pen”. This pen could be used as a pointer when giving presentations but it quickly became common to have a pen that you could play with as soon as the lights went out. Especially cinemas, concerts and fashion shows saw the effect of the fiber optic technology (good and bad).

Then there was the little fiber optic bonsai tree that ever teenager would want in their room and just recently we have seen fiber optics being used in children’s toys and even in home lighting applications because of the high quality of light and the low electricity cost.

I’m sure that we have not seen half of it yet and there is no doubt that fiber optic technology will have made a great impact on our lives when we look back 10 years from now.

Use Fiber Optic Pool Lights for Your Safety

May 30th, 2007    Subscribe To Our Feed

Before fiber optic pool lighting there were watertight lights that could be used in swimming pools and spas. Unfortunately they were not only bulky but it was also very difficult to change the light bulbs once they burned out. The old system was a possible hazardous environment because the mix of water and electricity can have fatal outcomes. Besides avoiding the possible dangers the use of fiber optic pool lighting also made it much easier to change the light if it burned out.

The Idea of Fiber Optic Pool Lights
Having to deal with water in the spas and the swimming pools has always been a challenge to designers as a liquid environment is difficult to work with. The most obvious concern is the use of electricity near water but there is another concern causing even more problems and that is that the light generate an extreme heat and the brighter the light is the more heat is produced and the more will you get burned if you touch it.

To separate the light source from the water, the nature of the electricity requires that a bulky fixture is to be used so that the connection between the two is never made. Normally this involves a metal frame to hold the heat resistant glass lens and the high wattage bulb. The reason for having high wattage bulbs is that you need a very bright light to be able to shine through the water. You can imagine that a great deal of heat builds up in the frame and lens. The problem is that people using the pool or spa can get burned if they come to close to the lenses and frames so the designers needed a better solution.

Changing the color of the light bulbs to create an effect was almost impossible because of the frame and the way it was made to keep the water out. From a design point of view this was not good enough.

An efficient solution to all of the problems mentioned above came with the use of fiber optics pool lights. They allow the source of light to be centralized due to the very nature of fiber optics and the source could therefore easily be moved farther away from the pool. In reality you can have fiber optic pool lights working off of one light source. This source can even be far away from the spa and the solution to the water mixed with electricity is therefore solved.

By removing the source of the light away from the pool you would also remove the source to the heat that could possibly burn the people using the pool. Finally the designers had a blast when they found out that they could easily change colors by applying a simple filter to the source and because this was not anywhere near the water this was a simple task. They could even have the colors change by using a little motor that rotated the colored filter by a push of a button.

Integrating fiber optic pool lights are the only reasonable thing to do and therefore most swimming pools and spas are already equipped with fiber optic lighting.

Fiber Optic Test Equipment – Where to Find It

May 30th, 2007    Subscribe To Our Feed

If you are already running a fiber optic networking you know that it can be a very technical operation, and that the most important of all the tools you need are the fiber optic test equipment. This importance of these tools grows from the need and sensitivity of digital data to be clear and precise to provide customer satisfaction.

Using Fiber Optic Test Equipment
You can find several specialized pieces of fiber optic test equipment, and as you are already well aware it is important to know the type of plant in order to determine the type of equipment you need. However in any case there are certain basics that are fundamental.

Among some of the basic fiber optic test equipment pieces you will find what is called “the source and power meter”. The tool is extremely important to your business because the power meter is calibrated to the source and thereby it is allowing to determine the quality of transmission of the fiber optics in between the transmitter and the receiver.

Not only will this be important to the final transmission quality, but it will also protect the technician’s eyes. The most sources you will find are safe to use but there are certain CATV and telecom applications in which the source so powerful that is can cause damage to the retina if the eye is unprotected. It is therefore always extremely important to know what strength is being dealt with to determine the level of protection needed and better safe than sorry.

There are other important pieces of fiber optic test equipment that are carefully matched the reference test cables. The equipment works with adapters to connect the lines with the test equipment and sources to be tested. Not having the correct ones can bring an entire test session to a complete stand still and will in worst case be rendering all the rest of the specialized fiber optic test equipment useless.

One of the last pieces in the basic kit of fiber optic test equipment is the visual fault detector or fiber tracer. Although it seems like a normal pen light and it has a regular or LED visual light source attached to it, the end of the fiber optic tool will send light through to the other end. This is of course a simplification, because in reality the sources are typically bright enough to reveal the leak as well. You can see it because it is shining through the orange or red covers or the black or gray jackets used.

There are many more tools for testing and these are in no way the sum total of all pieces of fiber optic test equipment. Even on the basic level there are many more tools needed. Based on the specifics of the plant being worked on you will need to put together your own set. A universal that you definitely need is the fiber optic microscope that is used to visually inspect the quality of the polish on the ends of the connections used. Now, there you have it. The basics to start a fiber optic tool kit without being robbed.

Fiber Optics Receiver Transmitter - A Great Device

May 30th, 2007    Subscribe To Our Feed

The technology of fiber optics really took off in the 1950s-1970s through leaps and bounds and still today we have only seen the top of the iceberg. Since Graham Bell invented the telephone miles and miles of copper wires has been put into the ground and through the air but today most of the are worn down and are considered antiquated. In the parts of the world were the most data and phone communications take place these wires are not being replaced by fiber optics cables.

Communications provides are putting as many fiber optics cables into the ground as they possibly can because they are the way of the future. Together with the fiber optics transmitter companies they are trying to compete for the futures data and phone communication as that will increase due to the technological advantages of the fiber optics.

Great Benefits of Fiber Optics Receiver Transmitter
With out the fiber optics receiver transmitter device the cables are worthless and vice versa and therefore the television companies, phone companies and any other company that deals with data transfers are trying to put the fiber optics transmitters into as many homes as they possibly can. That is one of the main targets and the only way that they can expand without being held back by the old monopoly copper wire companies that has been around for a hundred years or more.

Today the installation of the fiber optics technology has become cheaper and so has the maintenance which has stopped the development just a few years ago. Secondly the reliability and the increased bandwidth has made the technology interesting for ordinary people and that alone has had a great impact of the speed with which the fiber optics receiver transmitters has brought into the homes.

Fiber optics receiver transmitters comes in many forms are colors and today you might even own such a device without even knowing it. Fiber optics technology has become common in many industrialized parts of the world and television signals and radio signals are starting to be broadcasted through fiber optics cables.

Providers of the many services that use fiber optics internally delivers signals to and from routing stations and in some parts of the world they still largely rely on traditional copper wires to send services from the curb into the home. But the places where fiber optics cables have been placed in the ground the consumers are seeing far lower rates and far-better service quality.

The goal of the communications companies is to satiate the growing appetite for bandwidth, superior quality and provide uninterruptible services at low costs. This will benefit not only the customers but also the companies as their profit margin will increase as well.

What is Data Fiber Optics Technology?

May 25th, 2007    Subscribe To Our Feed

In the old days (and it still used all over the world) data, sound and any other form of communication was sent using cobber cables that is either ground based or wires running through the air. This technology is slow, costly and the quality of the signals will become poor when the signals run great distances in the cobber.

Since the mid 70s the fiber optics technology has been developed from being laboratory based to becoming a public technology that is affordable, fast as lightning and reliable. The technology of fiber optics uses glass or plastic threads to transmit data through what is known as a data fiber optics cable which is made up of a bundle of special glass threads. These threads are capable of transmitting data streams modulated into light waves which is then sent as light through these threads. In this article you will find a variety of details (some which are technical) that will help you understand the subject of fiber optics and describe the ways in which it provides the data and information flows from a variety of sources to a variety of sources using light energy.

Using science with purpose
You may have been to one or more science classes in your life and at some point you might have said to yourself: “What am I ever going to use the knowledge for?”. Well you might never use it yourself but data fiber optics is a part of applied science or engineering that is comprised of the science and technology of transmitting data or energy. Transferring data in the form of light can be described through mathematical formulas and can be observed and replicated using simple scientific processes. Today it is common that children will learn about fiber optics in their science classes.

In the telecommunication business as well as in the businesses of imaging optics, sensors and lightning in general optic fibers or data fiber optics are becoming more and more commonly used because of the following factors:

* Speed of the data transmission
* It doesn’t rely on electrical impulses to move the data
* Light transmitting data is cleaner and the quality remains high
* There is almost no need for electrical power to transmit data (cheap in usage)

All of these factors and many more are the reasons that the fiber optics technology is gaining more and more importance in the communication industry and as users we are only benefiting from it and so is the environment.

Getting the message through
Data fiber optics and telecommunications are not easily understood but a way to understand the impact optic fibers have on telecommunications is to know what telecommunication actually is. Basically it is sending signals over distance in order for people (or machines if we are talking data flows) to be able to cummunicate. Ever since Graham Bell invented the telephone humans have had the wish to talk to each other and thereby the technology quickly became widespread. Back then there were only a few devices but today you can find multiple devices that will have you communicating, sending data, watching a movie or listening to radio no matter where you are located (at least it will be like that soon). Data fiber optics factors heavily into this future, mainly because of quality, speed and the low costs.

The details of why you will need transmitters, transmission mediums and receivers will become a bit more technical and I will save that for another article but hopefully you now have a basic idea of what data fiber optics are.

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