BENEFITS OF OPTICAL FIBER VS. COPPER OR COAXIAL TRANSMISSION MEDIA IN ITS SYSTEMS

As ITS system deployment accelerates, state and local traffic managers and transportation engineers are wrestling with the issue of how technically sophisticated ITS communications systems should be. They are evaluating when to upgrade copper or coaxial cable transmission media to optical fiber, which has been universally deployed throughout the United States in telephone and cable TV applications. Optical fiber provides the requisite bandwidth and the capability to traverse required distances for future ITS service growth. Consideration therefore must be given to the benefits and long-term economies of optical technology as jurisdictions ponder their communications media decision during planning, design and deployment of ITS systems. Present demands on ITS systems make it reasonable to consider fiber's capabilities; tomorrow's ITS communications requirements will demand it.