Standardization Efforts in Fiber Optics

Experience with copper-based local area networks combined with the inherent characteristics of fiber optics is providing increased impetus for the development of fiber optic network standards. The installed base of networks that use copper wire, twisted shielded pair, and coaxial cable indicates that there will be many applications where networks will use a mix of both copper and fiber optic media. Successful standardization efforts must take this into account. There is indeed a great deal of standardization effort underway that involves fiber optic networking. Within the SAE AE9 Committee there are four standardization efforts to support the military. The IEEE (under project 802) has published four draft standards for copper-based networks and the 802.8 Fiber Optic Technical Advisory Group is studying integration of optical fibers into each of these networks. Other IEEE efforts include discussion and study of "all-fiber" networks. CBEMA is working on a token-passing ring network, and the Instrument Society of America is pursuing a mixed copper/fiber optic network implementation. Generally, requirements for fibers, sources, detectors, connectors, switches, branching devices, and other system elements are being established. This paper discusses some of the standardization efforts that are underway.