Fiber to the Home Growth Keeps Exploding
Leave a CommentThe growth in Fiber to the Home (FTTH) just keeps exploding. In fact, for the first time ever, optical fiber passed DSL in home usage during 2018. Fiber is now the second most-frequent connection for North American home Internet. And FTTH is also the second most-often-used, fixed broadband connection medium in North America. A newly-issued […]
Tags: FTTH, Smart Home
The “Wet Net” World of Underwater Fiber Optic Cables
Leave a CommentYou panic when even a few drops of water fall on your laptop. Everyone knows that water and electronics don’t “mix.” That’s why it seems so ironic that most of the Internet’s “hard” infrastructure lies underwater on the ocean floor. Virtually all global data travels through millions of miles of submarine fiber optic cables beneath the […]
Tags: fiber, Fiber Optic Cable Articles | OFS Optics, submarine cables
5G: What’s All the Hoopla About?
Leave a CommentThere’s been lots of excitement and even some “hype” around the idea of 5G. But what is it really? Does it mean just faster internet? Will it really be that much better than 4G? Many people are asking these questions as the FCC begins to auction the first licenses for the airwaves that will carry […]
Tags: 5G, broadband, drones, faster internet, Fiber Optic Cable Articles | OFS Optics, latency, network, optical connectivity, optical fiber, self-driving cars, technology trends, telemedicine, telesurgery, Virtual Reality, wireless, wireless networks
Can a Quantum Network “Hacker Proof” Fiber Optic Cables?
Leave a CommentIn 2013, Edward Snowden, a U.S. National Security Agency contractor, leaked documents showing that intelligence agencies were spying on the data of private citizens. One disturbing fact was that the spies tapped into optical fiber cables to access the huge amount of data moving through these cables. Snowden’s disclosures pushed researchers to use quantum science to […]
Tags: cybersecurity, Edward Snowden, hackers, hacking, network security, NSA, quantum, quantum key distribution, quantum network, quantum teleportation, secure network
Smaller Endoscopes from New, Air-Filled Optical Fiber Bundles?
Leave a CommentA new, air-filled optical fiber bundle could dramatically improve medical endoscopes. This technology could also help create endoscopes that produce images using infrared wavelengths. If so, this breakthrough would allow diagnostic procedures that aren’t currently possible. In the Optical Society (OSA) journal Optics Letters, University of Bath (U.K.) researchers showed that these new fiber optic […]
Tags: air-clad fiber bundle, air-clad imaging fibers, endoscope, fiber optic bundles, medical diagnosis, medical imaging, MOFs, OFS Laboratories, OFS Labs, optical fiber, optical fiber bundle
Could “Twisted” Fiber Optics Create a 100 Times Faster Internet?
Leave a CommentResearchers at Australia’s RMIT University recently discovered a new fiber optic breakthrough that could lead to 100 times faster internet speeds. This new development detects light that has been twisted into a spiral. According to research in Nature Communications, developers could upgrade existing fiber optic networks and boost efficiency using this discovery. HOW IT WORKS […]
Tags: Australia, fast internet, fiber network, fiber optic cables, fiber optics, internet, light, NBN, optical fiber, RMIT, twisted light
Could Fiber Optic Sensors Help Prevent Power Theft?
Leave a CommentFiber optic sensors could one day catch thieves who steal electricity and materials from overhead power lines. The UK firm Bandweaver recently demonstrated a distributed acoustic sensing (DAS) system that detects invasion and interruption on power lines. The system does this by using back-scattering effects along an optical fiber. The Cost of Tampering A major […]
Tags: distributed acoustic sensing, electricity, Fiber Optic Cable Articles | OFS Optics, fiber optic sensors, optical fiber, photonics, power companies, power line, power line monitoring, power theft, theft prevention
New Fiber Optic Gyroscope: More Precise, Smaller than a Grain of Rice
Leave a CommentEngineers at the California Institute of Technology have created the world’s smallest fiber optic gyroscope to aid in navigational sensing. Five hundred times smaller than a regular gyroscope, this new gyro can fit on a grain of rice. This research breakthrough could lead to more accurate fiber optic gyros compared to mechanical units. WHAT OPTICAL […]
Tags: aircraft, fiber optic gyroscope, ground vehicles, missiles, navigation systems, optical fiber, Sagnac effect, UAVs, unmanned aerial vehicles
Melting Arctic Ice Could Mean Faster Internet for Some
Leave a CommentHave you ever wondered how an e-mail reaches your inbox from a co-worker in Europe? Or how a Facebook message gets to you from a cousin in Africa? The answer lies beneath the ocean. More than 745,000 miles of submarine cables featuring optical fiber make up most of the actual physical internet. These cables wind between […]
Tags: Arctic Ocean, bandwidth capacity, big data, global internet, internet, low latency networks, Optical Fiber Articles for Data Centers, smart devices, submarine fiber optic cable
Make Way for High-Density Fiber Optic Cables
Leave a CommentHigh density cable means more fiber density in less space. From 5G to data centers to FTTx, the picture is clear. Everyone uses more bandwidth than ever before. And while bandwidth demand may seem endless, the space to install fiber optic cable isn’t. That’s why being able to install more optical fiber in the same […]
Tags: bandwidth, central office, Fiber Optic Cable Articles | OFS Optics, fiber optic cables, FTTx, high-density cables, internet, optical fiber, Optical Fiber Articles for Data Centers