Bataan Peninsula State University

Main Campus

COMPARATIVE STUDY ON THE EFFICIENCY

OF DATA TRANSFERRING BETWEEN
FIBER OPTICS AND COPPER CABLE

A research proposal submitted

in partial fulfillment on the
course ENGL 105

Landicho, Kenneth Brian B.

October 2010
 Table of Contents

Chapter I
The Problem and Its Background
Introduction
Statement of the Problem
Conceptual Framework
Definition of Terms
Assumptions
Scope and Limitations
Significance of the Study

Chapter II
Review of Related Literature

Chapter III
Methodology
Research Design
Sampling Technique
Research Instrument
Data Gathering Procedure
Statistical Treatment of Data

Bibiliography

Appendix
Questionnaire
 CHAPTER I

The Problem and Its Background

Introduction

New technologies being developed nowadays emerged the urge for more

information and communication. Through the use of copper wire system, one can now

download or upload different data and information just by sitting in front of your

computer. You can also communicate to someone very far away from you through the

use of e-mail and different social networking sites.

But due to the very large information exploring the world wide web and to the

very far distances to connect two or more networks of computers and information

sources, the copper wire system can’t support these interconnected data transferring.

Because of these problems, fiber optics has emerged.\

Nowadays, fiber optics cable has replaced the copper wire cable to transfer data

and information. Instead of using electronic impulses to transfer data, fiber optics uses

light impulses to carry out data from one source to another. Fiber optic system can

support the large demand for information and communication exchange. Even in long

distances of data transferring, fiber optics can transfer data at high speed because data are

traveling at the speed of light and resistance is not a major factor.

Statement of the Problem

The study aimed to find out how fiber optics and copper cable differs on the

efficiency of data transferring.

 In line with this, the researcher sought to specifically answer the following

questions:

1) Which cable system, between copper cable and fiber optics, is more efficient on

data transferring in terms of:

a) Speed

b) Amount of data it can transfer ( Bandwidth )

c) Distance

d) Data Losses ( Attenuation Loss )

e) Immunity to EMI and RFI

2) Which cable system is cheaper to install?

3) Which cable system is more applicable on places where environmental constraints

are present like lightning and undesirable electromagnetic energy?

4) Which cable system is more efficient to use?

Conceptual Framework

IV DV

Amount of data being Copper Cable

transferred Efficiency
in
Length of the cable Data
Taransferring
Speed
Fiber Optics Cable
Data Loss
 One of the main factors to be considered is the length of the cable used to transfer

data because the distance from the source to its destination affects the quality of data

being transferred. Next are the amount of data to be transferred and the speed of the

transferring. These are the important characteristics of an efficient cable in data

transferring. And lastly, the data loss during propagation determines the quality of the

data being transferred in a cable wire. These IV’s must be observed on both cable

systems to determine which cable system is more efficient in data transferring.

Definition of Terms

College. It refers to the two colleges where the researcher will conduct the study

namely College of Engineering and Architecture and College of Information and

Communications Technology.

Course. It refers to the course of the respondent whether Electronics and

Communications Engineer, Information Technology, and Computer Science.

Degree of Response. It refers to the degree of answer of the respondent to the

questionnaire whether it is strongly agree, moderately agree, and etc.

Faculty Members. It refers to the faculty instructors and professors of the two

colleges whose field of teaching is related to the researcher’s study. It includes the

college dean of the two colleges.

 Students. It refers to the students whose year level is from 3rd year to 5th year

students of the courses chosen by the researcher.

Assumptions

The researcher assumed that data transferring is more efficient on fiber optics

cable than using copper cable.

In terms of speed, fiber optics can transfer data at high speed because the data

being transferred is travelling at the speed of light. The electronic pulses of data or

information used by copper wires are converted to its equivalent light pulses to transfer

from one destination to other.

Fiber optics, also, can transfer large amount of data because it has a greater

bandwidth compared to that of copper cable and other cable system. But it can only

transfer data or information, not energy unlike copper cables, because it uses light to

carry out data.

Also, fiber optics can transmit data even in long distances because the light that

carries out data or information is trapped inside the cable wires.

Generally, the researcher assumed that between copper cable and fiber optics,

data transferring is more efficient in using the fiber optics cable.

Significance of the Study

 This study will benefit the following for the reason that it aimed to differentiate

the efficiency of data transferring between two cable systems: fiber optics and copper

cable.

Internet and network providers and different information sources will mainly

benefit this study because they are the ones who provide the transmission if data and

from where large amount of information can be gathered.

Different internet users and network users will also benefit because they are the

ones who gathered large information. Through this study, they will be able to know

which cable system is more practical to use. Office buildings and other companies and

industries that were using the LAN (Local Area Networking) will also benefit this study.

Cable televisions and communications companies that transmit signal through

cable systems will directly benefit. It can improve their signal transmission lines by

choosing the right cable system.

And lastly, the future researchers because fiber optics were continuously

replacing the copper cables and be able to study about other applications of fiber optics in

communication and signal transmission for the next generation.

 CHAPTER 2

Review of Related Literature

Innovations on the technology around the world have occurred at an alarming

rate, transforming the telecommunications industry in an extremely and complicated

form. The development of large integrated circuits, and the low cost microprocessors,

computers and other equipments has dramatically increased the need for digital

information exchange. This signaled the necessity of developing a high-capacity and

faster means of communication.

Because of the continuous demand for communication, cable systems, that

support the data and signal transmission, were being developed to cope with the large

information exchange at high rates over long distances. Cable transmission media were

enhanced to have a greater bandwidth and lower attenuation loss to improve the quality

of data and signal transmission.

According to Wayne Tomasi (2006), the information-carrying capacity of any

electronic communication system is directly proportional to its bandwidth. Fiber optic

cables have an infinite bandwidth. Therefore, they have a large capacity to carry

information than their metallic counterparts.

 Optical fibers have greater information capacity than metallic cables because of

the inherently wider bandwidths available up to thousand of gigahertz. According to Jerry

C. Whitaker (2001), the bandwidth information-carrying capacity of a communications

link is directly related to the operating frequency. Light carrier frequencies are several

orders of magnitude higher than the highest radio frequencies, fiber optics systems easily

surpass the information-carrying capacity of microwave radio and coaxial cable

alternatives; and fiber’s future carrying-capacity has only begun to be used. The primary

electrical constants (resistance, inductance and capacitance) among metallic cables make

them a low-pass filter which limits their transmission frequencies, bit rate, bandwidth,

and information-carrying capacity. Modern optical fiber communications systems are

capable of transmitting several gigabits per second over a thousand of miles, allowing

millions of individual voice and data channels to be combined and propagated over one

fiber optics cable.

The researcher find it relevant to the study since the researcher wants to know

which cable system has a greater bandwidth as stated on the statement of the problem.

Through this, the researcher identified that fiber optics can carry out larger amount of

information than copper cable as stated above. According to them, because of some

factors affecting the transmission of data in copper cables, it makes it a low pass filter

wherein large amount of information is loss during propagation.

According to Microsoft Encarta (2008), April Holliday stated that light pulses

move easily down fiber optics line because of a principle known as “total internal

reflection”. This was first demonstrated by the physicist John Tyndall (1820-1893) in

either 1854 or 1870. Tyndall showed that light could be bent around a corner while it
traveled through a jet of pouring water. The principle of total internal reflection states

that “when the angle of incidence exceeds a critical value, light cannot get out of the

glass; instead, the light bounces back in.” When this principle was used in the

construction of fiber optics cable, it is possible to transmit information down fiber lines in

the form of light pulses. This principle makes fiber optics cable to retain the light pulses

they carry. When light passes from a dense substance into a less dense substance, there is

an angle, called the critical angle, beyond which 100 percent of the light is reflected from

the surface between substances. When the light strikes between the substances at an angle

greater than the critical angle, total internal reflection occurs. Light travelling inside the

core strikes the outer surface at an angle of incidence greater than the critical angle; all

light is then reflected within the fiber without loss. Light travelling inside the core was

trapped as long as the cable was not curved too sharply. Thus, light can be transmitted

even in long distances by being reflected thousand times inside the core with no loss.

According to http://www.timbercon.com/copper-cable-vs-fiber-optics/ that the

researcher gathered on August 23, 2010 at the time of 13:00, fiber optic cable has many

advantages over copper cable. Fiber transmits data much faster over longer distances than

copper. Fiber cable is also smaller diameter and weighs less than its copper counterpart,

making it ideal for a variety of cabling solutions.

Because of this process, the researcher finds out that the information passing

through a fiber optics cable is trapped inside. Unlike copper cable where there is a large

loss of data. This is the reason why fiber optics can carry out large amount of information

stated earlier thus, making fiber optics cable ideal for faster transmission of data in long

distances. This answers the efficiency of data transferring in terms of distance.

 Whitaker (2001) also said that during the propagation, some signals were lost in

the transmission lines. It is because of the resistance of conductors among metallic

cables. Sometimes it is called I2R loss because it is proportional to the square of the

current or copper loss because copper is the most common material for the conductors. It

is also sometimes called conductor loss or conductor heating loss. Because resistance is

distributed throughout transmission line, conductor loss is directly proportional to the

square of the length of the line. To reduce conductor loss, simply shorten the transmission

line or use a larger-diameter wire.

Fiber optics has substantially a lower attenuation than copper cable. According to

Waiser, attenuation is the reduction of the power signal while it travels along a channel or

passes an interface and is measured in decibels (dB) per unit distance. Bartlett stated that

during transit, some of the light in a fiber optic system is absorbed into the fiber or

scattered in by impurities. For commonly available fibers, attenuation ranges from

approximately 0.5 dB/km for premium single-mode fibers to 1000 dB/km for large-core

plastic fibers.

This is also relevant to the study because the researcher sought to find out the

efficiency of data transferring between the two cable systems in terms of the data loss or

the attenuation loss. It stated that fiber optics has a lower loss of data than copper cable

during its propagation.

Roy Blake (2008) added that Because fiber optics are nonconductors of electrical

current, they are immune to static noise due to the electromagnetic interference (EMI)

caused by the lightning, electric motors, relays, fluorescent light and other electrical noise

sources (man-made). EMI is an electromagnetic energy that causes undesirable

responses, degradation or complete system failure. Systems using copper cables are

vulnerable to the effects of EMI. Also, fiber optics does not radiate electromagnetic

energy. Also http://www.timbercon.com/copper-cable-vs-fiber-optics/ said fiber optics

are immune to RFI (radio frequency interference) and EMI (Electromagnetic

Interference) making them ideal for applications where close proximity to electronic

devices can cause RFI and EMI disruption. Light wave transmission is free of spark

hazards and creates no EMI. All-dielectric fiber cable may also be installed in hazardous

or toxic environment.

The researcher find it relevant to the study because it said that fiber optics is

immune to EMI and RFI which specifically answers the question stated on the statement

of the problem that the researcher tries to find out. Since fiber optics cable only carry dat

in the form of light impulses rather than electric impulses, the transmission of data is free

of sparks and hazards making it ideal for data transmission in places where

environmental constraints is present.

The cost of fiber optic cables is approximately the same as the metallic cables.

The large attenuation loss among copper cable required more repeaters. According to

Eugene Bartlett (2005), the number of amplifiers per cable-mile was increasing at an

alarming rate. High power consumption required more power supplies, which in turn

caused system costs to increase. Because of this, fiber optics replaced the copper wires in

cable system. Fiber cables have less loss and require fewer repeaters, which equates to

lower installation and overall system cost and improved reliability.

Also, Miguel Leiva-Gomez (2009) that the researcher gathered on August 23,

2010 at the time of 13:00 on this site: http://www.ehow.com/about_5452636_fiber-optics-

vs-copper-wire.html, stated that from the perspective of an ISP, it is almost always a

good investment to put money in fiber optics. Using fiber optics, an Internet

infrastructure would require a lower maintenance than a copper wire infrastructure, since

the fibers are much stronger. Just to give you an idea of how strong fiber optic wires are,

airplanes are normally manufactured with fiberglass (which fiber optic cables are

composed of) in place of steel because of the impact strength and light weight of the

fibers in comparison with that of steel. This is not the only benefit. The worries about

distance from a central office would also be eliminated because there would be an equal

distribution of bandwidth no matter how far customers are from the office. Fiber optic

cables can transmit signals for up to 200 kilometers.

In terms of cheaper installation of cable systems, the researcher finds it relevant to

the study. Since copper cable has a large attenuation loss, it requires more repeaters for

the data to be refreshed before propagating again in a transmission line. Because of this,

the researcher find out that fiber optics is more cheaper to use than copper cable since it

has a low attenuation which does not require more repeaters. But on the other hand, the

cost of fiber optics installation requires more money as stated below by Tomasi:

1) Interfacing costs. Fiber optic cable systems are virtually useless by themselves.

To be practical and useful, they must be connected to standard electronic facilities,

which often require expensive interfaces.

2) Strength. Fiber optics by themselves has a significantly lower tensile strength than

metallic cables. This can be improved by coating the fiber with Kevlar and a

protective jacket of PVC. In addition, glass fibers are more fragile than copper wires

making it less attractive where hardware portability is required.

 3) Remote electrical power. It is necessary to provide electrical power to remote

interface or regenerating equipment. This cannot be accomplished by optical cable, so

additional metallic cable must be included in the cable assembly.

4) Losses through bending. Fiber optic cables are susceptible to losses introduced by

bending the cable. Electromagnetic waves propagate in a fiber cable through either

refraction or reflection. Therefore, bending the cable can cause irregularities in the

wave propagation, resulting to a signal loss. Also, fiber optic cables are more prone to

manufacturing defects as even the most minor defect may lead to a loss of signal

power.

5) Specialized tools, equipment and training. Fiber optic cables require special tools

to splice and repair cables and special test equipment to make routine measurements.

Also fiber optic technicians require special skill and training. In addition, it is more

difficult to locate faults in fiber optic cables because there is no electrical continuity.

This information gives the disadvantages of fiber optics that the researcher find

relevant to the study. Even though that fiber optics has a major advantage over copper

cable, on some point copper cable overcomes fiber optics. Copper wire system has not

yet been totally lost. The copper-based connector industry shows no indications that it's

ready to roll over and die. New developments continue to push the edge of the envelope

in data-transfer speed and bandwidth. Amp, for example, recently introduced the HSSDC

(high-speed serial-data connector) family for applications requiring serial-data-transfer

rates as high as 2.125 Gbps over distances of 30m or more. The system has approvals by

the ANSI X3T11 Committee for Fibre Channel, and is under consideration by ANSI
X3T10.1 for serial-storage architecture (SSA) and by IEEE 802.3 for Gigabit Ethernet.

Plug-in connectors incorporate a small pc board that can provide compensation circuitry

to optimize high-speed performance and maintain signal integrity.

A Category-5 interconnection system from Thomas & Betts is capable of

delivering data-transmission rates of 300 Mbps and higher over UTP cables. The ALL-

LAN interconnection system recently received UL certification to TIA/EIA 568-A

Category-5 standards. The system uses a 100V, four-pair configuration. Amp is also

proficient in the design and manufacture of Category-5 cable and interconnection

systems.

VideoLan Technology has developed a way to use a premise's existing twisted-

pair wiring to accommodate a fully integrated, corporate local- and wide-area video

network. The VL2000 system uses the company's Metallic Fiber transmission and

broadband switching technology to transmit NTSC (or PAL) video, plus data and full-

spectrum audio in full-duplex mode. The transmission is not on the premise's LAN, but

the VL2000 serves the PCs that operate on the LAN.

Although intended as a daughtercard-to-daughtercard backplane system, a new

high-speed interconnect system from Siemens also offers system-to-system interconnect.

The SpeedPac system uses balanced "twinax" lines in a metal housing to allow data rates

to 2.5 Gbps, with signal rise times as low as 50 psec. The twinax lines form completely

balanced transmission lines from striplines in the daughtercard, through the connector,

and into the backplane. The system uses differential signaling and, therefore, does not

rely on a ground reference; the result is lower noise. (Look for an upcoming EDN article
on low-voltage differential-signaling ICs.) The HDM and HDM Plus backplane-

interconnect systems from Teradyne also offer high-speed system-to-system interconnect.

This information gives the innovations on the copper cable wherein it takes

advantage over fiber optics. The researcher included it since it tells the strong

characteristics of copper cable which are competent with fiber optics.

The information that the researcher included tries to answer the question stated on

the statement of the problem. The problems was answered specifically by these

information and supports the researcher’s assumptions.

CHAPTER III

Methodology

Sampling Technique

The study will be conducted at Bataan Peninsula State University Main Campus

since it is from where the researcher currently studying.

The researcher will only consider the 10% of the total population of the school.

The said percentage of sample is from where the researcher will gather the necessary

information needed. This includes some of the students and faculty instructors and

professors at the College of Information and Communications Technology and at the

College of Engineering and Architecture.

The researcher only consider these two colleges, CICT and CEA, among the other

colleges of BPSU Main Campus because the necessary information needed from the

respondents can only be get from the said colleges.

 The respondents in which the researcher will gather the data needed will compose

mainly of 3rd year to 4th year students only since these respondents have the enough

knowledge about the study. On CEA, ECE students will be the only respondents

considered and on CICT, IT and Computer Science students. The students of the said

year level on these three courses were being considered by the researcher since the

students from these courses were the only capable respondents of the study and their

courses are somewhat related to the study.

Also, the faculty instructors and professors (including the two college deans)

which has the enough knowledge will be considered since above all others, thay have a

better understanding about the study.

Research Instrument

The researcher used a questionnaire as the main instrument for gathering the

necessary data needed for the study.

The questionnaire was divided into three parts. The first part is the respondent’s

personal information. This includes the name of the respondent which is optional for their

own privacy. It also includes the college from where the respondent belongs as well as

the course, section and year level to attest that the target respondent of the researcher be

satisfied which include only 3rd year students and above from the courses and colleges

that the researcher has chosen.

The second part of the questionnaire is the questionnaire proper. The researcher

creates ten (10) questions for the respondent to answer based on their own capability and

knowledge with regards to the topic being studied. The questions can be answered with
different degree of response whether strongly agree, moderately agree, agree, disagree,

and strongly disagree. The respondent will put a check to the box which corresponds to

their answers.

The last part of the questionnaire is an essay type question. The question being

asked is the main problem of the study in which the researcher tries to be answered.

Data Gathering Procedure

The information that the researcher needed will be gathered by distributing the

questionnaire to the mentioned respondents and the results will be tabulated and be

analyzed.

The questionnaire will be distributed personally to the respondents to ensure that

they will receive the questionnaire in a short period of time. The researcher will ask

permission to the respective deans of the two colleges so that the questionnaire can be

distributed during their class in which the researcher may guarantee of at least 80% of the

class attendance. Also, the researcher may give the questionnaire to their instructor.

The questionnaire will be answered for one week and be returned to the

researcher the total number of questionnaire distributed.

The researcher will also ask the deans’ permission to conduct the study to their

college so that the study may have its authority to be conducted. The researcher will also

distribute the questionnaire to the faculty members personally and be given a two week

time to answer.
Statistical Treatment of Data

The researcher will tally the results obtained from the respondents’ answers based

on the degree of response to each question and compare it to each other.

Every question, the researcher will get the percentage of answer to each degree of

response by adding the total number of respondent who answered to that response in a

particular question, divided by the total number of respondent multiply by 100 to get rid

of the decimals. This will give the researcher a clear overview of the results.

The researcher will get the percentage to each degree of response whether how

much has answered strongly agree, moderately agree, agree, disagree, and strongly

disagree. Then the researcher will compare each to each percentage degree of response

for a single question. This will also be done to other questions. This will give the

researcher the answers to each question stated on the statement of the problem. Then the

researcher will tally the results on how many has answered that fiber optics is more

efficient in data transferring than copper cable based on the percentage degree of

response. The researcher will get again the total percentage to each degree of response,

but to this time with regards to the whole questions asked.

On the last part of the questionnaire, the researcher will get the mean or average

on how much has answered that fiber optics is more efficient than on copper cable or vice

versa. This will answer the main problem of the study.