Fiberoptic Circuit Transportation of Video Signals: A Solution without an Urgently Perceived Need

“Lightwave” systems for the transmission of television and computer graphics images over optical glass fibers moved from laboratory experiments to implementation as high-quality, highly useful, cost-effective commercial services in the 1980s decade. First-generation systems used a baseband electrical signal waveforms to intensity-modulate a low-power light source, for transmission of a single video channel over a kilometer or two of multimode fiber. Many are still in use today, because the solid-state terminal electronics are highly reliable and stable, and the fiber is also stable, resistive to physical contamination, and impervious to EMI and RFI. — Third generation systems now in the marketplace can transmit dozens to hundreds of video channels plus ancillary voice and data channels on single mode fiber, for distances up to 50 and more kilometers. However, there is little to no design, function or interface specification commonality among any of these systems, even within generational groups. — Early 1990s establishment of a nested family of fiber transmission system standards is the absolute prerequisite to prevent inevitable transmission systems chaos in the mid 1990s. This chaos will suddenly arrive when innovators in the television and graphics and sound production and postproduction marketplaces suddenly discover that fiber is the only solution to needs for transmitting constantly higher and higher resolution images and mushrooming numbers of ancillary audio, intercom and data channels. — Perhaps, quite by accident, however, standards setters in the telecommunications and television/radio broadcasting/sound recording industries may be on courses which will lead not to chaos but to accommodation. — If the price is right!

Published

1991-02

Content type

Original Research

DOI

10.5594/M00899

ISBN

978-1-61482-919-5