what are multimode and singlemode?
“OM” in optical communication refers to “Optical Multi-mode”, an optical mode, which is a standard for multimode fiber to indicate the level of fiber. Currently, the fiber jumper standards defined by TIA and IEC include OM1, OM2, OM3, OM4, and OM5.
First, what are multimode and singlemode?
Single Mode Fiber (Single Mode Fiber) is an optical fiber that only allows one mode of transmission, with a core diameter of about 8-9 μm and an outer diameter of about 125 μm. Multimode optical fiber (Multimode Optical Fiber) allows different modes of light to be transmitted on one fiber, with a core diameter of 50 μm and 62.5 μm. Compared with multimode fiber, single-mode fiber can support a longer transmission distance. From 100Mbps Ethernet to 1G Gigabit network, single-mode fiber can support a transmission distance of more than 5000m. Multimode fiber is only suitable for short-to-medium distance and small-capacity optical fiber communication systems.
What are the advantages of OM5 fiber optic patch cords compared to OM3/OM4?
What is the difference between OM1, OM2, OM3, OM4, OM5?
Generally speaking, OM1 is conventional 62.5/125um; OM2 is conventional 50/125um; OM3 is 850nm laser-optimized 50um core diameter multimode fiber. In 10Gb/s Ethernet using 850nm VCSEL, the fiber transmission distance can reach 300m; OM4 is an upgraded version of OM3. OM4 multimode fiber optimizes the differential mode delay (DMD) of OM3 multimode fiber during high-speed transmission, so the transmission distance is greatly improved, and the fiber transmission distance can reach 550m; OM5 Fiber jumper is a new standard for fiber jumper defined by TIA and IEC, with a fiber diameter of 50/125μm. Compared with OM3 and OM4 fiber jumper, OM5 fiber jumper can be used for higher bandwidth applications. The bandwidth and maximum distance of different levels of transmission are different.
What is OM5 fiber optic jumper?
OM5 fiber, known as wideband multimode fiber patch cord (WBMMF), is a laser-optimized multimode fiber (MMF) with specified bandwidth characteristics for wavelength division multiplexing (WDM). The purpose of this new fiber classification method is to provide support for a variety of “short” wavelengths between 850nm and 950nm, which are suitable for high bandwidth applications after aggregation. The design of OM3 and OM4 is mainly to support a single wavelength of 850nm.
The difference between OM3 and OM4?
- different sheath colors
In order to distinguish different fiber optic jumpers, different colors of outer sheaths are used. For non-military use, single-mode fiber generally uses a yellow outer sheath. In multimode fiber, OM1 and OM2 are orange, OM3 and OM4 are water blue, and OM5 is water green.
What are the advantages of OM5 fiber optic patch cords compared to OM3/OM4?
- The scope of application is different
OM1 and OM2 have been widely deployed in buildings for many years, supporting a maximum of 1GB of Ethernet transmission; OM3 and OM4 optical cables are usually used in the wiring environment of data centers, supporting 10G or even 40/100G high-speed Ethernet road transmission. OM5 is designed for 40Gb/s and 100Gb/s transmission, which can reduce the number of optical fibers for high-speed transmission.
What are the advantages of OM5 fiber optic patch cords compared to OM3/OM4?
Features of OM5 multimode fiber
- Fewer fibers support higher bandwidth applications
The working wavelength of OM5 fiber optic jumper is 850/1300nm, and can support at least 4 wavelengths. The usual operating wavelengths of OM3 and OM4 are 850nm and 1300nm. That is to say, the traditional OM1, OM2, OM3, and OM4 multimode fibers have only one channel, while OM5 has four channels, and the transmission capacity has been increased by four times. Combining shortwave wavelength division multiplexing (SWDM) and parallel transmission technology, OM5 only needs 8-core broadband multimode fiber (WBMMF) to support 200/400G Ethernet applications, greatly reducing the number of fiber cores To a certain extent, the wiring cost of the network is reduced.
- Longer transmission distance
The transmission distance of OM5 fiber is longer than that of OM3 and OM4. OM4 fiber is designed to support lengths of at least 100 meters with 100G-SWDM4 transceivers. But OM5 fiber can support up to 150 meters in length with the same transceiver.
What are the advantages of OM5 fiber optic patch cords compared to OM3/OM4?
- Fiber loss is lower
The attenuation of the OM5 broadband multimode optical cable is reduced from 3.5 dB/km of the previous OM3 and OM4 optical cables to 3.0 dB/km, and the bandwidth requirement on the 953nm wavelength is increased.
OM5 has the same fiber size as OM3 and OM4, which means it is fully compatible with OM3 and OM4, and there is no need to change it if you want to apply OM5 to the existing wiring. OM5 fiber is more scalable and flexible, and can support higher-speed network transmission with fewer multimode fiber cores, while the cost and power consumption are much lower than single-mode fiber. Therefore, it will be widely used in 100G/ 400G/1T ultra-large data center.
