Fiber Size to Use
Equipment manufacturers will provide the proper core size recommendations based on attenuation and bandwidth requirements. Generally, unless you are going very long distances (over 2 miles) or transmitting very high bandwidths (500 MBS or higher) multimode FDDI grade 62.5 micron fiber is currently the fiber of choice.Fiber Optics vs. Copper Cables
The choice to use fiber can be decided upon for two reasons. First, copper cable can't properly avoid a noisy environment such as an industrial setting. and two, if the needed bandwidth can't be met without excessive cost on available copper transmission lines. At high data rates (multiple full motion video channels for example) and/or long distances (telephoney), fiber is cheaper to implement than complicated multiplexed and/or encoded copper based systems.Combining Fiber Optics and Copper Elements
Fiber Optics and Copper Elements can be used in one cable. These are referred to as Hybrid or Composite cables. The most expensive part of a cabling infrastructure is installation cost. To avoid frequent cabling system changes, composite cables are often specified. A typical example would be to combine a category UTP cable and FDDI grade fiber. Lower bandwidth requirement POTS and data are carried on the UTP, high bandwidth full motion video is often carried on the fiber. As transmission and receiving fiber equipment becomes cheaper, or UTP bandwidth requirements go higher than the copper can handle, all the data can eventually be multiplexed onto the two FDDI grade fibers.Performance Limitations
Performance limitations are really defined by cost. At which point does it make economic sense to use fiber over high quality UTP cable? Fiber can handle any data signal applied to a copper UTP or coaxial system, but, at a price that may or may not be prudent to exercise, depending on the backbones expected service life. Transitionary products (composite and hybrid cables) are meant to economically bridge the installation cost gap by combining more expensive future cable installation costs with today's copper cable mediums. Eventually, the fiber cables bandwidth capability will fill tomorrow's data applications. If a system is short lived, or easily rewired, a high quality UTP solution is still well in excess of the 20MHz bandwidths required by current data systems.Learning More About Fiber Optic Cables
The Belden Fiber Optic Catalog has an excellent primer on basic fiber. You can request a copy of this catalog. If you want to learn how to put on connectors, there are a number of places that can teach you how, such as:The Light Brigade
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