Abstract
Current limitations in the digital communications have sparked an interest in new ways to increase carrier frequencies and the actual information carrying bandwidth. The adoption of optical fibre technology as backbones and as core of the Internet has motivated similar interests within local area networks. Although the optical fibres would not replace completely the copper wired LAN, they will offer several desirable features that will make them attractive for general purposes. The fibre technology has grown rapidly since the discovery of the first low-loss fibres, as this has facilitated the development of faster and more efficient systems.
This chapter investigates how light has been an integral part of human communication systems, and its evolution into optical fibres has provided the medium to overcome some of the limitations of the traditional copper wired systems. The chapter examines the niche of optical communications at various levels of the LAN, and concludes by exploring the strengths and weakness of possible topologies to support future optical LAN. It provides an overview on how optical fibre can be and are used in Ethernet and FDDI infrastructures.
| Original language | English |
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| Title of host publication | The Handbook of Computer Networks, Vol 2, LANs, MANs, WANs, the Internet and global, cellular and wireless networks |
| Editors | H. Bidgoli |
| Place of Publication | Hoboken, New Jersey |
| Publisher | Wiley |
| Pages | 155-162 |
| Number of pages | 8 |
| ISBN (Print) | 9780471784593 |
| Publication status | Published - Jan 2008 |