Unlike copper cables that carry signals across the wire with the help of pulses electricity, fiber optic cables implement pulses of lights. Fiber optic patch cable, also known as fiber optic patch cord, is made up of fiber optic cable ended with Optical Fiber Connectors on both ends. Usually, they are majorly used in the computer work station to an outlet, and the fiber patch panels connect to the distribution center. They are mostly used for indoor applications only.
Some of the Common Types of Fiber Optic Patch Cables
These cables are divided into other classes as per fiber cable mode, cable structure, connector polishing types, connector types, and cable sizes.
Fiber Cable Mode
- Single-Mode Fiber Patch Cables are made up of 9/125 micron with fiber optic connectors on both ends. It has a small diametral core that permits only one mode of light to reflect through. It is used for long-distance, along with higher bandwidth for companies, colleges, and universities. The color of a single-mode fiber optic cable is yellow.
- A multimode fiber patch cable is made up of 62.5/125 micron or 50/125 bulk fiber cable with fiber optic connector on both ends. It permits multiples modes of light to reflect. Due to this, the light passes from the core increases, allowing the ability of more data to move at a particular time. The attenuation rate and high dispersion for these sorts of fiber are reduced for long distances. It is ideal for short distances, data, and audio/video applications in LANs. The multimode fiber optic cable jacket is of orange color.
- Ten gig multimode fiber optic patch cables are designed with 50/125 micron fiber used for VCSEL laser-based 10-Gig Ethernet. They are compatible with existing network equipment and caters to three times the bandwidth of 62.5/125 multimode fibers. It is highly rated for distance till 300 meters with 850nm VCSEL. It has an aqua cable optic jacket.
Typically customers either seek multimode or single-mode fiber cable. It is a choice of the customer to determine the exact type of fiber they need as per their specifications. Some technical customers seek for a specific brand like OM3 fiber. Let’s understand OM3 and OM4 fiber?
Multimode fibers are known as OM designation as per their specifications and outlined by ISO/IEC 11801 standard. Multimode cable throws the light to multiple paths to pass down to the core. It allows for higher bandwidth to shorter medium distances. For longer cable runs, numerous ways of light can cause interruption at the receiving end, which can cause unclear or incomplete data transmission.
- OM1 – Orange Jacket with a core size of 62.5um at a data rate of 1Gb at 850nm wavelength. It can be expanded until a distance of 300 meters.
- OM2 – Orange jacket with a 50um core size with a data rate of 1Gb@850nm wavelength. It can be stretched up to 600 meters.
- OM3 – It is a laser-optimized multimode with aqua jacket color with a fast data rate of 10GB at 850nm wavelength and a core size of 500um.
- OM4 – It is an aqua color that can cover the distance of 550 meters with a data rate of 10G at 850nm wavelength.
- OM5 – It has a lime green jacket with a wide range of wavelength between 850 nm and 953nm. It can transmit from 40 GB/s to 100 GB/s.
Choose ICONN for optical fiber related needs without any hesitation!
