Active Optical Cable

The AOC (Active Optical Cable) is the industry’s optical solution for connections of 20 meters or less, which is ideal for data center, storage network, and high performance computing applications. Usually, the wire transmission of optical communication should belong to passive part, but AOC is an exception. AOC consists of multimode optical fiber, fiber optic transceivers, control chip and modules. It uses electrical-to-optical conversion on the cable ends to improve speed and distance performance of the cable without sacrificing compatibility with standard electrical interfaces. Typically, Passive cabling provides a direct electrical connection between corresponding cable ends. Active cables provide the same effect but, by embedding optics and/or electronics within the connectors, can overcome some of the limitations of passive cables. While passive cables are always copper-based, active cables can use either copper wire or fiber optics to provide the link between the cable ends.

Active Optical Cable