Optical Fibre Cables Far Superior To Copper example essay topic

Ben Hughes- Senior Science assessment task Telecommunications report, Hugeairville: This report covers the relevant issues surrounding the construction of a functional telecommunications network in a suburban environment fringing on a rural city. As council has been specific on the request for background information on the suitability of various materials to be used in this model, this report focuses on this particular issue. The following sources were responsible for the findings in this report: . News Weekly Editorial: Telstra's infrastructure - public service by Peter West more. web. web. web Given that optical fibre cabling uses the conversion of sound energy to light energy to transmit a digital signal at high speed and is more secure, in that multiple calls can be transmitted in the same cable but will not interfere with one another, unlike in copper wiring where each wire has to be insulated from the others which is costly and laborious. Advantages like speed, call capacity and security help make optical fibre cables far superior to copper cabling, which is the reason that all new cables laid since the mid 1990's have been optical fibre. In Australia there are two major telecommunications providers: Telstra and Optus, Telstra being the national telecommunications company.

The federal government holds 51% of this company; Telstra owns the largest network of cables (optical fibre and copper) leasing some to other providers. Optus owns a large network also and both companies offer competitive rates for services of varied kinds. The sources used could offer very bias information, which is why I have used neutral sources also; although I have found all the information to be correct with comparison. I felt it necessary to use neutral sources. This is a brief summary of the technical information regarding advantages of, and how optical fibre cabling works in terms the average resident of Hugeairville can understand...

Optical fibres transmit information at the speed of light... Copper wires have resistance meaning that the electrical impulse traveling along it losses energy over distance whereas optical fibres allow the light beams to internally reflect inside them which means the signal doesn't lose energy and hence maintains clarity... One optical fibre is the width of a strand of hair and carries the same amount of information as roughly 100 copper wires... Optical fibres are less likely to corrode. Due to the total internal reflection of optical fibres they are 100% secure and cannot be tapped, whereas copper wires carrying electrical information can be... Initial costs of these two materials are the same however due to the loss of energy over distance in copper wires, which require boosts every one and a half kilometers compared with every one hundred kilometers with optical fibre, copper wiring is more expensive.

This is particularly good in rural areas as the distances are often greater... The impact on the environment is relatively universal for both types of cabling, today's methods consist of laying cables in the ground this means that they are unlikely to harm animal life. Copper cabling, however requires a boost station every 1.5 km... The energy transfer in optical fibres basically goes like this: the sound energy of the callers voice runs as an analog electrical impulse into the telephone which decodes the signal and sends it as light energy through the optical fibre at the speed of light to the telephone at the receiving end where the process is reversed and the energy is transferred by the speaker into audible sound. CONCLUSION: I strongly recommend that council commission optical fibre cabling to be laid in the telecommunications network in Hugeairville.

The above information gathered from multiple sources strongly indicates the superiority of this material. It would be more beneficial to the community of Hugeairville, as I have stated in this report, in the areas of cost, security, call capacity and rate of transfer.