How to Select Patch Cable for Optical Transceiver

People are always amazed by the development of optical communication. Things move really fast in this industry. Fiber optic transceiver, a small-size but important optical component, can best represent the advancing of the optical communication industry. The form factor of optical transceivers has changed from GBIC for Gigabit Ethernet to SFP+ for 10GbE, QSFP+ for 40GbE and 100G CFP and QSFP28. Even a double density QSFP—QSFP-DD for 200/400GbE is under research. It’s not difficult to recognize all these different types of fiber optic transceivers. However, customer could be confused about how to connect these transceiver to the telecommunication network. This post will introduce how to select patch cables for optical transceivers in details.
Patch Cable Selection Guide
To select the right patch cable for your modules, you should firstly have a comprehensive understanding of the modules mainly from the following aspects: transmission media, interface, transmission distances and data rate.

Transmission Media
There are mainly two types of transmission media that are widely used in today’s telecommunication network. One is fiber optic and the other is copper. Transceivers can also be divided into two types, copper based transceivers and fiber optic based transceivers. MSA has defined several copper based transceiver like: 100BASE-T, 1000BASE-T and 10GBASE-T. These copper based transceiver are available in GBIC, SFP and SFP+ form factors, which usually has a RJ45 interface to connect with the patch cords. These transceivers is generally used with Cat5/6/7 cables attached with RJ45 connectors as shown in the following picture. However, with technology advanced, Cat 8, which is still under research, is expected to support higher data rate up to 40G.

While for fiber optic transceivers, things become more complex. This is because most of the transceivers are based on fiber optic which can support higher and longer data rates. Generally for fiber optic transceivers, there are mainly two type of fiber patch cable are used: single-mode and multimode. Single-mode patch cable can further be classified into OS1 and OS2. While multimode can be further divided into OM1, OM2, OM3 and OM4. The larger the number following after OM/OS, the better performance the fiber optic patch cable has. Usually for short distance transmission up to 500 meters multimode patch cable is suggested. For long distance transmission, single-mode transmission is suggested. However, the transmission data rate which can also affect the transmission distance should also be considered.
Transmission Distance and Data Rate
MSA has defined a variety of transceivers that can support different transmission distances and data rates. The following chart provided some of the most commonly used transceiver descriptions which imply the transmission distance and data rate that a transceiver can support.
DescriptionWavelenghCable TypeData RateDistance
SX850nmMM1G500 m
LX1310nmSM1G8 km
EX1310nmSM1G40 km
ZX1550nmSM1G70 km
SR850nmMM10G300 m
LR1310nmSM10G10 km
ER1550nmSM10G40 km
ZR1550nmSM10G80 km
SR4850nmMM40G100 m
SR10850nmMM100G100 m
LR41310nmSM40G10 km
It is commonly known that transmission data rate decrease as the transmission distance increases in a fiber optic cable. Apparently single-mode patch cords offer the best performance for different data rates in both long and short distances. However, single-mode fiber optic cable is more expensive. To achieve reliable performance in short distances with cost effective solutions, you should know the performance of multimode fiber optic cables. The following chart provides the detailed transmission distances and data rates information for different multimode fiber optic cables over wavelength of 850 nm for your reference.
850 nm Ethernet Distance
Fiber Type1G10G40/100G
OM1300 m36 mN/A
OM2500 m86 mN/A
OM31 km300 m100 m
OM41 km550 m150 m
Transceiver Interfaces
The selection of patch cable for transceiver should also consider the interfaces through which patch cords is connected to the transceiver. In addition, transceiver usually used one port for transmitting and one port for receiving. Generally, fiber optic transceivers usually employs duplex SC or LC interfaces. However, for BiDi transceivers only one port is used for both transmitting and receiving. Thus, simplex patch cord is used with BiDi transceiver.

Some 40G/100GBASE QSFP+ transceivers used MTP/MPO interfaces, which should be connected to the network with multi-fiber patch cords attached with MTP/MPO connectors. If these ports are used for 40G to 10G or 100G to 10G connection, then fanout patch cable should be used. For example, a MTP to 8 LC fanout cable can splitter 40G data rate to four 10G data rate.
Conclusion
Combine the factors of transmission media, transmission data rate and distance, transceiver interfaces, you can roughly know how to select the patch cable for transceivers. FS.COM also provide customized solutions for patch cable. Kindly contact sales@fs.com for more details.

评论

发表评论

此博客中的热门博文

What Is VLAN Switch and Why Do We Need It?

图片
VLAN or virtual LAN is a type of LAN that is defined to map workstations based on everything except for geographic location. It develops when the network has increased in size and complexity, and many companies require more access ports or a network design. Basically, it’s a networking technology which allows the network to be segmented logically without geographic restrictions. But how much do you know about VLAN switch? What Is  VLAN Switch? VLAN switch is built on the fiber optic switch  of LAN, which realizes the division and management of logical working group as a software. As defined in IEEE standard 802.1Q, VLAN switch can provide a way to transform one network into multiple broadcast domains. And each broadcast domain is usually matched with IP subnet boundaries, so that each subnet has its own VLAN. Therefore, users can obtain various wired LANs for different purposes that are co-existed physically, which means you don’t need to buy additional hardware or c...
阅读全文

Differentiate the 3 Technologies: Switch Stacking vs Cascading vs Clustering

图片
When we have more than one switches on hand we often seek to a better way in making use of them and managing them. There are mainly three technologies that we might use when we interconnect or combine several switches together, which are switch stacking, cascading and clustering. For many people that firstly get in touch with these terms, they can’t figure out the differences between them. Some discussions of the switch stacking versus switch clustering and switch stacking versus switch cascading have been put forward, but a comprehensive comparison between them has not been made. So this post is a discussion of switch stacking vs cascading vs clustering. Switch Stacking vs Cascading vs Clustering The comparison of switch stacking, cascading and clustering should be based on knowing the meaning of these technologies. So firstly we will see what switch stacking, cascading and cluster are. What Are Switch Stacking, Cascading and Clustering? Switch stack...
阅读全文

Nylon Zip Ties vs Hook-&-Loop (Velcro®) Ties

图片
The confinement system is the last but critical part of the entire cable management systems. Cable tie plays a very important role in this part. However, there are various types of cable ties in the market. Which one is better? Since nylon zip ties and hook-&-loop (Velcro®) ties are most common and controversial. This tutorial will compare these two types of cable ties in details. Overview of Cable Ties Cable ties are cheap and simple components used in cable confinement system. They are usually the last measure to ensure the cable managed in order. Cable ties are available in a variety of sizes and materials for use on different applications with different requirements. In addition, there are various of color options for cable ties. These color codes help users to manage the cabling and achieve easy troubleshooting. The most commonly used formats of cable ties are nylon zip ties and hook-&-loop (Velcro®) ties, as the Figure 1 & 2 shown: Figure 1. Drawin...
阅读全文