"Since the evolution of optical fiber communication system from the

second half of the last century, it gained huge superiority over other
contemporary communication systems. Explain the comparative
issues that helped it to replace other systems fulfilling the growing
data communication needs. How it is going the shape the future
communication infra-structure? "
Fiber optic systems are important telecommunication infrastructure for world-wide broadband
networks. Wide bandwidth signal transmission with low delay is a key requirement in present
day applications. Optical fibers provide enormous and unsurpassed transmission bandwidth
with negligible latency, and are now the transmission medium of choice for long distance and
high data rate transmission in telecommunication networks.
A desirable feature for future optical networks is the ability to process information entirely in
the optical domain for the purpose of amplification, multiplexing, de-multiplexing, switching,
filtering, and correlation, since optical signal processing is more efficient than electrical signal
processing.
Several new classes of optical communication networks are presently emerging. For example,
Code Division Multiple Access networks using optical signal processing techniques have recently
being introduced.

BASIC PRINCIPLES OF FIBER OPTIC COMMUNICATION

Fiber optic communication is a communication technology that uses light pulses to transfer
information from one point to another through an optical fiber. The information transmitted is
essentially digital information generated by telephone systems, cable television companies, and
computer systems. An optical fiber is a dielectric cylindrical waveguide made from low-loss
materials, usually silicon dioxide. The core of the waveguide has a refractive index a little higher
than that of the outer medium (cladding), so that light pulses is guided along the axis of the
fiber by total internal reflection. Fiber optic communication systems consists of an optical
transmitter to convert an electrical signal to an optical signal for transmission through the
optical fiber, a cable containing several bundles of optical fibers, optical amplifiers to boost the
power of the optical signal, and an optical receiver to reconvert the received optical signal back
to the original transmitted electrical signal.

Fiber-optics has become the key ‘conductor’ in the telecommunications infra-structure

The Internet and wireless communication’s rapid penetration in modern society has led to
explosive growth in demand for broadband transmission capacity. The share of the world’s
population with an Internet connection has risen from less than 1% in 1995 to some 40% in
2016, with three-quarters of all internet users in 2014 domiciled in the top 20 countries
(internetlivestats.com). As people and businesses have become connected, more and more of
their everyday life and work has gone online – from communicating via e-mail, online shopping
and watching streaming video to Cloud-based computing and business analysis based on ‘Big
Data’. In less than two decades, the lives of billions of people have increasingly come to depend
on fast broadband ‘connectivity’. To meet this demand, telecommunications providers have
been switching to data transmission via fiber-optic cables, first at the core of their networks,
and then gradually expanding fiber-optics ever wider. This steady development has been in
progress for about a quarter of a century. Consequently, fiber-optics assets are now the
indispensable backbone of today’s hybrid communication network of fixed-line and mobile
infrastructure and data centers.

Fixed-line infrastructure:
In leading markets, much of the fixed-line network has already been replaced by fiber-optic
cables to benefit from optical fiber’s far better performance for broadband services than
twisted-copper networks. For example, fiber-optic cables are being used commercially to carry
data at speeds of about 2 terabits per second (tbps) a terabit is 1000 gigabits or 1,000,000
megabits). Also, optical fiber has virtually unlimited capacity, low signal attenuation allowing
long distances without amplifier or repeater, no exposure to parasite signals or crosstalk, and
no electromagnetic interference (EMI). For comparison, while single-line, voice-grade copper
systems longer than a couple of kilometers require in-line signal repeaters for satisfactory
performance, it is not unusual for optical systems to cover 100 kilometers with no active or
passive processing.

That said, the cost of replacing legacy cable networks with fiber-optic cables increases sharply
as this work approaches end users (homes and business locations). As a result, fiber penetration
to end users varies widely from region to region. In the leading Asian economies, more than
44% of all homes and buildings are already directly connected to the fiber-optic cable network
(‘Fiber to the Home’ (FTTH) or ‘Fiber to the Building’ (FTTB)); in North America penetration is
8.4%, in Europe 5.6%. Europe’s low penetration rate has been a cause for concern for years,
because online communication and data traffic are increasingly part and parcel of modern life
and considered to be a prerequisite for future economic growth as well as a country or region’s
international competitiveness. It is estimated that it would take Europe more than a quarter of
a century to reach the same fiber-optic penetration rate that leading Asian economies already
have today.

ADVANCEMENT WILL BE EVOLUTIONARY

The advancement of fiber optic components over the next 25 and 50 years will be evolutionary,
in a pattern resembling the evolution of the semiconductor device industry over the past half
century. The underlying trends will be toward -
 Higher performance
 Higher integration (more functions per component)
 Miniaturization; functioned volume ratio increased by more than four
 Lower cost per function, by more than four orders of magnitude

DYNAMIC FUTURE OF COMMUNICATION FIBER OPTICS INDUSTRY

The economics-driven growth of global, regional, and local fiber communication networks over
the past 25 years has supported, and been enabled by, dynamic expansion of fiber network
deployment. The global consumption of fiber optic components in communication networks
exploded from only $2.5 million in 1975 to $15.8 billion in 2000. Continued growth to $739
billion in 2025 is forecast.[3] The value of fiber optic communication equipment and trunk lines
incorporating these components in 2000 was more than twice the component value. While
year-to-year growth rates varied significantly over the past quarter century, the overall trend
was a pattern of gradually slowing investment growth rate, while communication transport
capacity expanded at a relatively steady exponential rate.

Communication is not a fad. Modem society considers it a necessity, and will see economic
justification for better, more responsive, ubiquitous communication. Fiber optics technologies
and related markets will continue growth over the next 50 years, and beyond. Optical fiber
provides a fast, constant and stable Internet connection that allows a lot of data to be
transmitted over incredible distances. As data demands become enormous, fiber optic cabling
is the sure way to go for network flexibility and stability.
The fiber optics communications industry is an ever evolving one, the growth experienced by
the industry has been enormous this past decade. The trend is expected to continue in the
future as breakthroughs already attained in the laboratory will be extended to practical
deployment thereby leading to a new generation in fiber optics communications.