Find Hidden Cables with Cable Wire Locators

Locating buried and hidden lines prior to construction or maintenance projects is critical to ensure the safety of your crew and reducing the potentially costly mistake. Cable locators and wire tracers are specially designed to aid in locating energized and de-energized wires, cable and pipes whether underground or hidden in a wall.

Cable locators are reply on the target having a charge or signal placed on them which is detected by a receiver within the locator, many locators are able to induce a signal onto the line using a transmitter in order to find it. Generally, the target must be metallic in order to conduct the signal, through a sonder or mini-transmitter can be used with plastic pipes. When induce a signal onto a pipe or cable, the transmitter is most commonly connected directly to the line or pipe to be located using signal clamps or clips. The signal will then transmit along the pipe or cable. In areas where there is no access to the line, the transmitter can also induce a signal from above, through the gourd to reach the utility.

Depending upon the application, there is a range of cable locators to be chosen. Some are designed for use for underground lines and pipes while other better suited for the tight confines of a walllikes wire trackers. Cable locators usually include a transmitter and a receiver. A widely used underground cable wire locator is NF-816, which is designed to locate the path of none-energized wirebehind walls or underearth. It can rapidly find the target wire from among plenty of telephone wires or network wires. By comparing the volume of the "tout" sound and the brightness of the signal indicator, you can find the target wire which has the highest volume and brightest indicator.

There are two primary methods of sweeping for lines and pipes with a cable locator: Passive locating involves sweeping an area looking for unknown lines while actively locating searching for a specific line by using either a direct connection or by inducing a signal. When using a cable locator to find underground lines and pipes, the underearth condition has a significant impact on the signal. Lays and camp solids help the signals travel down the line or pipe stronger with less interference than dry soils. So it is necessary to add water to the ground near the transmitter to improve signal strength.

Using Fiber Optic Attenuators to Increase Bit Error Rate

Fiber optic systems transmission ability is based on the optical power at the receiver, which is reflect as the bit error rate, BER is the inverse of signal-to-noise ratio, high BER means poor signals to noise ratio. Too much power or too litter power will cause high bit error rates.

When the power is too high as it often is in short single-mode systems with laser transmitters, you can reduce receiver power with an fibre attenuator. Attenuators can be made by introducing an end gap between two fiber, angular or lateral misalignment, poor fusion splicing, inserting a neutral density filter or even stressing the fiber. Both variable and fixed attenuators are available.

Variable attenuators are usually used for margin testing, it is used to increase loss until the system has high bit error rate. Fixed attenuators may be inserted in the system cables where distances in the fiber optic link are too short and excess power at the receiver causes transmission problems.

Generally, multimode systems do not need attenuators. Multimode source, even VCSELs, rarely have enough power output to saturate receivers. Single mode system, especially short links, often have too much power and need attenuators. For a single mode application like analog CATV systems, the return loss or reflectance is very important. Many types of attenuators suffer from high reflectance, so they can adversely affect transmitters just like highly reflective connectors.

Attenuators can be made by gap loss, or a physical separation of the ends of the fibers, including bending losses or inserting calibrated optical filters. Choose one type of attenuator with good reflectance specifications and always install the attenuator at the receiver end of the link. It is very convenient to test the receiver power before and after attenuation or while adjusting it with your fiber optic meters at the receiver, plus any reflectance will be attenuated on its path back to the source.

When testing the system power, turn on the transmitter, install the attenuator a the receiver, use a fiber optic power meter set to the system operating wavelength. Check to see whether the power is within the specified range for the receiver. For accurate measurements, the fiber attenuators connector types much match the lanch and receive cables to be tested, e.g. LC fibre optic attenuators is needed to work with the LC fiber patch cable, it work in 1250-1625nm range with optional attenuation value from 1dB to 30dB.

If the appropriate attenuators is not available, simply coil some patch cord around a pencil while measuring power with your fiber optic power meter, adding turns until the power is in the right range.

CWDM DWDM Transceiver Solutions Provided by FiberStore

CWDM DWDM transceiver modules are used as a part of CWDM or DWDM networks to provide high capacity bandwidth across an optical network. FiberStore CWDM transceivers can operate on 9/125 single-mode fiber to 40km or 80km by using special CWDM channels (1270nm to 1610nm, in steps of 20nm). While DWDM transceiver can support a link length of up to 40km or 80km on single-mode fiber by using special DWDM channels. CWDM DWDM transceivers are worked with a variety of network equipment such as switches, routers, and optical transport devices, to link the ports to the fiber optic network.

CWDM DWDM transceiver must comply with SONET/SDH, Gigabit, Fiber Channel and other communication standards. They are available with a variety of different transmitters and receiver types, allowing users to select the appropriate transceiver for each link to provide the required optical reach over the available optical fiber link.

Dense Wavelength Division Multiplexing (DWDM) solution includes DWDM Xenparks which allow to integrate WDM transport directly with Cisco 10 Gigabit Ethernet switches and routers. The DWDM Xenparks and DWDM optical filter and amplifier products enable the design of a flexible and highly available multi-service network. The DWDM XENPAKs can be used for un-amplified and amplified designs to transmit upto 320 Gigabit over the same pair of SMF. DWDM GBICs allow to integrate WDM transport directly with Cisco Gigabit Ethernet switches and routers. Similar to DWDM Xenpark, the DWDM GBICs interoperable with the same ONS equipment. They can be used for un-amplified and amplified designs to transmit upto 32 Gigabit over the same pair of SMF.

Coarse Wave Division Multiplexing (CWDM) solution allows scalable and easy-to-deploy Gigabit Ethernet (GbE) and Fibre Channel service. The combination of CWDM GBICs and SFPs and CWDM Optical Add/Drop multiplexer modules enables the design of a flexible and highly available multiservice network. CWDM GBIC/SFP solution has two main components: a set of eight different pluggable transceivers and a set of different CWDM Mux Demux or OADM. FiberStore CWDM solution offers a convenient and cost effective solution for the adoption of optical Gigabit Ethernet campus, data center, and metropolitan-area access networks. Our CWDM solutions consist of a set of eight different SFPs, a set of 8 single wavelength/dual channels OADMs, two 4 channels OADM/Mux and an 8 channel CWDM along with a CWDM rack mountable chassis.

CWDM SFP+ module allows enterprises and service providers to offer scalable and easy-to-deploy 10 Gigabit LAN, WAN, and optical transport network service in the network. CWDM 10Gig SFP+ transceivers are 18 center wavelengths available from 1270nm to 1610nm, with each step 20nm.

FiberStore is one of the main DWDM/CWDM system provider that capable to supply the high reliability WDM/CWDM/DWDM components & equipments including CWDM MUX DEMUX, DWDM MUX/DEMUX, CWDM/DWDM transceiver modules, which come with compact size, Low Insertion Loss, bi-directional and environmentally independent features.

Fiber Optical Faceplate Wiki

A fiber optic face plate is a coherent multi-fiber plate, which acts as a zero-depth window, transferring an image pixel by pixel (fiber to fiber) from one face of the plate to the other. Fiber optic faceplates can be applied in FTTH access network, telecommunication networks, CATV networks, data communication networks, which is used to bring fiber to the desk and can be widely used in multi-floor and high buildings. The fiber optic faceplate can be sometime called fiber wall jacks which are available with LC. SC, ST, FC fiber optic adapters, the port number is usually 2, 3 or 4 ports.

Generally, fiber optic wall plates can be divided into three types which is bevel fiber optic plate, hybrid fiber faceplate, FTTH fiber faceplate:

The bevel fiber wall plate is with 45 adapter plug- in/out angle, Hybrid fiber optic faceplate means the fiber adapter types are different from each other which can be SC-ST, SC-ST-LC, or
SC/ST/FC/LC, each adapter style is for one port.

Common Features of bevel fiber wall plate and hybrid fiber optic faceplate includes:
Size is 86*86mm
ABS plastic material
No additional insertion loss, simple operation, low construction intensity
The snap-in module is easy to install with straight tip style fiber optic connector
All fiber adapters are "universal" to support either multimode or single mode fiber connectors

Application:
FTTH access network
Telecommunication Networks
CATV Networks
Data communications networks

Except these two types, there is also another type which is the FTTH fiber optic faceplate, which is mainly designed for applications of FTTH, FTTB, FTTC, telecommunication networks and CATV4,Local area network. Check out some features of these FTTH fiber optic faceplate.
Indoor or outdoor rated
Available in 1x4, 1x8, 1x16 splitter as well as 2x4, 2x8, 2x16 splitter
Max. Up 16pcs of FTTH drop cable or pigtails
Suitable for wall-mounting or pole mounting application

Fiber wall plate is also used to create a fiber optic network at home. Besides the switches between different floor, fiber wall plate/jack and the pre-terminated fibers are needed. Look at the specs for the optical port on the switch. If the optical port is a pluggable device, you need to get its P/N and look up the spec. Most of the fiber sold on FiberStore that is conecterized, is patch chords. Fiber patch cord has very little strain relief in them. So take care when you pull them in your new installation that you do not damage them.

HP Compatible SFP Transceivers

Hewlett-Packard (HP) Company, established in 1939, is an American multinational information technology corporation based in United States. It is a leading company in providing hardware, software and service to consumers, small or medium sized business and large enterprises. HP product lines including a vast range of hardwares widely used in printing, digital imaging, software, computing as well as network service. After more than more than 70 years development, it has been one of the giant network device providers in the world.

Optical fiber communication is one of the main business of this company. Products including network routers, switches, as well as the brand transceivers. The original brand devices are widely used in Internet data centers. Due to its high quality and exclusive patent certification, prices of these products are extremely high and hardly to be applied in every network or connection. In order to solve this problem, more and more compatible products are developed to as a substitution. Compatible HP transceivers are usually fully tested to be compatible with HP devices such as HP switches or routers, that means the compatible transceiver can be work friendly with HP other devices, while the price of which is much more cheaper than the original ones.

Thanks to FiberStore, one of the main fiber transceiver modules providers based on the Internet to provider a super wide range of compatible transceivers to customers all over the world. Compatible major brands include Cisco, HP, Juniper, Dell, Netgear, Extreme, Force, 3Com, Alcatel-Lucent, Allied, Avaya as well as more than 40 other famous brand in the world. All the compatible transceiver are certified 100% compatible with the original band devices, and are reasonably priced. FiberStore is committed to offer their products to as many as customers with the lowest possible price.

FiberStore is proud to become a major provider of HP compatible transceivers after nearly ten years of continuously products improving and optimization. HP compatible transceivers by FiberStore includes compatible HP SFP, HP GBIC, HP X2 and HP SFP+.

HP GBIC includes HP A5225A compatible 1000Base-SX GBIC and HP A5226A 1000Base-LX GBIC transceiver. HP SFP is small-form-factor-pluggable transceivers, FiberStore currently has the compatible HP SFP transceiver series of HP J4858A/J4858B/J4858C, HP J4859A/J4859B/J4859C, HP J4860A/J4860B/J4860C and more. 10G HP compatible transceivers includes HP X2, HP XFP, HP SFP+. These 10G transceiver support 10GBase network standard 10GBase-SR, LR, ER, ZR, LRM, which can be mixed and developed with HP OEM 10G transceivers for seamless network performance and interoperability.

As a third party OEM manufactures, FiberStore can arrange the production of compatible transceivers (SFP transceivers, etc.) as low as 1 pieces and as high as 1,000 pieces. Customers can also order the transceivers according to their special requirement, and even design the product label and packaging for their own company. After the ordering, FiberStore also guarantee the compatible transceivers to work in your system and all of our transceivers come with a lifetime advance replacement warranty.

CWDM Solutions Offered by FiberStore

As broadband has unveiled a new world for subscriber, full of advanced capabilities and faster speeds. Your challenge is to meet their demands without compromising your budget. Because of its distance, speed and bandwidth potential, fiber optics has become the choice for many service providers. Fiber optic connections typically requires two strands of fiber - one for transmitting and one for receiving signals. But how to do if you need to add services or customers, but you've exhausted your fiber lines?

Thanks to CWDM, coarse wave division multiplexing (CWDM) is a method of combining multiple signals on laser beams at various wavelengths for transmission along fiber optic cables. The number of channels is fewer than in dense wavelength division multiplexing (DWDM) but more than in standard WDM.

CWDM has many advantages over DWDM technology in terms of system costs, set-up, maintenance, and scalability. CWDM is a technology which multiplexes multiple optical signals on a single fiber optic stand by using different wavelengths, or colors, of laser light to carry the different signals.

Typical CWDM solutions provide 8 wavelengths capacity enabling the transport of 8 client interface over the same fiber. However, the relatively large separation between the CWDM wavelengths allows expansion of the CWDM network with an additional 44 wavelengths with 100GHz spacing utilizing DWDM technology, thus expanding the existing infrastructure capacity and utilizing the same equipment as part of the integrated solution.

A single outgoing and incoming wavelength of the existing CWDM infrastructure is used for 8 DWDM channels multiplexing into the original wavelength. DWDM Mux Demux and optical amplifier if needed.

The typical CWDM spectrum supports data transport rates of up to 4.25Gbps, CWDM occupies the following ITU channels: 1470nm, 1490nm, 1510nm, 1530nm, 1550nm, 1570nm, 1590nm, and 1610nm, each separated from the other by 20nm. PacketLight can insert into any of the of the 4 CWDM wavelengths (1530nm,1550nm,1570nm and 1590nm), a set of additional 8 wavelength of DWDM separated from each other by only 0.1nm. By doing so up to 4 times, the CWDM network capability can easily expand by up to 28 additional wavelengths.

With FiberStore's compact CWDM solutions, you can receive all of the above benefits and much more (such as integrated amplifiers, protection capabilities, and integration with 3rd party networking devices, etc.) in a cost effective 1 U unit, allowing you to expand as you grown, and utilize your financial as well as physical resources to the maximum. FiberStore provides all the component involved in the process, such CWDM MUX DWMUX, CWDM OADM, even CWDM SFP transceivers.

Corning Fiber Optic Cable: World Leader in Fiber Optics Technology

From the time they introduced fiber optic technology in the 1970, corning has been at the forefront of fiber optic technology, forming the designs, products and guidelines that have become standard in the industry today. Corning's broadened product range means they are now an industry leading fiber optic cable manufacturers in a number of customer focused solutions including:

Corning fiber optic cable
Corning connectors and related hardware
Corning distributed antenna systems (DAS)
Harsh environments products of Corning

As the inventors of optical fiber in 1970, innovation is at the core of Corning's successful history of technology and the foundation of providing compatible solutions that meet our customer's ever-changing needs. Such solutions include FiberStore solutions that provide the successful and efficient foundation of your data center, local area, intelligent traffic system and industrial networks.

After half a year after Corning fist debuted the "Thunderfolt Optical Cable" at CES 2013 in January alongside a USB standard solution dubbed "USB 3. Optical Cables", Corning announced that its Thunderbolt Optical Cables are the first completely optical fiber products to receive Intel's certification.

Corning's all-optical Thunderbolt cable use the company's ClearCuve VSDN optical fiber technology to deliver high data speeds over longer distances than traditional copper cables. The optical fiber version are also 50 percent smaller and 80 percent lighter than their copper counterparts.

Corning plans to make the cable available at various lengths starting at 10 meters, through final products specifications have yet to be revealed.

Corning has put over 3,000,000,000 US Dollars investment in China; it has 8 manufacturing factories in China with around 3000 workers. Corning Inc China headquarter is located in Shanghai. For fiber optic cable business, it has one optical fiber company and one fiber optic cable company in Shanghai, which is fully run and invested by Corning. Meanwhile it has two holding companies for fiber optic cable business in China, one is in Chengdu and other is in Beijing. Not only on fiber optic cable business, Corning also provides LCD products and ceramic products used on cars in China. FiberStore is proud to offer an extensive line of Corning products! Whether your application is indoors, outdoors, aerial, riser or plenum, you're sure to find the perfect fiber optic cable for your installation among Coring's Optical Fiber Communication product lines.

MPO/MTP Fiber Interconnection Products FAQs

The increasing demand on today's higher fiber counts has exploded the development of multi-fiber technology. FiberStore is one of the main manufacturing of MPO/MTP fiber patch cable and cassettes, and many other MPO/MTP fiber interconnection products, which engineers unique MTP solutions using 12, 24, 48 and even 72 fiber MTP ferrules.
What is an MTP Trunk Cable?
An MTP trunk cable provides 12 to 144 fibre connectivity, by using 12-fibre push/pull optical connectors, it minimized errors and reduced spaces. The MTP trunk cable allows for lower bend radii and smaller slack loops. It enables up to 6x the cable tray capacity over traditional bulkier cabling solutions, saving up to 65 percent space. MPO trunk cable features round furcation legs that provide easy routing and improved storage. With the small profile furcation plug, it allows stress free cable mounting, leaves no legs outside the housing and shipped with strain-relief mounting cradles.
What is MTP Extender/MTP Extension Trunk?
The MTP extension Trunk extend subsets of links from zone distribution into equipment zones, which feature pinned (male) MTP connector on one end and non-pinned (female) MTP connectors on the other. It pinned MTP side mates with trunks via MTP connector panels, while not pinned MTP side plugs into modules or harnesses.
What is MTP couplers?
MTP couplers are simple plastic rectangles that hold two MTP connectors together. One cable going into an MTP coupler needs to have a male connector. The other cable must have a female connector. MTP couplers can be either key-up to key-up, or key-up to key-down. MTP cable has a clip on the top of the connector. On a key-up to key-up coupler, the clips are pointed in the same direction on both of the cables. On a key-up to key-down coupler. On a key-up to key-down coupler, the clips are on opposite sides. This also affects the polarity of the signal. Key-up to key-up couplers invert polarity. Key-up to key-down couplers retain the original polarity. This was initially counter-intuitive to me. It made sense once I thought about it though.
What is MTP harness?
An MTP harness breaks out 12 fiber MTP terminations into LC duplex connectors. It connects to trunks through a pinned MTP connector plug into dual fiber electronics ports with LC uniboot duplex connectors. It is occupying less space than 6 duplex jumpers improve airflow for cooling efficiency. By easing handling of cable connections on high-fibre count SAN directors and switch blades, it enables higher density in equipment patch panels. MTP harnesses are available in two lengths: short harness legs for minimal cable slack and long harness legs for mounting flexibility within a cabinet.

CWDM DWDM Networking Solutions

Wavelength division multiplexing is a cost effective and efficient way for expanding the fiber optic transmission capacity, because it allows using current electronics and current fibers and simply shares fibers by transmitting different channels at different color (wavelength) of light.
Wavelength Division Multiplexing, WDM is a technique that multiplexing several signals over a single fiber optic cables by optical carriers of different wavelength, using light from a laser or a LED. According to the number of wavelengths it supports, there are Coarse Wavelength Division Multiplexing (CWDM) and Dense Wavelength Division Multiplexing (DWDM).
CWDM was introduced as a low-cost approach to increasing bandwidth utilization of the fiber infrastructure. By using several wavelengths/colors of the light, 18 channels are viable and defined in the ITU-T standard G.694.2. CWDM systems typically provide 8 wavelengths, separated by 20nm, from 1470nm to 1610nm.
Benefits of CWDM
Passive equipment that uses no electrical power
Extended Temperature Range (0-70C)
Much lower cost per channel than DWDM
Scalability to grow fiber capacity with little or no increased cost
Protocol Transparent
Simple to install and use
Drawbacks of CWDM
16 channels may not be enough
Passive equipment offers no management capacities
DWDM packing WDM channels denser than in CWDM systems, 100 GHz spacing (approx. 0.8nm), more channels and higher capacity can be achieved using DWDM. IUT-T recommendation G.694.1 defines the DWDM channels spectrum. DWDM comes in two different versions: an active solution and a passive solution. An active solution is going to require wavelength management and it a good fit for applications involving more than 32 lines over the same fiber. In most cases, passive DWDM is looked at as a more realistic alternative to active DWDM.
Benefits of DWDM
Up to 32 channels can be done passively
Up to 160 channels with an active solution
Active solutions typically involve optical amplifiers to achieve longer distances
Drawbacks of DWDM
DWDM is very expensive
Active solutions require a lot of set-up and maintenance expense
"Passive" DWDM solution still requires power
Optical Add/Drop Multiplexing (OADM)
By optical add/drop multiplexing techniques, wavelength channels may be added and dropped at intermediate nodes using passive optical components only. Optical Add/Drop Multiplexers are used in WDM Systems for multiplexing and routing fiber optic signals. They can multiplex several low-bandwidth streams of data into a single light beam, and simultaneously, it can drop or remove other low-bandwidth signals from the stream of data and direct them to other network routers. There are CWDM OADM and DWDM OADM.
FiberStore offer a wide range of WDM optical networking products that allow transport of any mix of service from 2Mbps up to 200Gbps. Our highly reliable WDM/CWDM/DWDM products include CWDM
multiplexers and demultiplexer, DWDM Multiplexers and demultiplexers, CWDM & DWDM Optical Add-drop Multiplexer, Filter WDM modules, CATV amplifier, OEO converters as well as many other most demanding CWDM DWDM networking infrastructure equipment.

Are Your Sure that You Have Chosen the Truly Low Smoke Non Halogen Cables

This article will guide to buy the truly low smoke halogen free cable, which is fully compliant with IEC standards and ultimately offers maximum safety and assurance in application. Awareness of the impact of smoke and harmful gases emitted during a fire has led to a growing demand for an alternative to more traditional plastic halogenated cable constructions.
Although low smoke and flume cables are commonplace, however, in the event of a fiber, these cables can still release toxic and corrosive gases. In the next text, we will tell you the difference between low smoke non halogen or low smoke and halogen:
It is true to state that a cable can have low smoke characteristics so that in the event of a fire, it will not release the dense smoke plumes seen with a traditional PVC cable. However, cable can be low smoke and fume and yet still release toxic and corrosive gases when ignited. Despite its low smoke generation, this classification of cable, commonly known as LSF (Low Smoke and Fume) still typically contains PVC based compounds, making it exempt from halogen free compliance.
The fact is cables which have PVC in their insulation or cable jacket are not compliant and cannot be deemed to low smoke non halogen. If they contain PVC, they are not halogen-free.
Stringent fire requirements, environmental concerns and new legislation have resulted in an increased demand for both low smoke and low smoke non halogen cables. This increase in demand has also led to a growth in the number of cable manufacturers and suppliers in the market.
A low smoke cable and a low smoke non halogen cable are often confused people as a multitude of cables available and the industrial abbreviations used to describe them. Whilst a low smoke cable is acceptable in some industries and applications, for maximum safety, fully compliant low smoke non halogen cable from a reputable cable manufacturer is recommended. A high performance low smoke non halogen cable can bring benefits in addition to compliance, particularity in the case of flame retardants which is vital to help prevent the spread of fire.
Conformity to the IEC standard 60332-1-2 is a fundamental requirement for flame retardants for communications cables whether halogenated or not; however, superior quality Low Smoke Non Halogen cables can achieve a higher rating to the IEC standard 60332-3-24. Superior flame retardancy to reduce the spread of fire, wider operating temperatures for confident use in varying temperature applications and improved tensile strength for durability can all be achieved from a premium quality cable designed for total reliability and safety.
Reputable fiber optic cable supplier will build these additional benefits into their cable design and manufacturing processes. Process capability does not necessarily bring process stability, consistent manufacturing quality is vital for assured performance and Flame Retardant Low Smoke Non Halogen compliance.

RJ45 Colors and Wiring Guide Diagram TIA/EIA 568 AB

The information listed here is to assist Network Administrators in the color coding of Ethernet cables. Please be aware that modifying Ethernet cables improperly may cause loss of network
connectivity. Use this information at your own risk, and ensure all connectors and cables are modified in accordance with TIA standards.
Basic Theory: By looking at a T-568A UTP Ethernet straight-thru cable and an Ethernet crossover cable with a T-568B end, we see that the TX (transmitter) pins are connected to the corresponding RX (receiver) pins, plus to plus and minus to minus. You can also see that both the blue and brown wire pairs on pins 4, 5, 7, and 8 are not used in either standard. What you may not realize is that, these same pins 4, 5, 7, and 8 are not used or required in 100BASE-TX as well. So why bother using these wires, well for one thing its simply easier to make a connection with all the wires grouped together. Otherwise you'll be spending time trying to fit those tiny little wires into each of the corresponding holes in the RJ-45 connector.
The T-568A standard is supposed to be used in new network installations. Most off-the-shelf Ethernet cables are still of the T-568B standard; however, it makes absolutely no functional difference in which you choose.
Both the T-568A and the T-568B standard Straight-Through cables are used most often as patch cords for your Ethernet connections. If you require a cable to connect two Ethernet devices directly together without a hub or when you connect two hubs together, you will need to use a Crossover cable instead.
A good way of remembering how to wire a Crossover Ethernet cable is to wire one end using the T-568A standard and the other end using the T-568B standard. Another way of remembering the color coding is to simply switch the Green set of wires in place with the Orange set of wires. Specifically, switch the solid Green (G) with the solid Orange, and switch the green/white with the orange/white.
How to Build an Ethernet Cable Instructions:
Pull the cable off the reel to the desired length and cut using wire cutters or scissors. If you are pulling cables through holes, it's easier to attach the RJ-45 plugs after the cable is pulled.The total length of wire segments between a PC and a switch or between two PC's cannot exceed 100 Meters (328 feet) for 100BASE-TX and 300 Meters for 10BASE-T.
Start on one end and strip the cable jacket off (about 1") using a wire stripper or a knife. Be extra careful not to nick the wires, otherwise you will need to start over.
Spread, untwist the pairs, and arrange the wires in the order of the desired cable end. Flatten the end between your thumb and forefinger. Trim the ends of the wires so they are even with one another, leaving only 1/2" in wire length. If it is longer than 1/2" it will be out-of-spec and susceptible to crosstalk. Flatten and insure there are no spaces between wires.
Hold the RJ-45 plug with the clip facing down or away from you. Push the wires firmly into the plug. Inspect each wire is flat even at the front of the plug. Check the order of the wires. Double check again.
Check that the jacket is fitted right against the stop of the plug. Carefully hold the wire and firmly crimp the RJ-45 with the crimp tool.
Check the color orientation, check that the crimped connection is not about to come apart, and check to see if the wires are flat against the front of the plug. If even one of these are incorrect, you will have to start over. Test the Ethernet cable.
Ethernet Cable Tips:
A straight-thru cable has identical ends.
A crossover cable has different ends.
A straight-thru is used as a patch cord in Ethernet connections.
A crossover is used to connect two Ethernet devices without a hub or for connecting two hubs.
A crossover has one end with the Orange set of wires switched with the Green set.
Odd numbered pins are always striped, even numbered pins are always solid colored.
Looking at the RJ-45 with the clip facing away from you, Brown is always on the right, and pin 1 is on the left.
No more than 1/2" of the Ethernet cable should be untwisted otherwise it will be susceptible to crosstalk.
Do not deform, do not bend, do not stretch, do not staple, do not run parallel with power cables, and do not run Ethernet cables near noise inducing components.
Source from copper & fiber optic cable manufacturers

Plastic Optical Fiber System

There are numbers of services providing large-volume information content, such as high-definition movies, continues to increase rapidly. Single-mode glass optical fiber has been widely deployed in data trunk lines and pipelines to connect large cities and nations. It has already become indispensable as an information transmission medium. However, SM GOF is mechanically weak and lacks sufficient bending ability. Moreover, as the core diameter is very small, just 10 um, extremely precise techniques and expensive devices are required to connect fibers to signals receiving devices.
Because of this, SM GOF is rearly used for very short reach networks, such as local area networks in buildings. Facing this “last hundred meters” problem in optical fiber infrastructure, plastic optical fiber has obvious advantage over it:
POF fiber is made out of a plastic such as acrylic (PMMA) as the core material and fluorinated or perfluorinated polymers as the cladding materials. It carries optical signals along a core made from plastic, instead of the more traditional silica, the price of which is much cheaper. It can cost approximately one fifth as much as comparable glass fiber. Which puts it within reach of more consumers. Customers who want to connect to the silica fiber optical network maintained by a telecommunications company usually cannot afford traditional optical fiber for internal wiring, but the plastic optical fiber can help to make the connection.
Plastic optical fiber (POF) systems offer the promise for low cost applications in communications, data transmission, illumination, lighting, imaging, sensing and light transmission. Plastic fiber optic systems provide the same advantages of glass optical fiber (GOF) but at lower cost and easier use. Glass optical fiber systems have received more attention than POF, mainly due to their rapid acceptance in telecommunications as data rates up to 100 Mbps and distance up to 100 meters.
Plastic fiber optic cable systems are also finding increased applications for sensors and lighting. The technology is also moving rapidly as evidenced by recent papers on multimode and single mode POF, high temperature fiber, integrated POF circuits, laminated lightguides, discrete components both active and passive, optical switching, and other developments too numerous to mention.
However, POF has two important weaknesses: it has significantly lower bandwidth than GOF, and its attenuation is far higher. Recent developments conquering both of these issues now mean that POF is regarded as the strongest candidate at present for optical data transmission over the last hundred meters.

How Many Types of Fiber Optic Patch Cables Available at FiberStore

FiberStore is a leading manufacturer of broad range of fiber optic and copper data communication cabling and connectivity solutions. Our products include fiber optic and copper cabling, fiber optic and copper connectors, fiber optic and copper patch cables, pre-terminated fiber optic and copper cable assemblies, etc. Fiber optic cable and fiber patch cables can be classified to thousands of types as the various in the fiber structures, fiber numbers, connector types (for patch cables only) as well as the application areas. Then, how many fiber patch cables does FiberStore provide? It is hard to give an actually number, because it is too many to calculate. To better interpret this answer, let's start an overview on FiberStore fiber patch cable types:
It is well known that an optical fiber patch cord is composed of a fiber optic cables with two fiber connectors terminated on each end. It is typically used to in computer work station to outlet and fiber optic patch panels or optical cross connect distribution center. According to common cable structures, functions, and major applications, fiber patch cable can be divided into different types: common fiber patch cables, armored fiber patch cables, fiber optic pigtails, mpo/mtp fiber cables, fiber pigtails, multi-core fiber patch cables, and other special patch cables such as volition fiber patch cables, military grade patch cables, pre-terminated fiber cables, etc.
Common fiber patch cables
Common fiber patch cables refer to patch cables that commonly structured with fiber, out sheath and tight buffer. According the fiber fiber types, common fiber patch cables are generally divided into OM1 multimode, OM2 multimode, 10G OM3 and 10G OM4 types. All of them can terminated with a variety of connector types such as LC, SC, ST, FC, MU and MTRJ.
Armored Fiber Patch Cables
Armored fiber patch cable can be understanded as the armored fiber optic cable terminated with fiber connectors on each end. This patch cable use rugged shell with aluminum armor and kevlar inside the jacket, and it is 10 times stronger than common fiber patch cable. This will help make the armored fiber patch cord resistant of high tension and pressure. We supply armored fiber optic patch cable, including 10G OM4/ OM3, 9/125, 50/125, 62.5/125 fiber types.
Multi Core Fiber Patch Cables
Multi core fiber patch cord are individually reinforced fibers terminated with fiber optic connectors. When the optical fiber is terminated on both ends it is termed as patch cord. The multi core patch cable is widely used for CATV, LANS, Telecom, Video, active device termination, telecommunication networks and Gigabit. Varies connector types are available including SC, SC/APC, FC, FC/APC, LC, ST.
Fiber Optic Pigtails
Pigtail fiber optic cable can be get by cutting the fiber patch cables in the middle, so that the pigtail is an fiber patch cable with fiber connector at only one side to link to the equipment while the other side can be melt with optical cables fibers. FiberStore supply 10G 50/125, 62.5/125, 50/125 multimode optic pigtail with SC, ST, FC, LC MT-RJ, SC/APC, FC/APC, E2000 fiber optic connectors.
MPO MTP Fiber Cables
MPO fiber cables are designed to meet the multi-fiber technology for fiber optic network. . It uses a high-density multi-fiber connector system built around precision molded MT ferrule. FiberStore's MPO fiber cables are available in UPC and APC and APC finishes, support both multimode and single mode applications, and optional lengths availableExcept for the mentioned types fiber patch cables, FiberStore also offers many other fiber patch cables, which will be introduced in the next article, you can also go to fiberstore.com to know the details in advance!

Fiber Resistant LS0H Cables

With the increased demand for safety in public areas and buildings, contractors are now being advised to install materials thar are zero halogen cables to peoples in case of fire. It is now understood that smoke and poisonous fumes can be a greater risk to lives than that of fire alone.
What is Resistance to Fire?
Resistance to fire is the property of a material of assembly to withstand fire or give protection from it and it is measured as the time a product can mantain a level of functionality during a fire.
Fire resistance may be built-in both structurally and by the correct choice and application of building materials. The resistance-to-fire (of a cable) is the term used to describe how long a cable continues to operate in a fire. This may be of primary concern, for instance, in life safety of fire fighting installations.Cable resistance to fiber concerns: the ability of a cable to maintain functionality during fire; the duration of survival in working condition.
To be assured you are buying a cable that will offer security during fire, it must pass 3 tests pertaining to halogen content, low smoke density and flame propagation. The resistance-to-fire performance of cable is indicated in term of survival time which are 15, 30, 60, 90 and 120 minutes of operation in a standardized fire condition at European Level and equipment international (IEC). Local standards and customers specs include their own requirements witch are achieved as well by FiberStore local or tailor-made products.
Fiber-retartant, low smoke halogen free cable (LSZH) and wire has been commercially available fro shipboard applications since the 1970S, offshore marine platforms, rapid transit and similar applications where people are present in confined areas. When worked with other fiber prevention and suppression practices, fire-retardant LSZH cables can help minimize fire-rated deaths and property damage. However, gases produced by all burning materials - whether LSZH or not - are extremely toxic.
Advantages and Disadvantages of LS0H cables
Pro: LSZH wire and cable produces less smoke when burned, which permits people to exit a burning building more quickly and results in less damage.
Con: Because LSZH is more susceptible to jacket cracking caused by pulling lubricants or cable bending, special lubricants has been developed to minimize cable damage during installation.
Pro: Because LSZH releases little or no halogen gas when burned, it reduced the damages to the human respiratory system if inhaled and contributes to less corrosion damage to equipment near the fire.
Cons: LSZH jacket compounds usually have very high filler content to provide the required flame and smoke performance. As a result, most have poorer mechanical, chemical resistance, water absorption and electrical properties than non-LSZH compounds.
Pro: LSZH jackets have a lower coefficient of friction than some non-LSZH jackets, which can make installatin easier.
Cons: The current generation of LSZH cables has not yet established a proven history of long-term performance.

FiberStore Fiber Optic Pigtails

Optical fiber pigtails are recommended for sometimes required when there is a need to make a transition from thin buffered fibers (250-900 um), typical for distribution cables and not suitable for direct optical fiber connector termination, to cross-connection or equipment connection points. Pigtail fiber optic cable mechanically for fusion connected to the distribution cable fibers simplify cabling system installation and servicing significantly.
FiberStore pigtails are manufactured to meet TIA, IEC and Telcordia standard requirements. FiberStore pigtails based on 900-um buffered white cable are available in multimode 62.5 um OM1 and 50um OM2, OMC3, OM4 and singlemode, simples and multistrand, ST, SC, FC and LC versions.
Single-mode and multimode fiber optic pigtails shall be available in 3-meter lengths, made of OFNR fiber optic cable, and be compliant with TIA-568-C.3 Single-mode pigtails shall come in ST, SC, and LC connector styles, and offer UPC and APC polish types. Insertion loss shall average.3dB, but not exceed .5dB at 1310 nm and 1550 mm per mated pair. Multimode pigtails shall come in ST, SC, and LC connector styles, and offer 50 um (10G, 300 m) lazer optimized, 62.2 um core styles. Insertion loss shall average . 3dB, but not exceed .5dB at 1300 nm per mated pair.
Fiber optic patch cords include duplex LC, SC, ST, and duplex MT-RJ connectors on both ends. Fiber optic pigtails include simples LC, SC and ST on one end and open (unterminated) on the other end. Patch cords and pigtails meet requirements of TIA/EIA-568-C.3. 1. The fiber connectors are FOCIS compliant or compatible and meet the requirements of TIA/EIA-455-21A.
FiberStore fiber optic patch cords and pigtails support high speed data applications over installations that include entrance facilities, carrier equipment, telecommunications, patch field and CATV. The APC patch cords pass all TIA/EIA-5868-B.3 and ISO/IEC 11801 OS1 performance requirements and offer optimum performance compared to standard single-mode patch cords. The APC connectors provide a lower insertion loss and a higher return loss than standard UTP singlemode connectors. The pigtail fiber optic cable include LC, SC, MTRJ, ST pigtail and more in standard meter lengths.

Armored Fiber Optic Patch Cable Ordering Guide

Fiber optic patch cable is an important cable component for fiber optic networks, the armored fiber optic patch cables are specially designed for harsh environment in in aerospace, automotive, industrial, medical, and military applications. FiberStore provides a huge selection of armored fiber optic patch cables in any configuration, with any connectors types, cable modes, and lengths.
Armored fiber patch cable is a round, compact and very tough duplex patch cable with flexible armouring under PVC or LSZH jacket, providing exceptional crush and kinking resistance. Armored fiber patch cord is different from standard fiber optic patch cables, the very commonly used fiber optic patch cables structures is like this: fiber glass core in the center of the cable, cladding outside the fiberglass for protection, Kevlar outside the cladding, Kevlar is soft as well as very strong material, then the outside is the cable jacket. Traditional fiber optic patch cords are tender equipment, people cannot bend it too much or the fiberglass will be damaged and broken, which is not suitable for harsh environment.
Armored fiber optic patch cables are with the same types of fiber optic connectors as the commonly used types, the difference is the cable itself. Armored fiber optic cables are typically used for indoor applications, with the same outer diameter of common types 2mm or 3mm. The difference is armored fiber optic cables are with stainless steel tape just inside the cable jacket and outside the Kevlar, this stainless unit provides extra feature as well as retain all the function that a common type optical fiber patch cable can give. What's more, armored fiber optic cords are anti-rodent, and it can be handled as electric cables. It is not easy to get damaged or cut, and it can resist an adult step on it.
Armored fiber optic patch cable ordering guide:
FiberStore supply armored fiber optic patch cables, including 10G OM4/OM3, 9/125, 62.5/125 types. 10G fiber patch cables provide 10 gigabyte data transfer speeds in high bandwidth applications and they are 5 times faster than standard 50um fiber cable. All armored fiber patch cable types can be with SC, ST, FC, LC, MU, SC/APC, ST/APC, LC/APC, etc. types of terminations.
Fiber optic connector type: LC, FC, SC, ST, MU, MTRJ, E2000
Ferrule Interface type: PC, UPC, APC
Fiber cores: Simplex, duplex, 4 fibers, 8 fibers etc.
Fiber type; single mode (G.652, G655), multimode(50/125) /(62.5/125)
100% Insertion Return Loss, End Face and Interference inspection
Low insertion loss, high return loss
Excellent mechanical endurance
Good in repeatability and exchangeability
Insertion loss: <0.5 dB
Operation temperature: -20° to 85°C
10G OM3 OM4 fiber cable available
Various jacket material, PVC and LSZH
Related: Armored LC-LC patch cord

What's the Difference Between Optical Fiber Patch Cable and Fiber Pigtails

Q: What's the difference between fiber pigtail & fiber patch cord. Can we use a patch cord as pigtail by cutting in the middle of the cable?
I find such questions now and then on the Internet, it's true that there are still some peoples that are not familiar with but still interested in such knowledges. Keep this in mind, we would like to take this topic into the discussion by collecting opinion from related answers:
For some people, an optical fiber patch cable is ruggedise (providing additional fiber protection) and a pigtail is not (and therefore more brittle).
"I would expect pigtails while dealing with optical components, while when dealing with patch panels, equipment interconnections, etc. I would expect patch cables." "I would also expect patchcables to be double-ended (i.e computerized at both ends) and pigtails to be single-ended (or not terminated)."
Patch cables have connectors on both ends. While pigtails have a connector on one end and bare fiber on the other.
In my opinion, i would agree all of the above comments, and also give the simplest understanding of myself: the fiber optic patch cable = fiber optic connector + fiber optic cable + fiber optic connector, while the fiber optic pigtail = fiber optic connectors + fiber optic cable. We can really use a patch cord as pigtails by cutting in the middle of the cable.
Officially speaking, fiber optic patch cable, often called fiber optic patch cord or fiber jumper cable, is a fiber optic cable terminated with fiber optic connectors on both ends. I have two major application areas: computer work station to outlet and fiber optic patch panels or optical cross connects distribution center. Fiber optic patch cables can be divided into different types based on fiber mode, cable structure, connector types, connector polishing types and cable sizes. All types of fiber optic patch cables can be found at FIBERSTORE.COM, LC patch cable is the most commonly used, other connector types include ST, SC, FC, etc. Which can be either the same types of connector on both ends, or different connectors on each end (Hybrid fiber optic patch cables).
Fiber optic pigtail is a piece of cable terminated with fiber optic connectors at only one side of the cable while leave the other side no connectors, so that the connector side can link to the equipment and the other side can be melted with optical cable fibers. Pigtail fiber optic cables are usually used with fiber optic management equipment like ODF, splice closures and cross cabinets.
Commonly used fiber optic pigtails types are FC, LC, MU, E2000, MTRJ and ST pigtail. According to the fiber mode types, there are single mode types and multimode types.
The pigtail, when separate from a line, looks like a bundle of loose, capped wires that are bound together at one end. The bound end connects to the main cable, where the individual strands of the fiber pigtail are permanently fused, or spliced, to the multicore cable. When the process is complete, the pigtail is a non-removable piece of the system.
For more information on fiber patch cable and fiber pigtails as well as the ordering & custom availability, please send emails to sale@fiberstore.com

FiberStore Announces New Product Release of MPO/MTP Product Group

FiberStore In. announced today the release of a full suite of MPO/MTP products that is designed to support the next generation of high density fiber network. The new product group includes MPO/MTP patch cords, truck assemblies, fan-out assemblies and related distribution hardware. The creation of new MPO products makes FiberStore a key player in high density fiber developments, allowing FiberStore provide complete solutions for customers.
MTP/MPO fiber cables, trunk assemblies, fan-out assemblies, and related distribution hardware are designed to support next generation high density fiber networks. High density MPO rack mount panel and cassettes transition MPO style connectors to Duplex LC pairs, allowing direct connection to network resources. Up to 144 LC connectors can be deployed in one rack unit. MPO fiber cassettes are also available in standard LGX footprint.
FiberStore's MPO cassette provides a seamless connection between MPO backbone cables and SC or small form factor LC patching in the network environment. This pre-terminated modular system is easily deployed and simplifies future expansions and modifications. In one cassette option, the MPO adapter is uniquely positioned at the back of the cassette with a downward angle to provide a more optimal orientation for routing. MPO cassettes are ideally suitable for data centers, enterprise, and datacom networks.
Included in the distribution hardware release is a high density option that allows for higher density deployment of fibers currently available in the industry. The high density MPO rack mounts panel and cassettes transition MPO style connectors Duplex LC pairs, allowing for direct connection to network resources. Up to 144 LC connectors can be deployed in a single rack unit. The MPO fiber cassettes are also available in the standard LGX footprint.
FiberStore is recognized as a leader in the fiber optic marketplace. Founded in 2001, FiberStore made it a mission to provide customers with fiber optic products that far exceed industry standards. The company's diverse product portfolio includes fiber optic cable, optical fiber patch cable, transmission and substation accessories, outside plants equipment, connection, fusion splicers, testing equipment, etc. More on product informations and custom availabilities, please visit fiberstore.com

Order Fiber Optic Patch Cable from FiberStore

FiberStore Inc. is a telecommunications based national stocking distributor of fiber optic cables, we provide singlemode and multimode fiber optic cables & patch cables ranging from 2 fiber to 264 576 to 744 up to 864 for FTTX applications. Fiber optic cable refers to the complete assembly of fibers, strength members and jacket. Fiber optic cables come in lots of different types, depending on the number of fibers and how and where it will be installed. Choosing cable carefully is necessary as the choice will affect how easy it is to be installed, spliced or terminated and, most important, what it will cost! FiberStore offer complimentary engineering at no cost for simple questions regarding optical fiber patch cable.
Fiber patch cable is a cable terminated with optic connectors on both ends. It has two major application areas which is for computer work station to outlet and fiber optic patch panels or optical cross connect distribution center.
FiberStore Fiber optic cable products offers a huge selection of common and armored fiber patch cable. Armored fiber optic patch cables are with same types of fiber optic connectors as the commonly used types, the different is the cable itself. Armored fiber optic cables are with stainless steel tape just inside the cable jacket that a common type fiber optic patch cable can give. Amored fiber optic cords are anti-rodent, and it can be handled as electric cables, it is not easy to get damaged or cut, and it can resist an adult step on it.
All of our fiber optic patch cords are manufactured strictly according to international standard. We adopt high quality raw materials and we use on-site manufacturing equipment. Our skilled workers and quality control department work closely together to guarantee that every piece of our fiber optic patch cord is excellent quality and looking.
Ordering information for our fiber optic patch cord:
Fiber connector 1: LC, FC, SC, ST, MTRJ, DIN, D4, E2000, MPO
Fiber connector 2: LC, FC, SC, ST, MTRJ, DIN, D4, E2000, MPO
Ferrule Interface type: PC, UPC, and APC
Fiber cores: Simplex, duplex
Fiber type; Single mode (G. 652, G655), multimode (50/125)/ (62.5/125), OM3 cable
Fiber diameter (mm): Φ 0.9, φ 2.0, Φ 3.0
Fiber length; User-defined
Applications of fiber optic patch cords:
FTTH application
Premise installations
Data processing networks
Wide Area Networks (WANs)
Telecommunication networks
Industrial, mechanical and military
We have almost all of the fiber optic cable and cable assemblies products. Our warehouse is located on both China and USA allow for fast and reliable shipping of fiber optic cables throughout the USA and we also export all over the world. All of our fiber optic cables are made for immediate or for special orders - the fastest, turnaround in the industry. We have custom fiber jumper cables and fiber assemblies at the USA’s best price as well. Call us today at +1 (206) 227 9282

Classification of Fiber Optic Patch Cords

This article is designed specially for those who want to quickly while without going into details to understand the wide range of fiber patch cable types.
What is fiber optic patch cord?
Fiber optic patch cable, which is often referred to as fiber optic patch cord or fiber jumper, is the segment of fiber optic cable with optical connectors on both ends. It applies in two main areas: a computer work station - the output fiber optic patch panels or optical cross - rapredelitelny center. Optic patch cords are used only indoors.
The most common types of optical patch cords
Fiber optic patch cords can be divided into different types depending on the type of optical fiber structures such as optical connectors, polishing type and cable length.
Fiber type of fiber optic cable
Single-mode optical fiber patch cables (SM): A single mode fiber patch cord consists of a piece of fiber optic cable with a core diameter of 9/125 micron, terminated on both sides of single-mode optical connectors. Sheath-mode fiber optic cable usually has a yellow color.
Multimode fiber patch cables (MM): Multimode optical patch cord consists of a piece of multimode fiber optic cable with a core diameter of 62.5/125 microns or 50/125 microns connectorized on both sides with multimode connectors. The shell of a multimode fiber optic cable, usually has an orange color, and the connectors are gray.
10G multimode fiber optic patch cable (such as OM3, OM4): 10Gib multimode optical fiber patch cable 50/125 micron is specially designed and optimized for laser VCSEL (Vertical Cavity Surface
Emitting Laser - semiconductor vertical cavity lasers) is based on 10Gig Ethernet. They have backward compatibility with existing network equipment and provide the bandwidth three times larger than conventional optical fibers with a core diameter of 62.5/125nm. 10Gib is targeted at distances up to 300 meters using a wavelength of 850nm. The shell of such a cable is usually celadon.
Structure of the fiber cable:
Simplex optical cords: an optical fiber patch cable has a single fiber cable and one connector on each end.
Duplex optical cables: double optical patch cord has two fibers with two connectors on each end. Each fiber is marked with a marker to indicate polarity.
Ribbon optical cords: ribbon cable has one connector on one side, such as MTP (12 fibers) and other multiple fiber optic cables with connectors SC, LC, FC, etc.
Difference in the types of optical connectors:
Optical cable with identical connectors: the optical connectors on both ends of the optical fiber patch cable is the same.
Transient optical cables: fiber optic patch cord has different optical connectors on the ends of fiber optic patch cord, allowing connection of equipment with different optical adapters.
Difference in the type of polishing
Fiber optic connectors are designed and polished to different shapes. This is done in order to minimize back reflection. This is especially important when using a single-mode optical fiber. Back
reflection depending on polishing can have the following values: -30 dB, -40 dB, -50dB and -60dB.
PC (Physical Contact): Typical back reflection < - 40 dB for single-mode and multimode optical fibers.
UPC (Ultra Physical Contact): Typical back reflection < -50 dB for single-mode optical fiber. (usually connector SC, LC blue, and shanks to the FC and ST - Black)
APC (Angled Physical Contact), angular polishing: Typical back reflection < - 60dB for single-mode optical fiber. (Connector SC, LC and FC shank on ST and green)

Typical Cable Components for Network Connection

This article will describe some typical cable components involved in transmitting data from the network area to the telecommunications room or enclosure. These typical cable components are horizon cable, backbone cable, and patch cables which is used in cross-connections and for connecting to network devices.
Patch Cords
Patch cords are used in in patch panels to provide the connection between field-terminated horizontal cables and network connectivity devices and connections between the telecommunications outlets and network devices such as printers, computers, and other Ethernet-based devices. They are part of the network wiring you can actually see. Since the fact that a chain is only as strong as its weakest link. Because of their exposed position in structured cable infrastructures, patch cords are always the weakest link. Patch cords include optical fiber patch cable.
Horizontal and Backbone Cables
The name horizontal cable and backbone cable have nothing to do with the cable's physical orientation toward the horizon. Horizontal cables run between a cross-connect panel in a telecommunications room and telecommunications room and a telecommunications outlet located near the work area. Backbone cables run between telecommunications rooms, and enclosures, and the main cross-connect point of a building, it usually located in the equipment room.
Whereas horizontal UTP cables contain solid conductors, patch cords are made with stranded conductors because they are more flexible. The flexibility allows them to withstand the abuse of frequent flexing and reconnecting. Although you could build your own field-terminated patch cords, we strongly recommend against it.
At first glance, patch cords may seem like a no-brainer, but they may actually be the most crucial components to accurately specify. When specifying patch cords, you may also require that your patch cords be tested to ensure that they meet the proper transmission-performance standards for their category. Fiber patch cables are used for fiber optic cabling. Usually it is divided into single mode fiber patch cord and multimode fiber patch cord. Single mode fiber operators to a long transmission distance, while multi-mode fiber is a short transmission distance.
Choosing the right cables for your job
Professional cable installed and cable-plant designers are called upon to interpret and/or draft cable specifications to fulfill business' structured-cabling requirements. Anyone purchasing cable for business or home use may also have to make a decision regarding what type of cable to use. Installing inappropriate cable could be unfortunate in the event of a disaster such as a fire.
Cable plant designer can held accountable in court and held responsible for damages incurred as a result of substandard cable installation, Cables comes in a variety of ratings, and many of these rating has to do with how well the cable will fare in a fire.
Using the general overview informations provided here, you should now have adequate information to specify the proper cable for your installation.
First, you must know the installation environment and what the applicable NEC and the local fire-code requirements will allow regarding the cables' flame rating. In a commercial building, this usually comes down to where plenum-rated cables must be installed and where a lower rating is acceptable.
The second decision on cabling must be on media type. The large majority of new installations use fiber optic cable in the backbone and UTP cable for the horizontal.
For fiber optic cable, you will need to specify the fiber type first, single-mode or multimode. If it is multimode, you will need to specify the core diameter. That is 62.5/125 or 50/125. Most new installations use an 850nm, laser-optimized 50/125 multimode fiber, better know to the industry as OM3 fiber. A special fiber patch cable takes multimode ST patch cable for example, it can be either with OM1 62.5/125 types or OM2 50/125, simplex or duplex, connector types of ST-ST, ST-MTRJ, ST-LC, etc. The large majority of new networks use an 850nm, laser-optimized 50/125 multimode fiber, better knows to the industry as OM3 fiber. Of UTP cable, you need to specify the appropriate transmission-performance category. Most newly installations today use Cat6, and there is a growing migration to Cat6A. Make sure that you specify that patch cords are rated in the same or higher category than the horizontal cable.

LC Fiber Optic Patch Cables from FiberStore

Fiber optic patch cables are known as optical fiber jumper or optical patch cable, which is composed of a fiber optic cable terminated with connectors on each ends. As a common component in the fiber optic network, it provides interconnect and cross-connect of applications in entrance facilities, telecommunication rooms, data centers, at the desk and network applications to interconnect pre-terminated MPO cassette in main distribution, horizontal distribution, and equipment distribution areas.
As a global leading designer, manufacturer of high quality components and systems for the photonics industry at competitive prices, FiberStore provides various type of fiber optic cables and fiber patch cords including common single-mode 9/125, OM1 62.5/125, 10GOM3/OM4 patch cables, armored patch cables, fiber optic pigtails, multi core patch cables, MPO/MTP patch cables and other special patch cables, with SC, ST, FC, LC, MU, MTRJ, E2000, APC/UPC terminations. Take LC fiber optic patch cable for example, we will intros the main features and applications of FiberStore fiber patch cord.
FiberStore LC duplex/simplex fiber optic patch cords containing the custom push-pull strain relief boot and duplex/simplex chip, allow users easy accessibility in tight areas when deploying very high density LC patch fields in data center applications. They are available in OM4, OM3, or OS1/OS2 fiber types, LC-LC, LC-SC, LC-ST, LC-MU, LC-MTRJ, LC-MPO, LC-MTP, LC-FC. 10 Gigabit Ethernet and high speed Fiber Channel. Other types also available for custom design and cut length. LC Fiber cable connectors are available in cable assembled or one piece connectors, all of which is Telcordia,
ANSI/EIA/TIA and IEC compliant.
The LC fiber cable is a small form factor (SFF) connector and is ideal for high density applications. The LC fiber patch connector has a zirconia ceramic ferrule measuring 1.25mm O.D. with either a PC or APC end face, and provides optimum insertion and return loss. The LC fiber patch cable connector is used on small diameter mimi-cordage (1.6mm/2.0mm) as well as 3.0mm cable 10G LC fiber patch cables provide 10 gigabyte data transfer speeds in high bandwidth applications and they are 5 times faster than standard 50um fiber cable. OM3 and OM4 50/125 multimode fiber patch cable are both laser-optimized and were developed to accommodate faster networks such as 10, 40 and 100 Gbps, both of which are designed for use with 850-nm VCSELS laser transmission and allows 10 Gig/second link distance up to 550 Meters (300M with OM3). Effective modal bandwidth for OM4 is more than double that of OM3. For OM4 patch cable, it is 4700 Mhz km while for OM3, it is 2000 Mhz km.
Key features of LC-LC patch cord Duplex 10G
LC-LC Connectors
Multimode duplex fiber optic cable
Complete with Lucent Technologies aqua jacket
Bandwidth transmitting rates up to 10gigabits
High degree connectors
100% optical tested to ensure high performance
Specifications
Connectors: LC to LC
Micron: 50/125um
Insertion loss: >35dB
Operating Temperature: -40℃ to 80℃
Color: Aqua
Fiber class: OM4
For assistance customizing LC patch cable and other types of optical patch cords, please contact us at sales@fiberstore.com

Custom Fiber Optic Patch Cables from FiberStore

If the demand for more bandwidth is putting a constant strain on your local area network, fiber optics is the answer. Fiber optic patch cable offers the best mix of capacity, security and reliability, without the worry of electrical interface. Optical fiber patch cable is used in a number of applications both in the network place and the home for transferring data from point to point.
In some cases, you may have to use a special cord that may not be in stock in a company. The company may have to order it for you, which may take up to a few weeks to get, or not be able to get it for you at all. Here at FiberStore, we have the capacities of producing high quality fiber optic cords, without the extreme wait. In most cases, we can have your products out of the door in 2-3 days. If you either looking for a particular length of cord that we or someone else does not stock, a certain core or jacking size or even a different connector configuration we can built it.
The optical fiber patch cord is used at cross-connections to connect optical fiber links. They are also used as equipment or work area cords to connect telecommunication equipment to horizontal or backbone cabling. A patch cord can be regarded as a length of optical fiber cable with connectors on both ends. It uses the same connector type and optical fiber type as the optical fiber cabling that it is connected to. FiberStore offers a variety of fiber patch cable types, which is used for either cross-connection of interconnection to equipment shall have a termination configuration defined in clause 6.4 of ANSI/TIA-568-C.3 Clause 6.4 describes configurations for simplex, duplex, and array patch cords. The patch cord comply with the cable transmission performance requirements and physical cable specifications of clause 4.2 and 4.3.1 of ANSI/TIA-568-C.3 and the connectors and adapter requirements of clause 5.2 of ANSI/TIA-568-C.3.
A simplex patch cord is a single fiber cable with simplex connection terminations. A duplex patch cord is a two-fiber cable with duplex connectors. An array patch cord is a multifiber cable with array connectors on each end. FiberStore offer single mode patch cord and multimode fiber patch cable with a variety of connector types such as LC, FC, SC, ST, MU, MTRJ and E2000 Duplex fiber cable consist of two fiber cores and can be either multimode or single mode. Single mode fiber patch cord is primary used for application involving extensive distances, while multimode fiber is ideal for most common local fiber systems as the devices for multimode are far cheaper. The common core sizes of multimode fiber are OM1 62.5 micron and 50 micron in OM2 or 10 Gigabit Laser Optimized OM3.Duplex fiber cables consist of two fiber cores and can be either multimode or single mode. This due core system allows for the bi-directional transfer of data, as opposed to simplex fiber cables. Which typically only propagate data in one direction.
FiberStore designs, develops and manufactures high quality components and systems for the photonics industry at competitive prices. Whether you’re doing new installations or upgrading your existing infrastructure, FiberStore has the right fiber patch cables and assemblies you need, at an affordable price. Most of our products are available for immediate delivery.

Unshielded Twisted-Pair Cable Development

Unshielded Twisted-pair has been used for many year for telephone systems, it is become common in the late 1980s with the advance of Ethernet over twisted-pair wiring and the 10Base-T standard. UTP is cost effective and simple to install, and its bandwidth capabilities are continually being improved. Media converters allow cost-effective conversion of signals from one cabling media type to another. The most common type converts signals runing over copper UTP cabling to fiber optic cabling. Fiber Ethernet converter also exist to support conversion of coax cable to UTP cable for fiber optic cabling.
UTP cabling typically has only one outer covering jacket that consist of come type of nonconducting material. This jacket cover one or more pair of wire that are twisted together. Unshielded twisted pair cable is most commonly comprised of 4 twisted pair of copper conductors, graded for bandwidth as "level" or "Categories". A typical UTP cable consist of a jacket that surrounds four twisted pairs. Each wire is covered by an insulation material with good dielectric properties. For data cables, this means that in addition to being electrically nonconductive, it must have certain properties that allow good signal propagation.
Older UTP cables that were installed to support telephone systems may not even support 10Base-T Ethernet. The ANSI/TIA-538-C standard helps consumers choose the right cable for their applications.
This standard has been updated over the years and currently defined four categories of UTP cables: Categories 3, 5e, 6, 6A. So, even though two cables may look identical, their supported data rates can be dramatically different.
Category 1: This type of cable usually supports frequencies of less than 1 MHz. Common applications include analog voice telephone systems. It ware never included in any version of the 568 standard.
Category 2: This cable type supports frequencies of up to 4MHz. It's not commonly installed, except in installations that use twisted-pair ARCnet and Apple LocalTalk netwokrs. Its requirements are based on the original, proprietary IBM cabling system specification. It was never included in any version of the 568 standard.
Category 3 (recognized cable type in ANSI/TIA-568-C): This type of cable supports data rates up to 16Mhz. This cable was the most common variety of UTP for a number of years starting in the late 1980s. Common applications include 4Mbps UTP Token Ring, 10Base-T Ethernet. 100Base-T4, and digital and analogy telephone systems. Its inclusion in the ANSI/TIA-568-C standard is for voice applications.
Category 4: Cat 4 UTP cable was designed to support frequencies of up to 20Mhz, specifically in response to a need for a UTP solution for 16Mbps Token Ring LANs. It was quickly replaced in the market when Category 5 was developed, as Category 5 gives five times the bandwidth with only a small increment in price. Category 4 was a recognized cable in the 568-A standard, but was dropped from ANSI/TIA-568-B and also does not appear in ANSI/TIA-568-C.
Category 5 (was included in ANSI/TIA/EIA-568-B for informative purposes only): Category 5 was the most common cable installed, until new installations began to use an enhanced version. It may still be the cable type most in use because it was the cable of choice during the huge infrastructure boom of the 1990s. It was designed to support frequencies of up to 100MHz.
Applications include
100Base-TX, FDDI over copper, 155Mbps ATM over UTP, and, thanks to sophisticated encoding techniques, 1000Base-T Ethernet. To support 1000Base-T applications, the installed cabling system had to pass performance tests speci-fied by TSB-95 (TSB-95 was a Telecommunications Systems Bulletin issued in support of ANSI/TIA/EIA-568-A, which defines additional test parameters). It is no longer a recognized cable type per the ANSI/TIA-568-C standard, but for historical reference purposes, Category 5 requirements, including those taken from TSB-95, are specified in ANSI/TIA-568-C.2.
Category 5 (was included in ANSI/TIA/EIA-568-B for informative purposes only): Category 5 was the most common cable installed, until new installations began to use an enhanced version. It may still be the cable type most in use because it was the cable of choice during the huge infrastructure boom of the 1990s. It was designed to support frequencies of up to 100MHz. Applications include 100Base-TX, FDDI over copper, 155Mbps ATM over UTP, and, thanks to sophisticated encoding techniques, 1000Base-T Ethernet. To support 1000Base-T applications, the installed cabling system had to pass performance tests speci-fied by TSB-95 (TSB-95 was a Telecommunications Systems Bulletin issued in support of ANSI/TIA/EIA-568-A, which defines additional test parameters). It is no longer a recognized cable type per the ANSI/TIA-568-C standard, but for historical reference purposes, Category 5 requirements, including those taken from TSB-95, are specified in ANSI/TIA-568-C.2.
Category 5e (recognized cable type in ANSI/TIA-568-C): Category 5e (enhanced Category 5) was introduced with the TIA/EIA-568-A-5 addendum of the cabling standard. Even though it has the same rated bandwidth as Category 5, that is, 100MHz, additional performance criteria and a tighter transmission test requirement make it more suitable for high-speed applications such as Gigabit Ethernet. Applications are the same as those for Category 5 cabling. It is now the minimum recognized cable category for data transmission in ANSI/TIA-568-C.
Category 6 (recognized cable type in ANSI/TIA-568-C): Category 6 cabling was officially recognized with the publication of an addition to ANSI/TIA/EIA-568-B in June 2002. In addition to more stringent performance requirements as compared to Category 5e, it extends the usable bandwidth to 250MHz. Its intended use is for Gigabit Ethernet and other future high-speed transmission rates.
Successful application of Category 6 cabling requires closely matched components in all parts of the transmission channel, that is, patch cords, connectors, and cable.
Category 6A or Augmented Category 6 (recognized cable type in ANSI/TIA-568-C): Category 6A cabling was officially recognized with the publication of ANSI/TIA/EIA-568-B.2-10 in February 2008. In addition to more stringent performance requirements as compared to Category 6, it extends the usable bandwidth to 500MHz. Its intended use is for 10 Gigabit Ethernet. Like Category 6, successful application of Category 6A cabling requires closely matched components in all parts of the transmission channel, that is, patch cords, connectors, and cable. The cabling standards are discussed inmore detail in Chapter 2. Additional information on copper media can be found in Chapter 7, "Copper Cable Media," and Chapter 10, "Connectors."
Category 7 (recognized cable type in ISO 11801): Category 7 is an ISO/IEC category suitable for transmission frequencies up to 1Ghz. Cat7 Ethernet cable is widely used in Europe and is gaining some popularity in the United States. It is not presently recognized in ANSI/TIA-568-C.

MEMS Based Variable Optical Attenuators

It is commonly known that fiber optic attenuators are used in fiber optic communications, as fiber optic tester tools to test power level margins by temporarily adding a calibrated amount of signal loss, or installed permanently to properly match transmitter and receiver levels. According to its stability, it divided into fixed fiber optic attenuators and variable optical attenuators. Variable fiber optic attenuators generally use a variable neutral density filter, with advantages of being stable, wavelength insensitive, mode insensitive, it offers a large dynamic range.

With the rapid increases in traffic on optical telecommunications systems, there is an active program for developing transmission devices for use in wavelength division multiplexing (WDM), which is becoming mainstream technology for providing higher transmission speeds and a larger number of signal channels. It has been suggested that in the WDM systems of the future, variation in power due to the wavelength could be reduced a the quality of transmission improved by adjusting the power after demultiplexing into individual signals wavelengths. It is envisaged that the current method, in which the power of all the multiplexed optical signals is adjusted by a single variable optical attenuators (VOA) would give way to a method in which one VOA is used for each wavelength. Given the number of multiplexed wavelengths, this change will require VOAs that are considerably more compact. Against this background, There have developed a VOA using micro-electromechanical system (MEMS) technology with loss characteristics that have low wavelength dependence.

Single-mode fiber was used as the input and output of the VOA developed here, with a graded index fiber having the same diameter, 125um, as the SMF fusion spliced for a specified length, to form an optical coupling with a lens function. An anti-reflection coating is applied to the tip of the GIF (graded index fiber). GIF tip is polished at an angle so that the light beam emitted from the end of the GIF is not aligned with the optical axis of the fiber, but is at an angle to it. This angled optical beam is interrupted by means of a shutter that has been formed by inductively-coupled plasma deep reactive ion etching. The MEMS chip uses a silicon-on-insulator wafer, with the shutter, actuator and fiber grooves formed simultaneously on the chip by ICP-DRIE, followed by metal vapor deposition over the whole chip.

The actuator of the MEMS chip is of the comb type, and the GIF is held in the fiber grooves by means of adhesive. The MEMS chip with this GIF optical coupling system is fixed by adhesive within a casing, which is hermetically sealed.

MEMS variable optical attenuators are variable in three different configurations. The VA series works in transmission, whereas the VP series uses reflection to modulate the attenuation. The VX series is the VP or the VA series in mint plastic packing. In terms of performance, the VP series achieves lower insertion loss and better Polarization dependent loss characteristics. Whereas the VA series allows for an easier array integration and is the lower cost.

FiberStore offers a full line of optical attenuator variable testers, they are often combined with an active system component to maintain optical power on a network even if the power changes in the input signals. Our automatical variable optical attenuators are specifically designed for use in DWDM networks with individual channel source elements such as add/drop transmitters. The cost and performance characteristics of our automatically variable optical attenuators are specifically targeted to allow for the use of these devices in volume as principal DWDM channel stabilization components.

FiberStore Explains OM3 and OM4

There are different categories of graded-index multimode fiber optic cable. OM1, OM2 and OM3 are specified by ISO/IEC 11801 Ed 2.1:2009 standard. The TIA/EIA recognizes OM1, OM2, OM3, and OM4. The TIA/EIA ratified OM4 in August 2009 (TIA/EIA 492-AAAD). The IEEE ratified OM4 (802.ba) in June 2010.
Standard, None-Laser optimized multimode fiber, typically is manufactured with an optical defect in the center of the core. While this defect is not detrimental to the transmission of light emitted by LED, coherent light emitted by laser is greatly affected. A mode conditioning cable is always need when it is needed to transmit laser light through multimode cable. These costly patch cable offset the launch of the laser to avoid the center defect. In the early years, optical fiber manufacturers began to producing fiber without the center defect. Laser optimized multimode fiber was born. OM3 was the first standard to emerge, codifying laser optimization of multimode fiber. This technology was the first to allow designs of laser transmission systems utilizing multimode optical fiber without the use of mode conditioning cable. This new fiber when paired with new low cost Vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser technology allowed for 10 Gig transmission.
OM1 specifies 62.5-micron cable and OM2 specifies 50-micron cable. These are commonly used in premises applications supporting Ethernet rates of 10 Mbps to 1 Gbps. These are also typically used with LED transmitters. OM1 and OM2 cable are not suitable through for today's higher-speed networks.
OM3 and OM4 are both laser-optimized multimode fiber and were developed to accommodate faster networks such as 10, 40 and 100 Gbps, both of which are designed for use with 850-nm VCSELS (vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers) and have aqua sheaths.
OM3 specifies an 850-nm laser-optimized 50-micron cable with a effective modal bandwidth of 2000MHz/km. It can support 10-Gbps link distances up to 300 meters. OM4 are sold as premium OM3 or OM3+ fiber. The OM4 designation standardizes the nomenclature across all manufacturers so that the customer has a clearer idea of the product that they are buying. OM4 is completely backwards compatible with OM3 fiber and shares the same distinctive aqua jacket. OM4 specifies a high-bandwidth 850-nm laser-optimized 50-micron cable an effective modal bandwidth of 4700 Mhz/km. It can support 10-Gbps link distance of 550 meters. 100-Gbps distance are 100 meters and 150 meters, respectively. Both rival single-mode fiber in performance while being significantly less expensive to implement.
OM3 and OM4 are manufactured without the center defect. As networks migrated to higher speeds, EDs can’t be turned on and off fast enough to support higher-speed applications. VCSELS provided the speed, but unfortunately when used with older OM1 and 2 cables, required mode-conditioning launch cables. Thus manufacturers changed the production process to eliminate the center defect and enable OM3 and OM4 cables to be used directly with the VCSELS.
The effective modal bandwidth for OM4 is more than double that of OM3 (4700 MHz. Km for OM4 v/s 2000 MHz. Km for OM3).OM4 multimode fiber offers users longer length distances and more wiggle room in optical budgets, while OM3 fiber will still be future proof in most applications, which allows speeds of 10 GB/s up to 100GB/s.
At FiberStore, in order to let our stocked product to fill the widest possible set of standards, we provide both OM3 and OM4 product line as customers have become accustomed to OM3 fiber patch cables for over last 5 years.

Using Underground Tracer Wire to Locate Buried Cable

Underground tracer wire is designed to locate the underground pipes after they are buried, which are required by many building codes for the gas and sewer lines into buildings. When first introduced, it needed to do little more than find buried water, gas, or sewer lines. Today, locating has become more complex as telecommunications cables joint utility lines in the underground environment. Fortunately, today’s underground cable locators rely on the same basic technology found in their early counterparts - injecting an electrical signal onto the cable being located.
Underground Tracer Wire has generally consist of two parts - a transmitter and a receiver. The transmitter puts an electrical signal onto the cable or pipe being traced, while the receiver picks up the signal, allowing the locator operator to trace the signal’s patch and follow the cable being located.
Installing a tracer wire creates a safer work environment for excavators or homeowners in the future. Make sure to leave several inches of tracer wire above ground for future use. See the details on how to install underground tracer wire:
Holder the tracer wire at the start of the pipe near the street and fasten it to the pipe by wrapping it with electrical tape.
Roll up the tracer wire along the pipe, taping it to the pipe every 5 feet.
Run the wire up the pipe to the point where it exits above finished grade. Cut the wire so there is 6 to 12 inches of wire above the ground.
Fasten the wire close to the end of the pipe to ensure it is visible for future use.
Tracing buried cables is a relatively simple procedure that comes in handy in outside-plant environments, where you need to know the location of a cable before the backbone rips up earth near the buried cable. Locators can also find the problem-stricken telecommunications cables. What sets these tools apart from their inside-plant counterparts is that they need to be able to differentiate the target cable from other nearby cables and underground utilities and provide an estimate of depth.
Since locating underground cables has taken on increasing significance in recent years as more and more cables are buried underground, many fibre optic cable manufacturers have begun providing these products. Some of the most well-know manufacturer include Radiodetection Corp. (Mahwah, NJ), 3M Telecom Systems Div., ideal Industries, Metrotech Corp. (Sunnyvale, CA), avo International (Blue Bell, PA), and FiberStore Inc.

WDM Technology

After languishing for many years as an interesting technology without a cost-effective application, wavelength-division multiplexing started playing a major role in telecommunications networks in the early 1990s, This resulted from the surge in demand for high-capacity links and the limitation of the installed fiber plant in handling high-rate optical signals over any substantial distance.
This limitation led to a rapid capacity exhaustion of long-haul fiber networks.
While installing an optical fiber cable plant is both expensive and extremely time consuming, expanding the capacity of an installed network is economically attractive. Tradition carries upgraded their link capacity by increasing the transmission rate. This worked well initially, with speeds eventually reaching 2.5 Gb/s. However, when going to the next multiplexing level of 10Gb/s, people starts to encounter the effects that can seriously degrade WDM network performance such as the dispersion, reflections, scattering, etc.
New fiber designs, special dispersion-compensation techniques, and optical isolators can mitigate these limitations, and newly installed links are operating very well as 10Gb/s per wavelength.
However, a large portion of the older installed fiber base is limited to OC-48 rates (2.5Gb/s) at a given wavelength. Thus, a great interest has been established in using WDM, not only for older links but also to have a very high capacity new links.
For a typical WDM link. At the transmitting end, there are several independently modulated light sources, each emitting signals at a unique wavelength. Here a multiplexer is needed to combine these optical outputs into a continuous spectrum of signals and couple them onto a single fiber. At the receiving end, a demultiplexer is required to separate the optical signals into appropriate detection channels for signal processing. At the transmitter, the basic design challenge is to have the multiplexer provide a low-loss path from each optical source to the multiplexer output. Since the optical signals that are combined generally do not emit any significant amount of optical power outside of the designated channel spectral width, interchannel cross-talk factors are relatively unimportant at the transmitting end.
WDM Multiplexers
Wavelength multiplexers are specialized devices that combine a number of optical streams at distinct wavelengths and launch all their powers in parallel into a single fiber channel. This
combination need not be uniform for all wavelengths; that is. One may want to combine 50% of the power from on wavelength, 75% from another source, and 100% from other wavelengths. However, for WDM applications it is usually desirable that the multiplexers combine the optical powers from multiple wavelengths onto a single fiber with little loss. Wavelength demultiplexers divide a composite multichannel optical signal into different output fibers according to wavelength without splitting loss. This section describes a phased-array-based WDM multiplexer and a fiber-grating multiplexer as examples of such components.