Since its invention in the early 1970s, the use and demand of optical fiber has grown tremendously. The uses of optical fiber today are quite numerous. The most common are telecommunications, medicine, military, automotive, and industrial.
Telecommunications applications are widespread, ranging from global networks to local telephone exchanges to subscribers’ homes to desktop computers. These involve the transmission of voice, data, or video over distances of less than a meter to hundreds of kilometers. Companies such as Telus and Bell Canada use optical fiber cable to carry plain old telephone service (POTS) across their nationwide networks. Local telephone service providers such as MetroNet use fiber to carry this same service between central office switches at more local levels.
Optical fiber is also used extensively for transmission of data signals. Private networks are owned by firms such as IBM, Syncrude, Suncor, Banks, Universities, and more. These firms have a need for secure, reliable systems to transfer information between buildings to the desktop terminal or computer, and around the world. The security inherent in optical fiber systems is a major benefit.
Cable television or community antenna television (CATV) companies also find fiber useful for video services. The high information-carrying capacity, or bandwidth, of fiber makes it the perfect choice for transmitting signals to subscribers as pictures or images are bandwidth hungry.
Finally, one of the fastest growing markets for fiber optics is intelligent transportation systems, smart highways with intelligent traffic lights, automated toll booths, and changeable message signs to give motorists information about delays and emergencies.
So what is Fiber Optics? In its simplest terms, fiber optics is a medium for carrying information from one point to another in the form of light. Unlike the copper form of transmission, fiber optics is not electrical in nature. A basic fiber optic system consists of a transmitting device, which generates the light signal; an optical fiber cable, which carries the light; and a receiver, which accepts the light signal transmitted. The fiber itself is passive and does not contain any active, generative properties.
Fiber Optic Systems provide many benefits over copper. Some of those benefits include:

• Long Distance Signal Transmission The low attenuation and superior signal integrity found in optical systems allow much longer intervals of signal transmission than metallic-based systems. While single-line, voice-grade copper systems longer than a couple of kilometers require in-line signal repeaters for satisfactory performance, it is not unusual for optical systems to go over 100 kilometers with no active or passive processing. Emerging technologies promise even greater distances in the future.
• Large Bandwidth, Light Weight, and Small Diameter While today’s applications require an ever-increasing amount of bandwidth, it is important to consider the space constraints of many end-users. It is commonplace to install new cabling within existing duct systems. The relatively small diameter and light weight of optical cables makes such installations easy and practical, and saves valuable conduit space in these environments.
• Long Lengths Long, continuous lengths also provide advantages for installers and end-users. Small diameters make it practical to manufacture and install much longer lengths than for metallic cables: twelve-kilometer continuous optical cable lengths are common.

Easy Installation and Upgrades
Long lengths make optical cable installation much easier and less expensive. Optical fiber cables can be installed with the similar equipment that is used to install copper and coaxial cables, with some modifications due to the small size and limited pull tension and bend radius of optical cables.
System designers typically plan optical systems that will meet growth needs for a 15 to 20 year span. Although sometimes difficult to predict, growth can be accommodated by installing spare fibers for future requirements. Installation of spare fibers today is more economical than installing additional cables later.

Non-Conductivity
Another advantage of optical fibers is their dielectric nature. Since optical fiber has no metallic components, it can be installed in areas with electromagnetic interference (EMI), including radio frequency interference (RFI). Areas with high EMI include utility lines, power-carrying lines, and railroad tracks. All dielectric cables are also ideal for areas of high lightning-strike incidence.

Security
Unlike metallic-based systems, the dielectric nature of optical fiber makes it impossible to remotely detect the signal being transmitted within the cable. The only way to do so is by actually accessing the optical fiber itself. Accessing the fiber requires intervention that is easily detectable by security surveillance. These circumstances make fiber extremely attractive to governmental bodies, banks, and others with major security concerns.
Fiber optics is affordable today, as electronics prices fall and optical cable pricing remains low. In many cases, fiber solutions are less costly than copper. As bandwidth demands increase rapidly with technological advances, fiber will continue to play a vital role in the long-term success of telecommunications.