TELECOMMUNICATION ~ Difference between optical fiber and coaxial cable
Computers and other electronic devices transmit data from one device to another in the form of signals using a transmission medium. Transmission media can be basically categorized into two types oriented and non-oriented.
A non-oriented medium is a wireless communication that carries electromagnetic waves using air as a medium and without requiring a physical conductor. Oriented media need a physical medium to transmit signals such as cables. Oriented media are classified into three categories: twisted pair cable, coaxial cable and optical fiber. We will discuss the difference between fiber optics and coaxial cable.
Generally, optical fiber is an oriented medium that transmits signals from one device to another in the form of light (optical form). While coaxial cable transmits signals in electrical form.
Definition of optical fiber:
Optical cables are made up of very thin optical fibers bundled into a single cable. The fibers can be made of glass or plastic and transmit information in the form of light pulses. While optical cables are less physically robust than coaxial cables, they can also carry much higher bandwidths.
Definition of coaxial cable:
A coaxial cable, like the cable used for television connections, has four components. Moving from the inside out, it has a solid conductor wire, a layer of insulation, a grounding conductor typically made of a mesh of conductive material, and an outer layer of insulation. This configuration makes coaxial cables relatively good at rejecting noise and relatively physically robust.
Key differences between optical fiber and coaxial cable:
- Fiber optics carries signals in optical form while coaxial cable carries the signal in electrical form.
- Fiber optic cable is made of glass fiber and plastic. Coaxial cable, on the other hand, is made of metal wires (copper), plastic braids and metal mesh.
- Fiber optic cable is more efficient than coaxial cable because it has a higher noise immunity.
- Optical cable is more expensive than coaxial cable.
- The bending effect of the cable is negative in the case of optical fiber. In contrast, coaxial cable is not affected by bending.
- Optical fiber provides high bandwidth and data rates. In contrast, the bandwidth and data rates provided by coaxial cable are moderately high but lower than those of optical cable.
- Coaxial cable can be easily installed while optical cable installation requires extra effort and care.
- Optical fiber is lightweight and has a small diameter. Conversely, a coaxial cable is heavier and has a large diameter.
In short:
Optical fiber is more efficient than coaxial cable in terms of data transmission speed, noise and interference resistance, size, bandwidth, losses, etc.
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