Types of connections

 

In a fast growing industry like Telecommunications a strive to be unique, first and reliable is  a must.

That’s why there are dozens of connectors on the market with their adv./disadv. to each other.

But before we start with the many types of connectors and discussing what is what, you will need to know the types of connections !

There are 4 types of connections and they are as Flat,PC,UPC,APC.

The main difference is the polish from which is the acronym PC (Physical Contact).

Lets get a little bit more detailed about all of them:

1.       PC connection

-          That’s the first design for connection and for it’s time it was very reliable with it’s -35dB back reflection*. That connection is still in use for the old types of connectors like ST or FC .

-          The head of the connection is roughly polished and most of the times it was hand polished on spot before the insertion in the optical frame.

2.       UPC connection (Ultra Polished Connection)

-          The UPC connection comes as a improvement of the PC connection by ULTRA polishing the end of the connector which helps stop the back reflectance and improve the loss .

-          By doing the ultra polish they have managed -55dB back reflection*.

-          The UPC connection is the most used connection on the market

-          The UPC connection is shown with BLUE which will help you, if you only see the outside of a optical frame to know what type of connections to expect on the inside.

3.       APC connection (Angled Polished Connection)

-          The APC connection comes in help of the TV channel service providers as the precise 7 degrees angle gives almost no attenuation and up to -65dB back reflectance* .

-          As the TV companies use analog signal and DWDM systems which work on a tight signal spectrum, they need the best connection which will not cause any shifts in the signal what so ever.

-          The APC connection is shown with GREEN which will help you, if you only see the outside of a optical frame to know what type of connections to expect on the inside.

4.       Flat Connection

-          This type of connection has high back reflection caused by the connectors not fully touching each other.

-          Those type of connections is only made on spot and were never a good solution

*Back reflectance is when the signal is going not only forward but some of it comes back and interferes with it.