I once worked in an optics lab that had been really well planned. Each bench had network connections and optical fiber connections that go to each bench in each room of the lab. The idea was that you could build something in one room and send it's output to another room just by using the right fiber port on your bench. No need to string fiber optics along the floor and through doors!
Planning was undone by execution unfortunately. The installers claimed they had worked with fiber optics before and could do a great job. They installed the cat5 cables with such tight turns that only half of them work. The fiber optic cables had the same tight turns, and fiber is more sensitive to bends. The loss between benches just 4 meters apart is in excess of 30 dB! Totally unusable for practically all experiments.
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I once worked in an optics lab that had been really well planned. Each bench had network connections and optical fiber connections that go to each bench in each room of the lab. The idea was that you could build something in one room and send it's output to another room just by using the right fiber port on your bench. No need to string fiber optics along the floor and through doors!
Planning was undone by execution unfortunately. The installers claimed they had worked with fiber optics before and could do a great job. They installed the cat5 cables with such tight turns that only half of them work. The fiber optic cables had the same tight turns, and fiber is more sensitive to bends. The loss between benches just 4 meters apart is in excess of 30 dB! Totally unusable for practically all experiments.