Electrical and optical link performances comparison

Our social and societal habits have changed considerably with the advent of social media at the beginning of the 21st century. Along with them, our "communicative" environment has evolved towards a predominance of interactive and digital modes. Today's society is a voracious consumer of all kinds of data (video on demand, social media, etc.). As proof, according to a recent American study, per capita data consumption in the United States and Europe is well over 10 GB (10 billion bits) per day. For example, 4K video streaming alone accounts for approximately 2.5 GB per hour.

Behind our instant messages and videos lie huge data centers that store and process data, analyzing, mixing, and transferring it in real time. The emergence of generative AI technologies and the widespread use of connected devices have caused demand for data transmission to skyrocket exponentially. Traditional transmission media such as copper are no longer compatible with these needs, and fiber optic transmission media have naturally taken over to meet the instantaneous bandwidth requirements of infrastructure. Fiber optics have largely replaced copper connections for very high-speed applications, even over short distances.

This article covers the main transmission media, namely electrical cables and optical fibers. It presents the physical characteristics and systems of these transmission media and details their main applications. It compares the various limiting factors associated with guided connections and provides an analysis of their performance in relation to the system or application.

It also introduces unguided or free-space links and compares them to guided links.

At the end of the article, readers will find a glossary and a table of ratings and symbols used.