What is MPO/MTP breakout cable?
MPO breakout cable are generally composed of four parts: optical cable, fanout cable, breakout kit and optical connectors. The main cable adopts multi-core cable, which is convenient for wiring and not easy to tangle. It is an ideal fiber optic wiring product for high-density environment. It is mainly used in backbone network, fiber optic wiring, data center and other optical network scenarios. It is an MPO optical cable assembly used for interconnection between multiple single-channel optical modules and a single multi-channel parallel optical module. The connector, fiber core, optical fiber and length can be customized.
MTP Breakout Cable Features
MTP Fanout Cable generally refer to MPO jumpers with a fan-out kit, which divides an MPO multi-core connector into more and smaller fiber optic connectors.
Our breakout kits are generally round shape,if there is specially request, can do ribbon type fanout kits too.
The fiber optic cable length, cable sheath color and optical fiber type can be customize according to your project needs.
The number of fiber cores can be customized, commonly used are 8 12 24 16 32 48 cores, and currently 400G 800G uses 8 cores and 16 cores the most.
The branch fanout cable can be connectors SC FC LC ST, MPO, etc. If it is MPO to MPO patch cord, it can also be called MPO TRUCK CABLE.
MPO to MPO Breakout Cable
MPO MTP Connector Types
Fiber MPO connectors are divided into female and male connectors. The mpo female connector has 2 guide holes without installing the guide pin, and the mpo male connector has 2 guide pins. To know more about female and male connectors please refer to: “What is MTP female connector vs male connector? “
MPO connectors must be matched with a pair of MTP female connector and MTP male connector, see below:
Please note that commonly used branch cables are generally female, but there are also male ones, especially those used in MPO module boxes. So if the customer requires an MPO to MPO fiber cable assembly, it is generally a male connector by default.
MPO Cable Types
The MPO optical cables commonly used for MPO patch cords are bundled micro cables and ribbon cables. Generally, 8 fiber MPO patch cables normally use 12 core fiber optic micro cables instead.
Currently, the most shipped MPO cable is 3mm round micro cable, which can include 8-core, 12-core, 16-core or 24-core optical fibers internal. Because 3mm round cable is more practical and widely used than ribbon cable, which can better protect the optical fibers inside than ribbon cable. Unless there is a special scenario requirement, flat cable is not used. Due to the flat shape of ribbon cable, the optical fiber is easy to break or be squeezed and deformed, which affects the loss and signal transmission.
MPO MTP Connector Optical Performance
Fiber MPO connector is a multi-core connector, so the insertion loss is greater than that of a single-core connector like SC FC LC ST. The conventional standard loss is <0.7dB, and the low loss is Elite <0.35dB. The lower the loss, the more expensive the MPO breakout cable price is.
| Optical parameters | ||||
| Insertion loss (dB) | SM standard | SM Elite | MM standard | MM Elite |
| ≤0.7 | ≤0.35 | ≤0.7 | ≤0.35 | |
| Return loss (dB) | ≥60 | ≥20 | ||
| Durability (dB) | ≤0.2, 500 times matings | |||
| Tensile strength (kgf) | 10 | |||
| Working temperature (℃) | -20 ~+70 | |||
| Measurement wavelength (nm) | 1310 | 850 | ||
| Geometry parameters | ||||
| Item | X-axis | Y-axis | ||
| Min | Max | Min | Max | |
| Radius of curvature (mm) | 500 | – | 50 | – |
| Polishing angle | 0-0.2 | 0+0.2 | 8-0.2 | 8+0.2 |
| Item | Min | Max | ||
| Fiber height (nm) | 1000 | 3000 | ||
| Max fiber height error (nm) | 600 | |||
MPO Connector Brand
There are 3 types of MPO connector fiber yingda can offer: SENKO MPO connector, USCONEC MTP fiber connector, China MPO connector.
Our regular products use China domestically produced MPO spare parts, if you need SENKO, USCONEC or other brands, please let us know adhead of time.
And if you wan to know more about the difference of MTP VS MPO, please refer to article:
Different of harness cable vs breakout cable
Harness cable is one type of short length mpo fanout cable, one side is mpo connector, the other side is sc lc fc st connectors, and the cable length is only 0.3-0.4 meters, and the cable diameter is 0.9mm loose tube colored pigtails, which is mostly used in mpo cassette, and the mpo connector is male.
Breakout cable is a fanout cable with breakout kit,one side is only one MPO connector, the other side is sc lc fc st or mpo connectors as well. The cable length, cable color and cable diameter can be customize.
Sometimes, there is not have a brekaout kit too, but use a heat shrink protection sleeve instead, which is also can be called mpo breakout cable, but this is not a good way to protect, if only short distance without too much pressure or tensile strength, it is ok, if long distance, suggest to use a plastic or metal breakout kits, though the cost maybe a little higher, but ensure good optical performance.
