When talking about passive products, like patch cord, pigtail, adapter and splitter, will involve UPC and APC description.
Some people may be curious if not familar with fiber optical. For example, what is LC/UPC - LC/UPC? What is SC/APC - SC/APC, FC/UPC - LC/UPC? In fact, UPC and APC are two grinding methods for optical fiber bushings.
Today HTF will mainly introduce these two different grinding methods for you to choose the right solution for the network center.
1. Why have UPC and APC?
Install connectors on one fiber end face, return loss is unavoidable, this is due to the reflection of the optical source. Serious optical loss will damage the laser optical source and interrupts the transmission of signals. Therefore, connector rings with different grinding methods can avoid severe echo loss to a certain extent. UPC and APC are two widely used grinding types.
2. What is UPC and APC?
UPC, ultra physical contact, evolved from PC and has better surface finish. UPC connector depends on machine polishing, low return loss.
APC, angular physical contact. The end face is drawn to a 8 degree angle, which is beveled to reduce reflection. APC can only be connected to APC. Since the structure of the APC is completely different from the UPC, if the two connectors are connected with a flange, the optical fiber end of the connector will be damaged.
3. How to distinguish UPC and APC?
Different end face. The UPC connector is polished without angles, but the APC connector has an angle of 8 degrees.
Optical reflection mode. The UPC connector will reflect any reflected light back into the light source in use, but the APC connector reflects the reflected light at a certain angle to the cladding rather than directly to the light source.
Return loss. The APC connector provides -65 dB return loss, the UPC is -50 dB. If the return loss is low, the connector can achieve better matching performance.
Connector color. The UPC connector is usually blue, while the APC connector is usually green.
4.UPC vs APC, which one is better?
When choosing an optical fiber jumper, it should be based on your actual application.
APC connector has better performance than UPC. APC is best suited for high-bandwidth applications and long-distance links. For example, FTTx, Passive Optical Network (PON) and Wavelength Division Multiplexing (WDM) are more sensitive to return loss, so APC is a better solution to provide the lowest return loss. However, the extensive use of APC-connected machines will greatly increase costs.
If the requirements for return loss are not high, UPC is a better choice.
HTF provides APC, UPC and other types of fiber optic jumpers, with low loss and high cost performance, it is the best choice for optical communication wiring.
Any questions?
Contact Ivy from HTF team and will assist you asap.
Email: ivy@htfuture.com Skype: live:sales6_1683 Whatsapp/wechat: +8618123672396
