Fiber Optic Transceiver FAQs
The past several years have witnessed the latest discoveries and smart inventions brought in optical communication communications, which improved people's life greatly. Owing to the widely deployment of secure and reliable fiber optic networks at affprdable prices, quick communications and smooth video downloads or uploads have become possible. Admittedly, fiber optic communications have not only erased many previous network limitations, but also expanded the capabilities of networks far beyond previous expectations. During establishing fiber links, one device is indispensable—fiber optic transceiver. So many papers and articles have been attributed to these optical transceivers from different angles and aspects, such as the form factors or applications, classification, etc..Here in this passage, several frequently asked questions about optical transceiver modules are mentioned.
Fiber optic transceiver is the combination of a transmitter and a receiver into a single module. The transmitter takes an electrical input and converts it to an optical output from a laser diode or LED. The light from the transmitter is coupled into the fiber with a connector and is transmitted through the fiber optic cable plant. The light from the end of the fiber is coupled to a receiver where a detector converts the light into an electrical signal which is then conditioned properly for use by the receiving equipment.
Almost most of the fiber optic transceivers are hot-swappable or hot-pluggable devices which can support the inserting or pulling out the module without shutting down the system or significant interruption in the operation of the system. With transceiver modules designed with hot-pluggable function, one doesn’t need to power off the device when finish the pluggable process, thus avoiding restart of some operation systems. This is a big saving in time, since in telecommunications and data transmission systems, every second matters.
Fiber optic transceivers are designed to support a wide variety of speeds in different form factors, like 1Gbit/s SFP, 10Gbit/s SFP+, 40Gbit/s QSFP+, 100Gbit/s CFP, and so on. Among these optical transceiver types, several Gigabit Ethernet (GbE) ports are discussed as follows:
1000BASE-SX—It’s a fiber optic version of the standard that operates over multi-mode fiber (MMF), using a 770 to 860nm, near infrared (NIR) light wavelength. This standard specifies the distance reach between 220m (62.5/125µm fiber with low modal bandwidth) and 550m (50/125µm fiber with high modal bandwidth). Take D-Link DEM-311GT for example, this Fiberstore compatible 1000BASE-SX SFP can realize 550m reach over OM2 MMF with LC duplex connector.
1000BASE-LX—It’s also a fiber optic version, but it operates over single-mode fiber (SMF), using a long wavelength (1,270-1,355nm), with distances ranging from 5km to 10km. It can also run over all common types of MMF with a maximum segment length of 550m. Cisco MGBLX1, a 1000BASE-LX SFP transceiver listed in Fiberstore is for or SMF at 1310nm wavelength, supporting 10km distance reach.
Fiber optic network is affected by such technologies: wavelength-division multiplexing (WDM) and iterations of it including dense WDM (DWDM) and coarse WDM (CWDM). They multiplex a number of optical carrier signals onto a single optical fiber by using many wavelengths, so as to expand the capacity of their networks without needing to install more cables under highways. Generally speaking, a CWDM MUX/DEMUX deals with small numbers of wavelengths, typically eight, but with large spans between wavelengths (spaced typically at around 20nm). A DWDM MUX/DEMUX deals with narrower wavelength spans (as small as 0.8nm, 0.4nm or even 0.2nm), and can accommodate 40, 80, or even 160 wavelengths. CWDM transceiver and DWDM transceiver are the transceiver modules which are combined with the CWDM or DWDM technology With these technologies, it’s possible to enlarge network capacity within optical infrastructure without the expense and delays of having to constantly rebuild networks. A big saving in cost.
DDM, also known as DOM (digital optical monitoring), stands for digital diagnostic monitoring. This function can provide component monitoring on transceiver applications in details, enabling the end user to monitor such key parameters in the performance of fiber optic transceiver as transceiver temperature, transceiver supply voltage, laser bias current transmit average optical power, and so on. In a word, this DDM feature serves as an easy way for users to check if the module is functioning correctly.
Certainly, in practice, frequently asked questions about fiber optic transceivers are definitely not confined to those four points. This articel just mentions four questions which are more common when in use. Fiberstore, as an outstanding fiber optical product supplier, offers an ocean of compatible fiber optic transceivers with such major brands as Cisco (ie. MGBLX1), HP, D-Link (eg. DEM-311GT) and so on. All are compatibility- and quality-assured to meet various services needs. Have any questions about or requests for fiber optic transceivers, welcome to visit Fiberstore or directly connect me at Linkedin @Fern Xu (Fiberstore).
