In the 5G Era, How Can Optical Cables Adapt to High-Bandwidth and Low-Latency Requirements?
The comprehensive popularization of 5G technology has brought high-bandwidth, low-latency and wide-connection communication requirements. As the core of network infrastructure, optical cables assume the key task of carrying 5G signal transmission. Traditional optical cables have shown many incompatibilities in 5G scenarios. How to select and deploy optical cables suitable for 5G requirements has become the focus of attention of operators and enterprise users. The requirements for optical cables in different links of 5G base station fronthaul, midhaul and backhaul are different. The fronthaul network has short distance (usually less than 3 kilometers) but dense nodes. It is recommended to use bend-insensitive single-mode optical fibers and adopt micro optical cable air-blown laying method to improve construction efficiency and save pipeline resources. The midhaul network connects the base station and the core network with moderate transmission distance. Conventional outdoor optical cables such as GYTA can be used, and the number of cores reserved should consider future network expansion needs. The backhaul network undertakes the task of high-bandwidth aggregation and needs to use large-capacity and low-loss single-mode optical cables to support 100G and above rate transmission. In addition, optical cables in 5G scenarios need to have good anti-interference performance. In strong electromagnetic environments such as around base stations, non-metallic optical cables are preferred to avoid signal interference. The deployment of optical cables suitable for 5G requirements focuses on "layered design, reserved redundancy and intelligent operation and maintenance", which not only meets the current bandwidth requirements but also provides support for future technological upgrades.