The connector is the point at which two optical fibres are joined.  REANNZ has selected angled SC connectors to be used within the KAREN POP sites.

Angled SC is commonly referred to as SC/APC (SC angled physical contact) in some documentation and less commonly as ASC or SCA. The term physical contact (PC) is used because, at a minimum, the cross sectional face of the two fibres must touch.

All cable joins, be they optical or electrical, create a certain amount of signal loss. Angled SC interfaces were selected as the standard connector to be used within KAREN in order to reduce signal loss to a minimum. A major source of signal loss on a fibre optic cable is known as return loss (RL).

RL is a phenomenon where some of the light is reflected back to the source causing signal degradation.  Multimedia transmissions such as voice and video, high bandwidth applications and long haul links require minimal RL.  In order to ensure the best possible performance of KAREN it is vital that connectors contributed as little RL as possible thus ensuring the integrity of the network.

The APC connector offered the lowest return loss characteristics of any connector that was available in the market at the time the network was established.

A more detailed description of the reason for the use of Angled SC connectors can be found at http://www.adc.com/Library/Literature/103178AE.pdf (1.7MB)