OFS touts low latency for AccuCore HCF hollow-core fiber cable

March 26, 2020

The fact that the optical transmission travels through air in the hollow core reduces latency by approximately 30% versus convention solid silica core fiber. That translates to a savings of 1.54 µsec per kilometer, OFS says.

Stephen Hardy

Speed Of Light 726251 1280 5e7cf98551a4c

OFS now offers AccuCore HCF Optical Fiber Cable, which it asserts is the first terrestrial cabled hollow-core fiber on the market for terrestrial applications. The fact that the optical transmission travels through air in the hollow core reduces latency by approximately 30% versus convention solid silica core fiber. That translates to a savings of 1.54 µsec per kilometer, OFS says.

While hollow-core fiber (also known as “holey fiber” among other names) has been the subject of presentations and demonstrations for several years, commercializing the technology has been challenging due to the difficulty in cabling it in a way that ensures optimal performance, said Daryl Inniss, director of new business development, OFS, and Brian Mangan, member of technical staff. The company sources said OFS has solved these challenges for its photonic bandgap hollow-core fiber and is able to offer the AccuCore in cabled format, with either factory or field fusion-spliced connectors. The company also offers installation services and both passive and active components to meet customer requirements.

The fiber handles similarly to conventional cabled fiber, particularly in regards to bending losses, and acts similarly to single-mode fiber with transmission in the C-Band, said Innis and Mangan. The company is quoting a reach of 1 to 2 km, making it suitable for some mobile backhaul and data center links, as well as for other applications where low latency is essential, such as financial trading. However, OFS reported the ability to transmit 10-Gbps direct-detect DWDM signals across more than 3 km of cascaded cabled hollow-core fiber in a post-deadline paper delivered at this month’s OFC in San Diego.

OFS adds via a product announcement that the AccuCore HCF cable has been deployed to carry live traffic “in several networks.”

[Editor's Note: This article has been amended to correct the latency number in the first paragraph. Light travels through air at a 50% greater rate than a silica core, but the latency improvement is only 30%.]

For related articles, visit the Optical Technologies Topic Center.

For more information on fiber cable and suppliers, visit the Lightwave Buyer’s Guide.

To stay abreast of optical communications technology, subscribe to Lightwave’s Enabling Technologies Newsletter.

About the Author

Stephen Hardy | Editorial Director and Associate Publisher, Lightwave

Stephen Hardy is editorial director and associate publisher of Lightwave and Broadband Technology Report, part of the Lighting & Technology Group at Endeavor Business Media. Stephen is responsible for establishing and executing editorial strategy across the both brands’ websites, email newsletters, events, and other information products. He has covered the fiber-optics space for more than 20 years, and communications and technology for more than 35 years. During his tenure, Lightwave has received awards from Folio: and the American Society of Business Press Editors (ASBPE) for editorial excellence. Prior to joining Lightwave in 1997, Stephen worked for Telecommunications magazine and the Journal of Electronic Defense.

Stephen has moderated panels at numerous events, including the Optica Executive Forum, ECOC, and SCTE Cable-Tec Expo. He also is program director for the Lightwave Innovation Reviews and the Diamond Technology Reviews.

He has written numerous articles in all aspects of optical communications and fiber-optic networks, including fiber to the home (FTTH), PON, optical components, DWDM, fiber cables, packet optical transport, optical transceivers, lasers, fiber optic testing, and more.

You can connect with Stephen on LinkedIn as well as Twitter.