Polymer Optic Fibers: Potential of Development and Application in Networks

The paper analyzes the current state of polymer optic fibers and shows the progress and potential of their development and areas of application in network technologies. It has been established that polymer optic fibers have their advantages due to such material properties as high flexibility, lower Young’s modulus (which provides high sensitivity to mechanical parameters), higher elasticity limits, impact resistance, compatibity with biomedical materials, biodegradability, and low weight. At the same time, the optical properties of polymer optic fibers tend to improve. These advantages can be well applied for short-range networks, which are currently being intensively developed. In transportation networks, polymer optic fibers can be successfully used to reduce vehicle weight and fuel consumption, improve traffic safety, and can be the basis for taking the vehicle to a new, much higher, level of quality. The application of polymer optic fibers opens new ways in medicine and helps to overcome the barriers to the existing healthcare system. Polymer optic fibers dominate local communication networks with a relatively small signal transmission radius. Polymer optic fibers have quite a high application potential in renewable energy systems and transmission of sunlight into the premises The conducted research has resulted in the development of a new approach, which consists in the fact that polymer optic fibers are a driving force in the development of short-distance networks.