Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1543070
54 S P R I N G 2 0 2 6 I C A S Q U A R T E R L Y Those of us who work in production live in a geek's paradise. There's always some cool new technology around the corner, which most of us can't wait to test. Automixing, audio-over-Ethernet (AoE), wireless timecode, WMAS … progress, as they say, is relentless. Fiber optics is not exactly a new technology—it's been used in film production since the early 2000s. And while I had not used it on my productions, the technology has piqued my interest for years with the main attraction being that it can considerably extend the useful range of RF (radio frequency) signals, which are—for better or for worse—the bread and butter of production sound. In my production sound world, things are usually pretty contained. The action tends to be well within the range of the wireless receivers, so capturing the various microphones in play is generally uneventful. And when a scene is filmed too far from our position, we deploy longer cables to place the antennas closer to the action. However, there's a limit to how far we can extend them. Coaxial cable is heavy and bulky and once you hit 200 feet, you face the Law of Diminishing Returns. Fiber Optics Has Entered the Chat While coaxial cables lose about 6 dB of signal strength every 100 feet, fiber optic cables lose less than 1 dB/km. You can deploy literally a mile of cable before you can measure any loss. They're also thin and lightweight. A fiber cable carrying four discrete signals is about 1/8" in diameter, while a traditional copper cable is almost twice as thick—and quite a bit heavier. Did I mention a single fiber cable can carry multiple discrete signals? These features are why our friends on the broadcast audio side have relied on fiber for years. While I have been intrigued for years, I never had a valid reason to wade in the fiber optics waters until we started prepping for Jury Duty Presents: Company Retreat, the new season of the popular hidden-camera show streamed on Amazon. Filming would take place in a semi-rural community outside Los Angeles. A map of the property revealed an eye-shaped parcel measuring about 1,200' by 600'. With this, the need for me to dive into the fiber optic waters was evident. The property is used as an events space, hosting wedding parties and corporate team-building activities. A structure in the middle of the parcel, relatively equidistant from the limits of Using Fiber for Extending Transmission Coverage: A Case Study b y B l a s K i s i´c C A S