Attenuation per kilometer Optical Cables Mystery!_NEWS

Optical cables are widely used in various industries for transmitting data over long distances. One important factor to consider when using optical cables is the amount of attenuation they experience per kilometer. Attenuation refers to the loss of signal strength as it travels through the cable. In this article, we will explore how much attenuation optical cables typically experience per kilometer and its impact on data transmission.

1. Factors Affecting Attenuation

Several factors can contribute to the attenuation experienced by optical cables:

The first factor is fiber type. Different types of fibers have different levels of intrinsic loss, which affects overall attenuation.

The second factor is wavelength. The attenuation characteristics vary depending on the wavelength used for transmission.

The third factor is cable construction and quality. Poorly constructed or damaged cables can increase signal loss.

2. Intrinsic Loss

Intrinsic loss refers to the inherent properties of a fiber that cause signal degradation over distance without any external factors affecting it.

This type of loss includes absorption, scattering, and bending losses within the fiber itself.

Absorption occurs when some wavelengths are absorbed by impurities or defects in the fiber material, converting them into heat energy instead of transmitting them further.

3. Signal Degradation with Distance

The amount of attenuation experienced by an optical cable increases with distance traveled due to several reasons:

Firstly, as light travels through a medium like glass or plastic, it interacts with molecules present in these materials and gets scattered in different directions.This scattering leads to a reduction in signal strength over time and distance traveled within a cable.

Besides scattering , another reason for increased signal degradation with distance is absorption . Some wavelengths may be absorbed by impurities or defects present in fibers causing energy losses.

Bending losses also play a role here . When an optical cable bends too sharply , some light rays may escape from its core resulting again reduction in transmitted power.