MTP/MPO fiber patch cord has connectors on both ends, with the characteristics of bend-insensitive, carefully polished and low-loss, which are very suitable for high-density cabling systems and cable management cabling that require space saving.
The main difference between MTP and MPO fiber patch cord is their connectors, which will be introduced in detail in this article.
Although MTP fiber optic patch cords can be directly interconnected with MPO fiber optic patch cord based cabling systems, MTP and MPO fiber optic patch cords differ in connector types, latch clips, floating ferrule, guide pins, removable housings and performance.
The MPO (Multi-Fiber Push-On) connector is a connector with a minimum of 8 optical fibers. It is designed to provide multiple optical fibers in one connector and complies with the IEC 61754-7 standard and the US TIA604-5 standard. It is well suited for the connection of high-bandwidth and high-density cabling systems.
The MTP (Multi-Fiber Pull-Out) connector is manufactured by US Connector Company and is an improved version of the MPO connector. Therefore, the MTP fiber connector is fully compatible with the general MPO connector and can be directly interconnected with the cabling system based on MPO fiber optic patch cord. However, compared with the general MPO fiber optical patch cord connector, the MTP fiber optical patch cord connector can improve optical and mechanical performance.
MTP fiber optic jumper connectors are usually equipped with metal latch clips that can better fasten the pins to minimize the occurrence of accidental breakage during use, while MPO fiber optic patch cord connectors are equipped with plastic pin clips that may cause the pins to break during use.
Figure 1: Comparison of MTP and MPO fiber patch cord clips
The connector of MTP fiber patch cord has a floating ferrule, which can be used to improve mechanical performance. In other words, the floating ferrule of MTP fiber optic patch cord connector can float internally to maintain a stable connection under applied loads. However, MPO fiber optic patch cord connector does not have a floating ferrule.
Unlike simplex fiber connectors, adapters for multi-core fiber connectors are used for coarse alignment only. Therefore, guide pins are essential for accurate alignment when two MT ferrules are used together.
The guide pins used in MTP/MPO fiber jumper connectors are also different. The MTP fiber optic patch cord connector is a tightly fixed stainless steel circular guide pin to reduce debris on the guide holes and ferrule end faces. The MPO fiber optic patch cord connectors uses cylindrical guide pins, which may generate debris during use.
Figure 2: Comparison of guide pins between MTP and MPO fiber patch cord connectors
MTP fiber patch cord connectors feature removable housings, allowing users to rework and polish MT sealing gaskets, easily perform performance tests, and easily change polarity after assembly, even in the field. MTP PRO fiber optic patch cords allow for quick and efficient cable configuration and polarity changes in the field while also ensuring product performance.
Figure 3: MTP fiber patch cord connector removable housing
MPO optical patchcord connector has been recognized as the international standard for fiber optic cabling and are suitable for 40G/100G data center cabling structures. However, the use of MPO fiber optic patch cord connector may cause some problems, such as return loss, packet loss, etc. The MTP fiber optic patchlead connector is a high-performance MPO connector designed to ensure the polarity of the fiber optic patch cord, which helps to reduce insertion loss and return loss when transmitting data in high-density cabling systems.
