nductors. The flow of electrons in a conductor generates a magnetic field that changes with the current flow. Electromagnetic Interference does occur in coaxial cables, since current does cut across the conductor. Fiber optics are immune to this EMI sincesignals are transmitted as light instead of current. Thus, they can carry signals through places where EMI would block transmission. 2) Data Security Magnetic fields and current induction work in two ways. They don't just generate noise in signal carrying conductors; they also let the information on the conductor to be leaked out. Fluctuations in the induced magnetic field outside a conductor carry the sameinformation as the current passing through the conductor. Shielding the wire, as in coaxial cables can reduce the problem, but sometimes shielding can allow enough signal leak to allow tapping, which is exactly what we wouldn't want. There are no radiated magnetic fields around optical fibers; the electromagnetic fields are confined within the fiber. That makes it impossible to tap the signal being transmitted through a fiber without cutting into the fiber. Since fiber optics do not radiateelectromagnetic energy, emissions cannot be intercepted and physically tapping the fiber takes great skill to do undetected. Thus, the fiber is the most secure medium available for carrying sensitive data. 3) Non Conductive Cables Metal cables can encounter other signal transmission problems because of subtle variations in electrical potential. Electronic designers assume that ground is a uniform potential. That is reasonable if ground is a single metal chassis, and it's not too bad ifground is a good conductor that extends through a small building. However, the nominal ground potential can differ by several volts if cables run between different buildings or sometimes even different parts of the same building. Signal levels in semiconductor circuits are just a few volts, creating a...
