The Differences Among Multimode (OM1, OM2, OM3, OM4, OM5)
Fiber optic cable can be divided into several types. Usually, we see single-mode and multimode fiber types available on the market. Multimode fibers are described by their core and cladding diameters. The diameter of the multi-mode fiber is either 50/125 µm or 62.5/125 µm. At present, there are five commonly used OM (multimode) fibers: OM1, OM2, OM3, OM4 and OM5. Each type of them has different characteristics.
OM Multimode Fiber Standard
- OM1 cable typically comes with an orange jacket and has a core size of 62.5 micrometers (µm). It can support 10 Gigabit Ethernet at lengths up 33 meters. It is most commonly used for 100 Megabit Ethernet applications
- OM2 also has a suggested jacket color of orange. Its core size is 50µm instead of 62.5µm. It supports 10 Gigabit Ethernet at lengths up to 82 meters but is more commonly used for 1 Gigabit Ethernet applications.
- OM3 has a suggested jacket color of aqua. Like OM2, its core size is 50µm. OM3 supports 10 Gigabit Ethernet at lengths up to 300 meters. Besides OM3 is able to support 40 Gigabit and 100 Gigabit Ethernet up to 100 meters. 10 Gigabit Ethernet is its most common use.
- OM4 also has a suggested jacket color of aqua. It is a further improvement to OM3. It also uses a 50µm core but it supports 10 Gigabit Ethernet at lengths up 550 meters and it supports 100 Gigabit Ethernet at lengths up to 150 meters.
- OM5 also known as WBMMF (wideband multimode fiber), has a suggested jacket color of lime green. It is the newest type of multimode fiber, and it is backwards compatible with OM4. It has the same core size as OM2, OM3, and OM4.
What’s the Difference?
Bandwidth and attenuation comparison between different OM fiber optic cables
Multimode Fiber | Overfilled launch bandwidth (MHz.km) | Laser Launch | Attenuations (dB/km) | ||||
Fiber Type | TIA Fiber Standard | Core diameter (um) | 850 nm | 1300 nm | 850 nm | 850nm | 1300nm |
OM1 | 492-AAAA | 62.5 | 200 | 500 | Not specified | 3.5 | 1.5 |
OM2 | 492-AAAB | 50 | 500 | 500 | Not specified | 3.5 | 1.5 |
OM3 | 492-AAAC | 50 | 1500 | 500 | 2,000 | 2.3 | 0.6 |
OM4 | 492-AAAD | 50 | 3500 | 500 | 4,700 | 2.3 | 0.6 |
OM5 | 492-AAAE | 50 | 3500 | 500 | 4,700 | 2.4 | 0.6 |
Maximum channel length comparison between different OM Fiber optic cables
Fiber Mode | 100BASE | 1000BASE | 10GBASE | 40GBASE | 100GBASE | ||
850nm | 1300nm | 850nm | 1300nm | ||||
OM1 | up to 2000m | 275m | 550m | 33m | up to 300m | Not specified | Not specified |
OM2 | up to 2000m | 550m | 550m | 82m | up to 300m | Not specified | Not specified |
OM3 | up to 2000m | 550m | 550m | 300m | up to 300m | 100m | 100m |
OM4 | up to 2000m | 1000m | 550m | 550m | 400m* | 150m | 150m |
OM5 | up to 2000m | Not specified | Not specified | Not specified | 400m* | 150m | 150m |
Multimode fibers are able to transmit different distance ranges at various data rate. You can choose the most suited one according to your actual application.