Unit 11. Fiber Optic Cable

Very thin transparent fibers have been developed that will eventually replace the twisted-pair copper wire traditionally used in the telephone system. These hairlike fiber optic cables carry data faster and are lighter and less expensive than their copper-wire counterparts. Twisted-pair wire and coaxial cable carry data as electrical signals. Fiber optic cable carries data as laser-generated light beams.

The differences between the data transmission rates of copper wire and fiber optic cable are tremendous. In the time it takes to transmit a single page of Webster’s

Unabridged Dictionary over twisted-pair copper wire (about 6 seconds), the entire

dictionary could be transmitted over a single fiber optic cable.

Another of the many advantages of fiber optic cable is its contribution to data

security. It is much more difficult for a computer criminal to intercept a signal sent over

fiber optic cable (via a beam of light) than it is over copper wire (an electrical signal).

Fiber optic technology has opened the door for some very interesting domestic

applications. The high-capacity cable will service our telephone, our TV, and our PC. Fiber optic cable will unable us to see the party on the other end of the telephone

conversation. As for TV viewing, we will be able to choose from hundreds of movies, including current releases, and we will be able to choose when we watch them. In the PC world, tapping into an information network will be an increasingly visual

experience, with plenty of high-resolution color graphics. For example, instead of

reading a buying service’s product description, we’ll be able to view a photo-quality display of it. However, we may need to wait a few years to enjoy these services. The expense of fiber optic cable may delay its wide-spread implementation in the home.

Texts for independent class and home translation Text 1. Computer science

Computer science is a field of study that deals with the structure, operation, and application of computers and computer systems.

Computer science includes engineering activities, such as the design of computers and of the hardware and software of computer systems, and theoretical, mathematical activities, such as the analysis of algorithms and performance studies of systems. It also involves experimentation with new computer systems and their potential applications.

Computer science was established as a discipline in the early 1960s. Its roots lie mainly in the fields of mathematics (e.g., Boolean algebra) and electrical engineering (e.g., circuit design). The major subdisciplines of computer science are (1) architecture (the design and study of computer systems), an area that overlaps extensively with computer engineering; (2) software, including such topics as software engineering, programming languages, operating systems, information systems and databases, artificial intelligence, and computer graphics; and (3) theory, including computational methods and numerical analysis as well as data structures and algorithms.