Benefits of Single Strand Fiber Solution

Single strand fiber solution with its benefits and recognized potential is becoming more and more widely used in communication systems of optical transport networks, access networks, wireless backhaul networks, and private transmission network, meeting the customers’ needs and making every effort to save in the capital expenditure (CAPEX) and the operational expenditure (OPEX).

Increases Network Capacity—Working with single strand fiber, the capacity of the fiber can be increased double by simultaneously operating at more than one wavelength, transmitting and receiving on a single strand. For instance, if you have a six-strand cable, then you are able to gain all six lines for communication. But you could only gain half of lines for communication if you use the traditional method of transmitting and receiving on separate fibers.

Increases Reliability—Single strand fiber solution is less susceptible to connection errors because there are fewer connections or end points in the network. In addition, customer can also choose to use single fiber to decrease redundancy in the network.

Overall Cost Saving—Costs including fiber optic cabling, labor and material involved in terminating the endpoints etc., can be reduced by working with single fiber solution. Decreasing the total amount of fiber results in a reduction of overall labor costs. Construction costs are avoided since you are increasing the capacity of existing fiber versus installing additional fiber. Additionally, reducing the number of terminated fiber strands by half means fewer patch cords and patch panel ports, which results in a significant cost reduction.

However, as the saying goes, every coin has two sides. There are some limitation of single strand fiber solution as well. We can’t get the same range/distance out single fiber as dual fiber. And at present, types of transceiver optics available for single fiber are limited and cost more. This is why though single fiber transmission is with so many benefits, it still can not replace the dual fiber transmission in deployment. Thus, you should be clear about the limitation of single strand fiber solution when you are ready to adopt it.