Table Of ContentFibre Optic Cabling
Fiber Optic Cabling
Second Edition
Barry Elliott
Mike Gilmore
OXFORD AUCKLAND BOSTON JOHANNESBURG MELBOURNE NEW DELHI
Newnes
An imprint of Butterworth-Heinemann
Linacre House, Jordan Hill, Oxford OX2 8DP
225 Wildwood Avenue, Woburn, MA 01801-2041
A division of Reed Educational and Professional Publishing Ltd
A member of the Reed Elsevier plc group
First published 1991
Second edition 2002
© Mike Gilmore and Barry Elliott 2002
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in
any material form (including photocopying or storing in any medium by
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other use of this publication) without the written permission of the
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Court Road, London, England W1P 0LP. Applications for the copyright
holder’s written permission to reproduce any part of this publication
should be addressed to the publishers
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
ISBN 0 7506 5013 3
Composition by Scribe Design, Gillingham, Kent, UK
Printed and bound in Great Britain
.........................................................P.reface
...................................A..b..b...r.e..v..iations
.............................S...a..f.e..t.y.. .s.t.a. tement
Cabling as .a..n.. .o..p..e..r.a..t.i.n..g.. system
1 Fiber optic communications and the
data cabling revolution................................ 1
Communications cabling and its role.............. 2
Fiber optics and the cabling market ............... 3
Fiber optic cabling as an operating system.... 7
The economics of fiber optic cabling.............. 9
2 Optical fiber theory................................... 2
Basic fiber parameters ................................... 2
Refractive index.............................................. 12
Laws of reflection and refraction .................... 15
Optical fiber and total inter nal reflection........ 18
Optical fiber constr uction and definitions....... 20
The ideal fiber................................................. 21
Light acceptance and numerical aper ture ..... 22
Light loss and attenuation .............................. 24
Intrinsic loss mechanisms .............................. 24
Modal distribution and fiber attenuation ......... 27
Extrinsic loss mechanisms ............................. 28
Impact of numerical aper ture on
attenuation...................................................... 31
Operational wavelength windows................... 31
Bandwidth....................................................... 31
Step index and graded index fibers................ 34
Modal conversion and its effect upon
bandwidth....................................................... 36
Single mode transmission in optical fiber....... 39
Bandwidth specifications for optical fiber ....... 45
System design, bandwidth utilization and
fiber geometries.............................................. 46
Optical fiber geometries ................................. 47
The new family of single mode fiber............... 48
Plastic optical fiber ......................................... 52
3 Optical fiber production t.e..c..h..niques
.M...a..n..u..f.a..c..t.u..r.i.n..g.. .t.e..c..hniques
Preform manufacture...................................... 55
Stepped index fiber preforms......................... 55
All-silica fiber preforms................................... 56
Fiber manufacture from preforms................... 63
Fiber compatibility .......................................... 66
Clad silica fibers............................................. 66
Plastic optical fiber ......................................... 67
Radiation hardness ........................................ 68
Primary coating processes............................. 70
4 Optical fiber (cid:150) connection theory and
........................b..a..s..i.c.. .t..e..c..h..niques
...........C..o..n..n..e..c..t.i.o..n.. .t.e..c..hniques
Connection categories.................................... 73
Insertion loss .................................................. 73
Basic parametric mismatch............................ 74
Fusion splice joints......................................... 78
Mechanical alignment..................................... 79
Joint loss, fiber geometry and preparation ..... 84
Return loss ..................................................... 84
5 Practical aspects of connection
............................................t.e..c..h...nology
Alignment techn.i.q..u..e..s.. .w..i.t.h..in joints
The joint and its specification......................... 90
Inser tion loss and component
specifications.................................................. 91
The introduction of optical fiber within joint
mechanisms................................................... 95
Joint mechanisms: relative cladding
diameter alignment......................................... 98
Joint mechanisms: absolute cladding
diameter alignment......................................... 100
6 Connectors and joints, alternatives
..........................a..n..d... .a..p..p..l.i.c.ations
Splice joints.................................................... 105
Demountable connectors ............................... 110
Standards and optical connectors.................. 121
Termination: the attachment of a fiber optic
connector to a cable....................................... 124
Termination as an installation technique........ 127
...............7.. .F..i.b..e..r.. .o..p..t.i.c.. .cables
...........B..a..s..i.c. .c..a..b..l.i.n..g.. .e..lements
Cabling requirements and designs................. 134
Fiber optic cable design definitions................ 135
Inter-building (external) cables....................... 138
Intra-building (internal) cables........................ 141
Fiber optic cables and optomechanical
stresses.......................................................... 143
User-friendly cable designs............................ 147
The economics of optical fiber cable
design............................................................. 147
8.. .O...p..t.i.c..a..l. .f..i.b..e..r. .h..i.g..hways
Optical fiber installa.t.io..n..s..:. .d..e..finitions
The optical fiber highway................................ 154
Optical fiber highway design .......................... 156
.....................................................
...........................................
9 Optical fibe.r. .h...i.g..h..w...a..y.. .design
Nodal design .................................................. 168
Ser vice needs................................................ 172
Optical budget................................................ 176
Bandwidth requirements................................. 185
Fiber geometry choices within the highway
design............................................................. 189
........1..0.. .C...o..m...p..o..n...e..n..t. .choice
Fiber optic cable and cabl.e.. .a..s.s..emblies
Connectors..................................................... 199
Splice components......................................... 200
Termination enclosures.................................. 201
11 Sp..e..c..i.f..i.c..a..t.i.o..n.. .d..e..f.inition
.......T.. .e..c..h..n..i.c..a..l. .g..r.o..u..n.d r ules
Operational requirement................................. 206
Design proposal ............................................. 211
Optical specification ....................................... 214
Contractual aspects of the specification
agreement...................................................... 215
12 Accep.t.a..n..c..e.. .t.e..s..t.. .m...ethods
...........................................F...ix..e..d. cables
Air-blown fiber testing..................................... 229
Cable assembly acceptance testing............... 229
Direct termination during installation and its
effect upon quality assurance......................... 239
Termination enclosures.................................. 239
Pre-installed cabling....................................... 240
Short-range systems and test philosophies ... 240
.....1..3.. .I.n..s..t.a..l.l.a..t.i.o...n.. .p..ractice
Transmission equipment and the overall
contract requirement ...................................... 243
The role of the installer................................... 244
The typical installation.................................... 244
Contract management.................................... 245
Installation programme................................... 248
Termination practices..................................... 253
14 Fina.l. .a..c..c..e..p..t..a..n..c..e.. .testing
.......................G...e..n..e..r.a..l. .i.n..s.pection
Optical performance testing ........................... 259
Overall span attenuation measurement ......... 262
Optical time domain reflectometer testing
of installed spans............................................ 267
....................1..5.. .D...o..c..u..m....e..ntation
.......C...o..n..t.r.a..c..t. .d..o..c..u..m...entation
Technical documentation ............................... 275
The function of final highway
documentation................................................ 283
Internationalstandards concerning project
documentation................................................ 283
16 Rep.a..i.r. .a..n..d... .m...a..i.n..t.e.nance
............................................................. Repair
Maintenance................................................... 289
..................................1..7.. .C...a..s..e. study
.............................P..r.e..l.i.m...i.n..a..ry ideas
.............N...e..t.w...o..r.k.. .r.e..q..u..i.rements
Initial implementation for inter-building
cabling............................................................ 292
Materials choice ............................................. 300
Bill of materials (fiber optic content)............... 304
Installation planning........................................ 309
1..8.. .F..u...t.u..r.e.. .d...e..v..e..l.o..p.ments
...........................................E...x.o..t.i.c lasers
New optical fibres........................................... 311
Next generation components ......................... 312
New coding techniques.................................. 313
Appendix A Attenuation within optical
.....f.i.b..e..r..:. .i.t.s.. .m...e..a..s..u..r.ement
............................................................. Index
