Understanding MPO Fiber Cables and Polarity

1. Understanding MPO Fiber Cables and Polarity MPO stands for Multi-Fiber Push On. MPO fiber patch cord is a high-density fiber optic transmission jumper which consists of MPO connectors and fiber cables. The MPO connector is built on the MT-style ferrule, designed by NTT. MPO connectors can provide quick and reliable high performance interconnections up to 4, 12, 24 or more and are usually used with ribbon fiber cables. MPO connector is about the same size as a SC connector but can accommodate 12 or 24 fibers. Thus, MPO cables provide up to 12 or 24 times the density and offer savings in rack cabling space. MPO connectors has 4-, 8-, 12-, 24-, 36-, 48-, 96-, 144- multi-fiber types, with 12-fiber and 24-fiber arrays being the most commonly used. Nowadays, 12 fiber MPO connector and 24 fiber MPO connector have been broadly deployed into 40G and 100G cabling. MPO connectors contains several parts such as boot, coupling/housing assembly, ferrule, guide pins, and so on. Because of difference pins types, the MPO connector can be either male or female. The male connector has metal guide pins to ensure fiber alignment when mating while female connector has no pins. These pins make sure that the connector fronts are precisely aligned on contact and that the fibers’ end-faces aren’t offset. There is a “key” on the top side of the connector, which has key-up and key-down position. A “White Dot” mark on the connector body side to indicate the location of Position 1.

2. （Structure of MPO Connector） A general optical link requires two optical fibers to complete the entire transmission process. The matching of the transmit signal (Tx) to the receive equipment (Rx) at both ends of the fiber optic link is referred to as polarity. Three Three Polarization Polarization Methods Methods of of MPO: MPO: Type-A Type-A or have the same fiber position. (ex.: the fiber in the 1st position of the connector A matches with the fiber in the 1st position of the connector B). The Keys are opposite at both ends, Key Up – Key Down, Key Down - Key Up. or Straight: Straight: On a Type-A cable the fibers at each end of the cable

3. Type-B Type-B or at each end. (ex.: the fiber in the 1st position of the connector A matches with the fiber in the 12th position of the connector B). This type has both connectors in the same position (Key Up/Key Up, Key Down/Key Down). or Reversed: Reversed: On a Type-B cable the fiber positions are reversed Type-C Type-C or the fiber in the 1st position of the connector A matches with the fiber in the 2nd position of the connector B, connector A matches with the fiber in the 11th position of the connector B, ). The Keys are opposite at both ends, Key Up – Key Down, Key Down - Key Up. or Pairs Pairs flipped: flipped: Type-C cables cross each adjacent pair. (ex.: the fiber in the 12th position of the Understanding the basic differences in each of the three MPO polarity methods can help determine which method to deploy.

4. Reducing cable congestion in constrained spaces is an important factor in designing fiber systems for data centers and large enterprise equipment rooms and data centers. MPO fiber cables are widely used in high density cabling environments like FTTX and 40/100GSFP 、 SFP+ optical transceivers connectivity applications. HYC offers various kinds of fiber optic patch cords, including OS, OM1, OM2, OM3, OM4 OM5 fibers. HYC also provides fiber optic cables adapted to customers' http://www.hyc-system.com specific requirements. HYC Co., Ltd （ HYC ） is a national Hi-tech optoelectronics company engaged in R&D, manufacture, and marketing of fiber optical products. Providing professional product and service for fiber connectivity, WDM, PLC splitter, and high-density datacom cabling. HYC products and solutions widely applied in 4G/5G, Data Center and Cloud Computing industry, etc. sales@hyc-system.com