Things to Know About Fiber Optic Media Converter

With the expected growth of today’s communications, network operators must meet the continuing growth in data traffic and the increasing demand for bandwidth while making full use of the investment in the existing network infrastructure. Instead of costly upgrade and rewiring for fibers, fiber media converters provide a cost-effective solution by extending the life of the existing structured cabling. How fiber optic media converter can achieve this? And how much do you know about it? Today, this article will tell you something about fiber media converter.

What Is a Fiber Optic Media Converter?

Fiber media converter is a simple network device that can connect two different media types such as twisted pair with fiber optic cabling. Its function is to convert the electrical signal used in copper unshielded twisted pair (UTP) network cabling into light waves that used in fiber optic cabling. And fiber media converter can extend transmission distance over fiber up to 160 km.

As the fiber optic communication evolves quickly, fiber media converter offers a simple, flexible, and economical migration to future-proof fiber optic networks. Now it has been widely used in in-house areas, location interconnection and industrial applications.

Types of Fiber Optic Media Converter

Today’s converters support many different data communication protocols including Ethernet, PDH E1, RS232/RS422/RS485 as well as multiple cabling types such as twisted pair, multimode and single-mode fiber and single-strand fiber optics. And they are available with different designs in the market depending on the protocols. Copper-to-fiber media converter, fiber-to-fiber media converter and serial-to-fiber media converter are only part of them. Here is a brief introduction to these common types of fiber media converter.

Copper-to-Fiber Media Converter

When the distance between two network devices exceeds the transmission distance of copper cabling, fiber optic connectivity makes a big difference. In this case, copper-to-fiber conversion using media converters enables two network devices with copper ports to be connected over extended distances via fiber optic cabling.

Supporting the IEEE802.3, fiber to Ethernet media converter can provide connectivity for Ethernet, fast Ethernet, Gigabit and 10Gigabit Ethernet devices. And they can be used in a variety of networks and applications. The common types of this media converter are fast Ethernet media converter, Gigabit Ethernet media converter and 10 Gigabit Ethernet media converter.

copper-to-fiber-media-converter

Fiber-to-Fiber Media Converter

Fiber-to-Fiber media converter can provide connections between single-mode and multimode fibers, and between dual fiber and single-mode fiber. Besides, they support conversion from one wavelength to another. This media converter enables long distance connection between different fiber networks.

fiber-to-fiber-media-converter

Serial-to-Fiber Media Converter

Serial-to-fiber media converters allow RS232, RS422 or RS485 signals to be transmitted across a fiber optic link. They provide fiber extension for serial protocol copper connections. In addition, serial-to-fiber media converters can detect signal baud rate of connected full-duplex serial devices automatically. RS-485 fiber converters, RS-232 fiber converters and RS-422 fiber converters are the usual types of serial-to-fiber media converters.

serial-to-fiber-media-converter

Tips for Choosing a Fiber Optic Media Converter

We have got familiar with the common types of fiber media converters, but how to choose a suitable one is still not an easy work. Here are some simple tips on how to choose a satisfying fiber media converter.

  • Make clear whether the chips of the fiber media converter support both half-duplex and full-duplex systems. Because if the media converter chips only support half-duplex system. It may cause serious data loss when it is installed to other different systems.
  • Make clear which data rate you need. When you choose a fiber media converter, you need to match the speed of the converters on both ends. If you need both speeds, you can take dual rate media converters into consideration.
  • Make clear whether the media converter is in line with standard IEEE802.3. If it doesn’t meet the standard, there will be compatibility issues absolutely, which can cause unnecessary problems for your work.
Conclusion

Fiber media converters play an important role in today’s multi-protocol, mixed media local area networks. And it is also a critical component of the data networks. A suitable fiber optic media converter can reduce the overall networking cost and extend transmission distance. Fiberstore provides a broad range of media conversion devices adapting to all kinds of working environments. Welcome to choose the ideal one for your networks.

Related Article: Fiber Media Converter: What Is It and How It Works?


Introduction to Fiber Media Converter

Network complexity and the increasing number of devices on the network are driving higher bandwidth requirements and faster network speeds, as well as forcing longer distance requirements within the local area network (LAN). How to deal with these issues? Media converters present solutions to these issues by providing seamless integration of copper and fiber and different fiber types in enterprise LAN networks. Moreover, media converters can support various protocols, data transfer rates and media types to create a more reliable and cost-effective network. There are many different types of media converters, such as fiber media converters, PoE (Power-over-Ethernet) media converters, etc. This article will mainly introduce fiber media converter.

Fiber Media Converter Overview

A fiber media converter is a simple networking device that makes it possible to connect two dissimilar media types such as twisted pair with fiber optic cabling. Fiber media converters play an important role in interconnecting fiber optic cabling-based systems with existing copper-based, structured cabling systems. They can be divided into fiber-to-fiber media converters and copper-to-fiber media converters. For fiber-to-fiber conversion, the multimode fiber to single-mode fiber and a dual fiber link to single fiber can be converted by using bi-directional data flow, while for copper-to-fiber conversion, the electrical signals used in copper unshielded twisted pair (UTP) network cabling are converted into light waves used in fiber optic cabling.

Fiber-to-Fiber Media Converter

Fiber-to-fiber media converters are capable of connecting different fiber optic networks and supporting conversion from one wavelength to another. They can provide connectivity between single-mode and multimode fiber, as well as between dual fiber and single fiber. Normally, fiber-to-fiber media converters are protocol independent and available for Ethernet and TDM (time division multiplexing) applications.

As is shown in the following picture, a fiber-to-fiber media converter is able to extend a multimode network across single-mode fiber with transmission distance up to 140 km. In this application, two Gigabit Ethernet switches equipped with multimode fiber ports are connected by using a pair of Gigabit fiber-to-fiber media converters, which convert the multimode fiber to single-mode and enable the long distance connection between the switches.

fiber-to-fiber media converter

Copper-to-Fiber Media Converter

Copper-to-fiber media converters integrate fiber into a copper infrastructure and make it possible to migrate a local network to fiber while extending the productive life of existing infrastructure. Moreover, they provide connectivity for Ethernet, Fast Ethernet, Gigabit and 10 Gigabit Ethernet devices. Also, they are able to perform 10/100, or 10/100/1000 rate switching and enable the integration of equipment with different data transfer rates and interface types into one seamless network.

As can be seen from the following diagram, 10/100 media converters are installed in a redundant power chassis for high-density fiber distribution from UTP switch equipment (A) at the network core. A UTP workgroup switch (B) is connected via fiber to the network core with a standalone 10/100 media converter. Another 10/100 converter enables fiber connectivity to PU UTP port in a fiber-to-desktop application (C). An Ethernet switch (D) is connected directly via fiber to the media converter module at the network core.

copper-to-fiber media converter

To sum up, fiber-to-fiber media converters are ideal solutions for the conversion between multimode and single-mode fibers and then increase the transmission distance. Copper-to-fiber media converters are simple and inexpensive solutions for matching copper ports to fiber infrastructure. Fiber media converters are flexible and cost-effective devices for implementing and optimizing fiber links in all types of networks. Fiberstore has various fiber media converters. It is an excellent choice for you.