This unit is from our archive and it is an adapted extract from Digital Communications (T305) which is no longer in presentation. If you wish to study formally at The Open University, you may wish to explore the courses we offer in this curriculum area.
By using optical fibre, very high data rates (gigabits per second and higher) can be transmitted over long distances (tens of kilometres) without amplifiers or regenerators. Optical fibre has completely superseded copper wires as the primary medium for cabled transmission over long distances. As demand for capacity has risen, fibre is now being used even in LANs and the access network. An understanding of optical-fibre communications is therefore very important for anyone with an interest in digital communications.
This OpenLearn course provides a sample of level 3 study in Computing & IT
OpenLearn - Digital communications Except for third party materials and otherwise, this content is made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 Licence, full copyright detail can be found in the acknowledgements section. Please see full copyright statement for details.