Fibre optic links are suitable for Smart Factories

The company also produce glass and polymer fibre optic cable assemblies for many demanding industrial applications and designs complete optical links, including transmitter, receiver and cable assembly. These optical links are performance-matched during manufacture to ensure that the system’s optical budget is sound regardless of how the components are matched up in production.

William Heath, Commercial Director, OMC, commented: “Industrial machinery and smart factory environments are often noisy and challenging environments for electrical signals, so optical transmission is often more appropriate. If high voltage, magnetic fields or noisy motors are present, optical systems are definitely preferred. However achieving consistency of performance in such applications can frustrate many would-be users of fibre-based systems in industrial applications.”

Heath added: “Most manufacturers of optical fibre cables do not manufacture the transmitter/receiver part of the link – similarly, few transmitter/receiver providers produce fibre cable assemblies. In our experience, customers, especially if they are installing multiple links within industrial machinery or site infrastructure, simply want to provide an electrical signal at point A and have that same electrical signal delivered consistently and reliably to point B. We specialise in the manufacture of both transmitter/receiver devices as well as the fibre optic cable assemblies to provide an optical link between the two. Our complete data link design and manufacturing service means that systems engineers can avoid mixing and matching off-the-shelf components, which can result in unreliable systems. And because we are technology-agnostic, we are able to advise on the correct choice of technology to suit the application. By tailoring one of our existing processes we are now able to supply production quantities of fully-characterised fibre optic links with 100% link consistency to those involved in Smart Factory applications in a huge range of industries.”