Fibre optics can be used with PROFIBUS for applications in environments with much interference, or for electrical isolation, or to increase range at high transmission speeds.
Various types of fibre are available for use as optical waveguides and they have different characteristic properties as to range, price and area of use. PROFIBUS segments in fibre optic technology are built either in star, bus or ring structures. FO components from some manufacturers also allow redundant FO transmission lines to be built with automatic switching to an alternative physical transmission route in case of any fault.
Fibre optics have a variety of advantages over copper lines:
•Greater distances are possible with glass fibres than with copper lines
•Transmission via fibre optics is completely immune to electromagnetic disturbance
•Electrical isolation eliminates ground potential differences and ground equalizing currents
•Fibre optics are very light and practically immune to corrosion
FO transmission systems generally use a transition from RS 485 to light that is called here an FO converter.
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