AN1077 - Replacing Wire with Inexpensive Plastic Fiber Solutions

AN1077 explains the advantages of low cost fiber-optic solution and ways to implement it using Cypress CY7B923/CY7B933 HOTLink transceivers.

Introduction

Communication with fiber-optics has many advantages over electrical or “wire”-based interfaces. Unfortunately, fiber has often been considered an expensive or exotic solution, limited to high-end applications that absolutely require it. With the advent of inexpensive optical devices and plastic optical fiber (POF), this technology can now be implemented at costs that are competitive with copper wire.