With the development of information technology 4.0 which is becoming more and more practical, media converters are necessary in the transmission of data in the shortest time. Therefore, it is not easy to choose the best quality products for businesses.
Here, we will find out what are the media converters and their benefits as well as how they work.
1. What are media converters?
A media converter, in the context of network hardware, is a cost-effective and flexible device intended to implement and optimize fiber links in every kind of network.
As a simple networking device, it is used to create a connection among two different types of media such as twisted pair with fiber optic cable.
The flexibility of fiber optic media converters is in its ability to connect fiber optic systems to structured cabling systems, based on existing network cabling systems such as CAT5 and CAT6 LANs.
Media converter consists of two transceivers capable of transmitting data and receiving data from each other and from the supply.
Each transceiver has different connectors compatible with different media.
2. Benefits of photoelectric switch
Currently, copper cables are being used extensively in the communication environment. However, the processing speed of copper cable is still slow, the transmission distance is limited due to signal loss, ...
Therefore, if you want to transfer data at high speed and smoothly, the media converters are indispensable devices when deploying data transmission systems on fiber-optic.
In essence, the media converter has the effect of switching from optical signals to electrical signals and from electrical signals to optical signals, so there are some benefits as follows:
• Connect copper network and fiber optic network together in a convenient way
• Connecting 2 internal networks (Lan network) separated from a distance of several hundred meters up to a distance of tens of kilometers
• An integral part of an optical network system in IP camera installation projects
• Upgrade signal running on copper cable network to optical cable without having to change the whole network, saving you a lot of costs, manpower and time.
3. Principle of operation of media converter
To better understand how media converters work, we look at a few examples below:
• You have a copper cable network and a faster, more reliable fiber network. You want to connect these two networks together.
• You have two local networks (LANs) separated by several hundred meters to tens of kilometers and you need to connect these two types of LANs together.
• You have several IP cameras and want to focus on the center a few hundred meters to several tens of Kilometers from the camera mounting location. With this distance, the network cable (twisted-pair cable) cannot be connected but UTP cable cannot be used outdoors, if it is used, it is also broken and cannot be connected. Optical network instead.
Media converters satisfy all of the above requirements. The Medi converter will convert the signal that runs on the copper cable to the signal that runs on the optical fiber network without having to change the entire network.
To do this, the structure of the media converter has two transmission interfaces, including copper and optical cables.
4. Classification of media converters
Currently, fiber optic cable has 2 types: Single Mode and Multimode. Therefore, the media converter also has 2 types corresponding to the above 2 types of fiber cables.
• Media converter for Single Mode has a long distance of up to 120km. This cable is often used in telecommunications, television ...
• Media converter for Multimode has much shorter transmission distance, only 2–5 km, used in the internal network of enterprises, agencies or factories ...