Fiber Optic Transceiver

Definition - What does Fiber Optic Transceiver mean?

A fiber optic transceiver is a device that uses fiber optical technology to send and receive data. The transceiver has electronic components to condition and encode/decode data into light pulses and then send them to the other end as electrical signals. To send data as light, it makes use of a light source, which is controlled by the electronic parts, and to receive light pulses, it makes use of a photodiode semiconductor.

Free White Paper: "AI and ML in the Oil and Gas Industry". Take a look at 10 real-world use cases that demonstrate how AI and ML are already being used in the oil and gas industry, and how AI innovation can help renew the industry.

Techopedia explains Fiber Optic Transceiver

Data can usually travel only one way in a fiber optic cable, so most transceivers have two ports for bidirectional communication: one for sending and the other for receiving signals. Alternatively, a single cable can be used, but it can only send or receive data at a time but not both. The opposite end of the transceiver has a special connector for fitting it into specific models of enterprise-grade Ethernet switches, firewalls, routers and network interface cards. A modern fiber optic transceiver is a small device because it is intended to plug into the aforementioned network devices; this type of transceiver is called a small form-factor pluggable transceiver.

As with most devices, there are many kinds and models of transceivers available, which range in size, performance and price.