Automotive
As cars become more sophisticated, the amount of cabling required continues to grow at a rapid rate. This causes increased weight and complexity, due to the large number of cables and computers, CD-ROM, and navigation systems. Lightweight fiber optic cables and associated electronics reduce the weight, complexity, and cost and increase reliability.
Broadcasting
The broadcasting industry is using fiber optics to transmit television programs across the country to their affiliates. Fiber optics is also used to transmit television signals from the satellite earth stations to the broadcasting station.
CATV Applications
The cable TV industry (CATV) has been developed using coaxial cables. Coaxial cables present serious problems because of noise generated in long cascades of amplifiers, reducing signal quality and overall system reliability. Maintenance of such systems is also expensive. Fiber optics is now universally being introduced by the CATV companies to eliminate these costly and unreliable amplifiers.
Fiber optics is used to connect the CATV head ends, which generate the programs for delivery to the home as well as to connect satellite antennas to the head ends. Nearly every major cable company has developed or is in the process of developing sophisticated fiber optic lines that deliver numerous channels of programming. Through the utilization of fiber optic digital compression technology the television experience has become fully interactive.
Healthcare
The medical field uses fiber optics in a number of ways through illumination and sensing. Medicine is an information intensive business requiring the collection, analysis, and transmission of large amounts of data for patients’ records, doctors’ reports, MRI and CAT scans. This requires computers and terminals as well as building and campuses linked by fiber optics. Another major benefit of fiber optics for medical applications is its non-electrical characteristics, which make it immune to electromagnetic radiation thus reducing the level of hazard when used to measure patients’ responses. In addition, telemedicine is becoming a growth industry where rural, remote clinics or homes can get access to expert medical opinions over fiber optic networks.
Infrastructure
Railroads and subways are large users of telecommunications for virtually all of the railroads’ communications needs, including supervisory control, signaling, data acquisition and closed-circuit television. The railroads and subways own their rights-of-way and fiber optic cables are easily buried alongside tracks or inside tunnels, making installation fast and economical.
Intelligence
As intelligent highway and other new electronics increase in their usage the need for enhanced bandwidth becomes imperative. All major auto manufacturers utilize local area networks within the vehicle to transmit and distribute sensory data using plastic optical fiber.
The military, with its special requirements for security, ruggedness and reliability, uses fiber optics in many applications. These include aircraft, ships, tanks, and the battlefield especially in the context of network centric warfare. For the military, the benefits of fiber optics small size, light weight, durability and versatility makes it ideal in many scenarios. Since fiber optics transmits light rather than electricity, audio/video surveillance is thus more secure to attacks from external threats.
Large buildings are major users of fiber optics transmission for backbone communications. Construction companies are integrating all the functions required for the operations of a building, such as heating, ventilation, air conditioning, security, and elevator functionality providing a more comfortable and safer environment for inhabitants.
In the future, in order to provide a comfortable and safe environment, integration of all the functions required for operations of a building, such as heating, ventilation, air conditioning, security, elevator, will be required.
The concept of an intelligent building has been developed and is being implemented on a larger scale. The intelligent building includes the functions already noted and also provides the necessary wiring for advanced communications systems used by tenants. Fiber optics is the ideal transmission media to be built into the structure from the initial design so that as tenants change there is no need to put in new wiring to suit the needs of each specific client. Universities and research complexes are rewiring their campuses with fiber optics to facilitate this technology.
Power Sector
Similarly, the electric power industry is one of the largest users of fiber optics for the control of generation, transmission, and distribution of energy. The power companies use communications for administrative purposes, as well as monitoring power and distribution stations in terms of automatic meter reading (AMR) and demand side management (DMS). Demand side management is the monitoring of the use of electricity by business and home owners. This is beneficial by conserving energy and reduces the need for new power plants which in turn minimizes pollution leading to a cleaner environment. Energy utility companies are also offering their poles and other assets for installing fiber optic cables on the same routes for new traffic.
Process Control
Fiber optics is used for video surveillance of processes where large bandwidths are required and where the environment is hazardous. Another advantage to the process control industry is the non-electrical nature of optical fibers. In hazardous ares or processes where electrical sparks could be disastrous (refineries or explosives factories) the utilization of fiber optics provides safety. In addition, fiber optics is impervious to electromagnetic interference in that it cannot be disrupted or interfered with by stray radiation, electrical storms, thunder, etc.
Telecommunications
The worldwide telephone industry, which includes the local telephone as well as long-distance telephone companies are the largest users of fiber optics. Some of the ways in which the telephone industry uses fiber optics are:
- Long-distance lines
- Between central offices
- From the central switching office to businesses
- From the central switching office to the home
- Within central switching offices
- Building wiring using fiber cable assemblies
- Submarine Fiber Optic Cable Systems
Long-distance telecommunications almost exclusively use fiber optics between cities and countries. These long-distance links are an ideal match for fiber optics, which can carry large amounts of data and video signals. A major application of fiber optics is in submarine fiber optic cable systems which link countries, cities along the coast, coasts to islands, between islands, and under lakes and rivers.