Fiber Bandwidth in Local Area Networks: It is Predictable or Must it be Measured?

Although the major thrusts in the development for long distance high bit rate fiber-optic systems is toward single-frequency lasers on single-mode fiber, LEDs on multimode fiber pervade current offerings for use in local area networks (LANs) and wideband premise networks (WPNs). However, because LEDs have wide spectral widths, the bandwidth of a multimode fiber when used in an LED-based link can be significantly lower than when used in a laser- based link.