The Installer's Guide to Fiber Optic Communications: Essential Understanding of Fiber Transmission

Fiber installation has five goals:Low optical power lossLow installation cost Low installation timeLow reflectance andHigh reliability Achieving these goals requires understanding of network components and their functions. This book presents that essential understanding. That understanding includes the:FunctionsConcepts of functioningComponent types, advantages, and performance characteristics, with common numbers, units of measure and typical values, Installation limitations and concernsIn short, this book presents the language, which I call ‘fiber-optese’, of fiber network installation.This book presents this understanding with a ‘divide and conquer’ strategy, which follows. Ch. 1 presents the structure and evolution of fiber networks. This chapter details the structure of networks and identification of components, ranging from simple point-to-point links for data communication to increasingly complex links, such as those used in multi-wavelength (DWDM, CWDM) and passive optical networks (PONs). Ch. 2 presents the concepts and language of light and its behavior. With the information in this chapter, the reader understands the behavior of light in the components. Ch. 3-9 present the details of the components in the network: fiber, cables, connectors, splices, passive devices, optoelectronics, and hardware. From these chapters, the reader recognizes the consequences of and reasons for use of different types of components.Ch.10 presents tables of the numbers of fiber optics and a glossary of common terms. With the understanding presented in this book, the reader can approach network installation with an understanding of the reasons for installation rules and the consequences of violating such rules.