Optical Networking Best Practices Handbook

Chapter 4. Types of Optical Fiber

Fiber-optic technologies utilize the same concept used by American Indians when they sent messages via campfires in the early days of this country. Instead of smoke signals, fiber-optic cables are used to transmit data. Fiber optics utilizes pulsing light that travels down the fiber. When the signal reaches its destination, an optical sensor (receiver) decodes the light pulses with a complex set of standard signaling protocols. This process is similar to the way people decode the dots and dashes of the Morse code [1].