Importance of Optical Fibres in Communications

Signal Attenuation

– Silica glass fibres have attenuation less than
0.2 dB/km
• only need signal repeaters every 30 km or so.
• This is 5-15 times better than copper cables!
• Electromagnetic Interference
– Optical Fibres immune to electromagnatic interference
(EMI).
• Can be used in electrically noisy environments
• good for secure info transmission as no EM radiation
leakage.