Similar concept, except using mirror-walled empty tubes instead of strands of clear fiber. It’s not for transmitting data, just distributing natural light.
I have seen at least plans, and I think it’s actually been done, for using fiber optic cables connected to a skylight to transfer sunlight to rooms that otherwise wouldn’t be able to have any.
Nothing about fiber optic cables are about data specifically. It’s just a cable that transmits light in a very similar way a tunnel with mirrors would (but better). It happens to be very useful for data, but it’s just sending light through it that’s interpreted as data at the other end.
Right, because fiberoptic cables are made up of little tiny strands of clear fiber, so that each one can have an “on” and an “off” status, creating the potential for high-speed data transfer.
What I’m saying is that these ducts don’t need that, because they don’t need to send billions of 1s and 0s per second. Just plain, natural light, which can be achieved without the fiber.
Well, the reason it’s good for data transfer is the same reason it’d be good here. The properties of the cable means it’s flexible and transmits light down the cable with little loss, and it’s also pretty cheap. Light exiting the cable if reflected, because of the material properties, so it bounces down the path easily. A duct with mirrors doesn’t have this property. You’d have to make sure the mirrors are angled correctly, and it’d only work if the light is collumated, so it’s all traveling parallel and not spreading out.
Fiber obtic cables, again, are just transferring light. They don’t have an on or off state. It’s just light. It isn’t just used for data transfer. It’s just good for that because it’s flexible and transmits light with little loss, and little spread. Light that comes in one end almost all comes out the other end, no matter how it bends on its path. This also means it’s great for something like transferring light in a building. You don’t need perfectly aligned mirrors that would decay in effectiveness with dust. You just run some cables from a skylight to where you want light, and it’ll come out the other end.
You can transfer data without fiber optics. It can be done with mirrors, just like your idea. The problem is that this system runs into a lot of issues. It is only done for data transfer in very specific circumstances, where you can’t have a direct connection usually, because of this. The same issues would happen here (with a little less concern, because we don’t care about data integrity, only quantity). All this is to say, fiber optics are great for transferring light where you can’t have a straight line, not just for data.
The reason fiberoptic is better than a mirrored duct for data transfer is because you can pack say 32 or 64 fibers into a cable, that means 32 or 64 points of light that are either “on” or “off”, creating a 32-bit or 64-bit word size and enabling data transfer. You can’t do that with ducts.
Fiber obtic cables, again, are just transferring light. They don’t have an on or off state. It’s just light.
There is an on and an off state. Either the light is on or the light is off. That’s how it translates into binary. Literally that’s what binary data is: a single data-point is either on or off. Put a bunch of them together to create words with 2n possible combinations per word where n is the number of datapoints. For electrical data, that’s the voltage level of one wire or bus lead. For fiberoptics, it’s each individual fiber. It’s either on or off, that’s the whole point.
You’d have to make sure the mirrors are angled correctly, and it’d only work if the light is collumated, so it’s all traveling parallel and not spreading out.
[…]
You don’t need perfectly aligned mirrors that would decay in effectiveness with dust
The mirrors don’t have to be angled precisely. If you take a cylindrical tube, and make the inside a mirrored surface, then all light traveling down it will continue traveling downward as it bounces. The only time the angle matters is around turns, but that’s easy enough to angle correctly.
It also doesn’t need to be columnated, but the thing about the fish-eye dome is that with a flat lense on bottom, it does output columnated light from the wide-angled light it receives. That’s how convex defraction works.
And dust wouldn’t be an issue if your tubes are sealed.
Fiberoptics would technically work, but it’s more material than you need because it would require running fiberoptic cables everywhere instead of just using hollow chromed tubes. Also, the quantity of light it can receive and transmit is limited to the thickness of the cable.
Fiberoptics are great for high-speed data transfer because of data-integrity and the fine-pointed nature of the fibers. But they aren’t ideal for moving large amounts of light where precision isn’t needed, e.g. enough natural daylight to brighten several rooms.
There is an on and an off state. Either the light is on or the light is off. That’s how it translates into binary. Literally that’s what binary data is: a single data-point is either on or off.
Not really. Yes, binary is on or off, but how the signal is read is it has a threshold for on/off. This is true for light, with fiber optics, and also electricity. The universe doesn’t work on binary. We say “if the signal value is > X, do Y”. Electrical engineering actually has to handle variability in the signal, while computer science just pretends it’s actually binary.
Fiberoptics would technically work, but it’s more material than you need because it would require running fiberoptic cables everywhere instead of just using hollow chromed tubes. Also, the quantity of light it can receive and transmit is limited to the thickness of the cable.
I’m not just making up hypotheticals. If your idea were better it would be used. Fiber optics to transfer light is actually a thing that’s done. Here is a company selling that product, and there are many others, but I’ve also seen things about large structures using a custom solution too. It literally does work and is actually done in reality.
And yes, I know digital “on”/“off” isn’t literally either 5V or 0V, it’s really “high”/“low”, but practically speaking that doesn’t change anything about what I said and it’s more cumbersome to use those terms in casual conversation because it assumes a knowledgeable audience. Either way, when the memory latches in the register, each bit is either on or it’s off, and fiberoptics work the same as electrical in that sense. That level of complexity and precision is not needed for distributing daylight.
Fiber optics transmit data through the medium of light, not electricity. It is exactly the same thing. The inside of the fiber optic cable is reflective and works just like a tube of mirrors. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fiber-optic_communication
Similar concept, except using mirror-walled empty tubes instead of strands of clear fiber. It’s not for transmitting data, just distributing natural light.
I have seen at least plans, and I think it’s actually been done, for using fiber optic cables connected to a skylight to transfer sunlight to rooms that otherwise wouldn’t be able to have any.
Nothing about fiber optic cables are about data specifically. It’s just a cable that transmits light in a very similar way a tunnel with mirrors would (but better). It happens to be very useful for data, but it’s just sending light through it that’s interpreted as data at the other end.
Right, because fiberoptic cables are made up of little tiny strands of clear fiber, so that each one can have an “on” and an “off” status, creating the potential for high-speed data transfer.
What I’m saying is that these ducts don’t need that, because they don’t need to send billions of 1s and 0s per second. Just plain, natural light, which can be achieved without the fiber.
Well, the reason it’s good for data transfer is the same reason it’d be good here. The properties of the cable means it’s flexible and transmits light down the cable with little loss, and it’s also pretty cheap. Light exiting the cable if reflected, because of the material properties, so it bounces down the path easily. A duct with mirrors doesn’t have this property. You’d have to make sure the mirrors are angled correctly, and it’d only work if the light is collumated, so it’s all traveling parallel and not spreading out.
Fiber obtic cables, again, are just transferring light. They don’t have an on or off state. It’s just light. It isn’t just used for data transfer. It’s just good for that because it’s flexible and transmits light with little loss, and little spread. Light that comes in one end almost all comes out the other end, no matter how it bends on its path. This also means it’s great for something like transferring light in a building. You don’t need perfectly aligned mirrors that would decay in effectiveness with dust. You just run some cables from a skylight to where you want light, and it’ll come out the other end.
You can transfer data without fiber optics. It can be done with mirrors, just like your idea. The problem is that this system runs into a lot of issues. It is only done for data transfer in very specific circumstances, where you can’t have a direct connection usually, because of this. The same issues would happen here (with a little less concern, because we don’t care about data integrity, only quantity). All this is to say, fiber optics are great for transferring light where you can’t have a straight line, not just for data.
The reason fiberoptic is better than a mirrored duct for data transfer is because you can pack say 32 or 64 fibers into a cable, that means 32 or 64 points of light that are either “on” or “off”, creating a 32-bit or 64-bit word size and enabling data transfer. You can’t do that with ducts.
There is an on and an off state. Either the light is on or the light is off. That’s how it translates into binary. Literally that’s what binary data is: a single data-point is either on or off. Put a bunch of them together to create words with 2n possible combinations per word where n is the number of datapoints. For electrical data, that’s the voltage level of one wire or bus lead. For fiberoptics, it’s each individual fiber. It’s either on or off, that’s the whole point.
The mirrors don’t have to be angled precisely. If you take a cylindrical tube, and make the inside a mirrored surface, then all light traveling down it will continue traveling downward as it bounces. The only time the angle matters is around turns, but that’s easy enough to angle correctly.
It also doesn’t need to be columnated, but the thing about the fish-eye dome is that with a flat lense on bottom, it does output columnated light from the wide-angled light it receives. That’s how convex defraction works.
And dust wouldn’t be an issue if your tubes are sealed.
Fiberoptics would technically work, but it’s more material than you need because it would require running fiberoptic cables everywhere instead of just using hollow chromed tubes. Also, the quantity of light it can receive and transmit is limited to the thickness of the cable.
Fiberoptics are great for high-speed data transfer because of data-integrity and the fine-pointed nature of the fibers. But they aren’t ideal for moving large amounts of light where precision isn’t needed, e.g. enough natural daylight to brighten several rooms.
Not really. Yes, binary is on or off, but how the signal is read is it has a threshold for on/off. This is true for light, with fiber optics, and also electricity. The universe doesn’t work on binary. We say “if the signal value is > X, do Y”. Electrical engineering actually has to handle variability in the signal, while computer science just pretends it’s actually binary.
I’m not just making up hypotheticals. If your idea were better it would be used. Fiber optics to transfer light is actually a thing that’s done. Here is a company selling that product, and there are many others, but I’ve also seen things about large structures using a custom solution too. It literally does work and is actually done in reality.
I see your dornob and raise you one solatube
And yes, I know digital “on”/“off” isn’t literally either 5V or 0V, it’s really “high”/“low”, but practically speaking that doesn’t change anything about what I said and it’s more cumbersome to use those terms in casual conversation because it assumes a knowledgeable audience. Either way, when the memory latches in the register, each bit is either on or it’s off, and fiberoptics work the same as electrical in that sense. That level of complexity and precision is not needed for distributing daylight.
Fiber optics transmit data through the medium of light, not electricity. It is exactly the same thing. The inside of the fiber optic cable is reflective and works just like a tube of mirrors. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fiber-optic_communication
That doesn’t contradict anything I said. When did I mention electricity?
Fiberoptics are made of fiber. The ducts I described are empty inside.