Powering the fiber information network

Author

Michlovic, Dave

Author_Institution

Small DC Power Systems, Emerson Network Power Energy Systems, North America, Inc., USA

fYear

2008

fDate

14-18 Sept. 2008

Firstpage

1

Lastpage

8

Abstract

The future of voice, data and video transmission is fiber, but electronics will still be required to translate sounds and images into pulses of light for transmission and back again to electronics for hearing and viewing. And electronics require sources of DC power.The question facing telcos today is "Who will provide this power, and where will it be located?" Traditionally, the telco has maintained an "active" copper network, providing 48V DC power with battery backup to energize copper transmission lines in the Central Office (CO) and at other points along the network to overcome resistance in the copper. Pulses of light carried by fiber optic cables do not require power to overcome resistance.The ultimate long-term goal is to abandon the copper in the ground and replace it with fiber. However, since fiber does not yet reach all the way to most subscribers, at some point, conversion is required from optical to electronic so that it can be carried "the final mile" on existing copper.

Keywords

optical fibre networks; telecommunication power supplies; DC power; copper transmission lines; fiber information network; light pulses; Copper; Internet telephony; Network topology; Optical fiber cables; Optical fibers; Optical packet switching; Optical switches; Power system management; Pulse power systems; Switching circuits;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Telecommunications Energy Conference, 2008. INTELEC 2008. IEEE 30th International

Conference_Location

San Diego, CA

Print_ISBN

978-1-4244-2055-1

Electronic_ISBN

978-1-4244-2056-8

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/INTLEC.2008.4664082

Filename

4664082