Chapter 1. Optical Networking Fundamentals

Throughout the past decade, global communications traffic in both voice and data has grown tremendously. Communications bandwidth capacity and geographic coverage have been substantially expanded to support this demand. These tremendous advances have been enabled by optical signals sent over fiber optics networks. However, the growth in tele- and data-communications traffic is just beginning. People are gaining exposure to a new world of choices and possibilities as an increasing number of them access the Internet via broadband. Streaming audio, teleconferencing, video-on-demand, and three-dimensional (3-D) virtual reality are just a few of the applications. Optical networking, with its inherent advantages, will be the key in making this new world of communications possible.

But how did optical networking come about in the first place? Let us take a brief look at the history of fiber optics.