Communication

System

Copper Cable

Multiplexer Multiplexer
 Communication System
Using O.F. Cable

OLTE OLTE

O.F. Cable

Multiplexer Multiplexer
Benefit of optical fibre
Cable

Light in Weight

Small Diameter,Excellent Transmission Characteristics

The Enormous Information Capacity

 No interference

Long repeater distance

 Principle
Operation
All the fibres consists of substructures includes
CORE :which carries most of the light , surrounded by

CLADDING: which bends the light and confined in it in to the

core

Core Cladding
Fiber Cable Structure
Coated Fibers
TYPE OF FIBRES

SINGLE MODE MULTI MODE

Types of cables

Based on installation methods Cable

can be Classified as:

 Duct Cable

 Direct Buried Cable

 Aerial Cable

 Premise Cable
Type of Optical
fibre cable

Duct Cable
Loose Tube Cable Uni tube Cable
Type of Optical fibre
cable

Duct Cable
Loose Tube Cable Uni-tube Cable

Peripheral
Strength
member

v
Type of Optical fibre
cable

Direct Buried Cable

Loose Tube Cable Uni-tube Cable

Peripheral
Strength
member

v
Fiber with mechanical strength member
Steel used as a strength member
Aramid yarn as a strength member
Type of Optical
fibre cable

Aerial Cable(ADSS)
Loose Tube Cable
All Dielectric self supporting cable(ADSS)
Type of Optical
fibre cable

Aerial Cable(OPGW)
Type of Optical fibre
cable

Aerial Cable(GWWOP)
Type of Optical fibre
cable

Premise Cable
Fibre Optic
Cables

Design , Performance
Characteristics,
and
Field Experience
 Fibre Optic
Cables

Cable Design Considerations

1 Cable can be handled in a straight forward practical

manner as of most other communication cables ( e.g Duct
cable)

2 The requires mechanical , Optical and environment

characteristics for specific use and applications( e. g.
Aerial cable )

3 They can be spliced and or connectorised in the field or

application with minimum difficulty and time ( e.g.
premise cable)
Fibre Optic Cables

Fibre Stresses

1 Tensile Stress

2 Bending Stress

3 Torsional stress
Fibre Stress
Main factors that drive Strength and Protection
decisions worldwide
Minimise Fiber elongation
Eliminate water ingress
Ensure personnel electrical safety
Protect from lightning strike
Minimise cable weight
Protect from rodents/ externals
Minimise hydrogen out gassing
Functional integration
Main factors that drive Strength and
Protection decisions worldwide

Minimise fiber elongation and bending losses

• Cable design and strength members contribute to limit fiber

elongation, micro bending and macro bending

• Materials used for strength members should exhibit low

thermal expansion and contraction properties

• Metal strength members do not perform well at low

temperatures due to larger CTE.
Main factors that drive Strength and
Protection decisions worldwide

Eliminate water ingress

• Specifications and applications moving towards dry cable
designs due to
- Ease of manufacture and installation
- Flame retardant properties

• However new water blocking materials should ensure

- Rapid swelling. Speed of swelling is as important as volume.
- Regeneration and long cycle life.
- Performance in all types of water environments.
- Ease of manufacture. No powdering or flaking.
Main factors that drive Strength and
Protection decisions worldwide

Personnel safety
• Metallic components in cables will require grounding at
periodic intervals.

• Insufficient care in grounding has been cause for many

equipment failures as well as personnel injuries

• ITU recommendations K and L stipulate various safeguards

that need to be taken to ensure personnel safety when using
cables with metallic components.

• Most developing countries prefer to minimize metallic

components as the surest way of ensuring personnel safety
Main factors that drive Strength and
Protection decisions worldwide
Protect from lightning strike
• Lightning strikes can damage not only aerial, but also underground
cables.

• Moist soil, tree roots, minerals in soil etc. can all conduct lightning
to u/g cables and cause large scale damage if the cables have
metallic components, especially in the core.

• The Bell core study in 1986 and IWCS papers in 1985 and 1990
identified lightning strikes on underground cables as a potential
cause of cable failure.

• Eliminating metallic components from the core of the cable has

been proven to be the only reliable form of protection.
Main factors that drive Strength and
Protection decisions worldwide

Minimize cable weight

• Cable weight in underground cables is being targeted in order

to increase installation speeds and improve productivity.

• In many markets, cable weight has been reduced by

substituting heavy components like metallic strength members
by lighter elements.

• An actual case of improvement of installation speed due to

reduction in cable weight
Main factors that drive Strength and
Protection decisions worldwide

Protect from rodents and other externals

• Cable damage due to rodent or gunshot damage can be

prevented in various ways.

• The focus is on devising suitable methods for rodent and

ballistic protection that
- does not sacrifice dielectric property
- does not increase weight considerably
- does not reduce flexibility
Protection to be provided against rodents
Loose Buffered Cable
Main factors that drive Strength and
Protection decisions worldwide

Prevent Hydrogen out gassing

• As hydrogen trapped in cable can corrode fibers, components

used in cable must have low hydrogen release levels.

• An ITU study indicates the main hydrogen releasing

component in a cable to be metallic strength members.
Main factors that drive Strength and
Protection decisions worldwide

Functional Integration

• This involves combining more functions onto fewer cable

components.

• This reduces number of components, cable size, and cost,

while improving productivity of manufacturers.

• Many products and technologies are now available which

contribute towards functional integration.
Cable Manufacturing
Process

Fibre coloring Loose Tubing

Stranding Sheathing
Color Codes for fibers
 Cable Manufacturing
Process

Fibre coloring

Fibre coloring is required for identification of fibre

Ultra Voilet Coating

Thermal Coating
Cable Design
Principles

Fibre Buffering

Loose tubes provides mechanical protection to

Fibres

Secondly it generates excess length of fibre which is

required to achieve desired cable tensile strength.
 Cable Design
Principles

1 Fibre Buffering

Tight & semi tight Buffering Loose Tube Buffering

Radial Freedom of
Fibre movement

Buffer Tube

Fill Gel

Plastic
Buffer
 Cable Design
Principles

Theoretically , the fibre in a Loose Buffering

tube with an inner
diameter of 4 mm can
achieve an extra length of I
Dπ
max 1%( 50 mm fibre
bending radius)
S

∆I D2 Π

S 1+ -1

S = Fibre Pitch S2
D = Helix Diameter
I = Fibre Length
∆ = Strain Margin
Cable Design Principles

Strength member

To serve as core foundation

To enhance the axial properties of cable ( and act as

Anti buckling element)

Protect the Fibre due to low temperature contraction

Required properties

Dielectric, High Modulus , Excellent Temperature stability,

Light weight, Low elongation , Dimensional
stability, Hydrolytically stable
and corrosion resistance
 Cable Design
Principles

Cable Core ( stranding)

• To decouple the fibre from the cable structure

• It generates constant Excess fibre length , in the tube

• To improve the bending performance of cable

Cable Design
Principles

Peripheral strength member

Aramid

Glass Flex

Other Synthetic fibres

Cable Design
Principles

Filling compound

Thixotrophic Gel

Hot melt Gel

 Cable Design
Principles

Cable sheath

To protect the cable from harmful environmental factors

( Humidity , temperature , chemicals, tensile loads,transversal
loads etc)

Typical wall thickness of PE sheath ranges from 1.2 -2.2 mm

 Cable Design
Principles

Central Tube cable

The Glass Flexible reinforcements do not

Sheath only provide the required tensile
performance but also a certain compression
Flex Rein. resistance.

Tube Cable like this would be suitable for in-

house and duct application provided the
temperature range is limited

For out door application additional rigid strength

member must be included in the sheath to reduce
the low temperature induced contraction.
 Cable Design
Principles

Central Tube cable

1 No Intrinsic fibre excess length

2 Every elongation of the cable would automatically lead

to elongation of the fibres

3 However to avoid this , the fibres have to be introduced

into the loose tubes with a certain extra length
 Cable Design
Principles

Central Tube cable

4 The introduction of extra fibre length into a tube

generates high tube dimension.(this could result into
relatively large permissible minimum cable bending
radii)

5 Moreover , the transversal stability of a central buffer

tube is reduced with increase in tube diameter

6 Therefore , the central buffer tube constructions are

predominantly implemented when fibre counts are low.
 Cable Design
Principles

Stranded loose Tube cable

1 Excellent Mechanical properties stemming from
stranding, such as Flexibility and extra clearance for fibre
necessary to protect them from external load
2 Several layers of tubes are possible to reach high fibre
count
3 Stranding produces extra excess fibre length
Cable Design
Principles

Stranded loose Tube cable

Cable Unloaded Cable Elongated Cable Contracted

Cable Design
Principles

Slotted Core (Ribbon) cable

Better Low Temperature performance
compared to loose tube cable

Poor tensile performance

Large cable diameter w.r.t Loose tube

cable
Mechanical Testing
of cable
Tensile Test

Impact Test

Crush Test

Twist Test

flexibility Test

Bend Test
Mechanical Testing of
cable
Mechanical Testing
of cable

Impact Test

Weight

Cable Clamp
Cable Clamp

O.F. Cable
 Mechanical Testing
of cable

Impact Test

Free fall

Cable Clamp Cable Clamp

O.F. Cable
 Mechanical Testing
of cable

Crush Test

Dead Weight

Cable Clamp
Cable Clamp

O.F. Cable
 Mechanical Testing
of cable

Twist Test

Cable Twisting Fixed Cable

Mechanism Clamp

~2 M

O.F. Cable
Mechanical Testing
of cable

Flexibility Test

15 D Mandrel
O.F. Cable
Mechanical Testing
of cable
Mechanical Testing
of cable

Bend Test

O.F. Cable

Moving Pulley

Weight
Mechanical Testing
of cable

Bend Test

O.F. Cable

Moving Pulley

Weight
Armored cable
Double Armored Cable
Breakout Cable
Simplex Tight Buffered Cable
Duplex Tight Buffered cable
Cable used for under sea applications
Figure-8 Cable
Hybrid cable(Containing both copper and
fiber)
Protection to be provided from fire and
smoke
 Various Materials Used for Jacket of the
Fiber
Outer Jacket Materials used in Fiber manufacturing must
chosen accurately depending upon the application

Some of the materials that are commonly used are:

 Polyethylene
 Polyurethane
 Poly Vinyl Chloride(PVC)
 Teflon
Questions ?
Splicing
 What is Splicing??

Splicing is a method of joining two properly aligned fibers so

that the two fibers are held together and the transmission of
light continues
  DIFFERENT
TECHNIQUES
 FOR
 JOINING OF FIBER
Splicing/Joining……
………

 Why Joining is necessary ?

 Types of Joining
 Pros and Cons
Why Splicing is
necessary ?

 Long cable runs

 Crowded
conduits

 Fire-code
restriction
s

 Building or Campus
environments
Types of Joining

 Temporary Joint
 V-Groove Joining
Connectorization
 Permanent Joint
Mechanical Splicing
Fusion Splicing
Pros and Cons of
Splicing

 Flexibility for future system reconfiguring

 Easy in Testing

 Trade-offs are increased signal loss

 Large space requirements
 Expensive – increase System cost
Types of
Splicing

 Mechanical Splicing

A mechanical splice is an optical junction of two or

more optical fibers that are aligned and held in
place by a self-contained assembly.

 Mechanical Splicing can be done using……

 A glass alignment tube

 V-groove
 Spring V-groove
 Rotary Mechanical System
A Glass Alignment Tube

V-Groove
Spring V-
Groove

Rotary Mechanical
System
Index Match Fluid used for Mechanical Splicing
Types of
Splicing

 Fusion Splicing

A fusion splice is a junction of two (or more) optical fibers that

have been melted together. This is accomplished with a
machine that performs two basic functions: aligning the fibers
and melting them together typically using an electric arc.
Pros and Cons of Fusion
Splicing
 Low Loss ( < 0.05 dB for SM
fiber)
 Very Fast & Fully Automated
Process

 Expensive
 Less safer than Mechanical
Splicing
Five Steps ahead for Fusion
Splicing…………

 Fiber End Preparation

 Cleave the fiber

 Alignment of two (or more) fibers

 Fuse the fiber

 Protect the fiber

Fiber End Preparation

 It mainly concerns with removing bare fiber from

OFC and cleaning the fiber.

Required accessories
are………
 Sheath cutter
 Jacket stripper
 Primary coat stripper
 Alcohol ( > 99 % pure)
 Lint - free tissue paper
 Cotton swab
Improper Fiber End Preparation
leave the fiber

Good cleaving is key for

good
Actually, splicing
cleaving is same as cutting a window pane to size,
only on a much finer scale; the cleaver first nicks the fiber, and
then pulls or flexes it to cause a clean break.
Alignment of two (or more)
fibers
 Manually
 Automated - Micro Manipulators
Misalignment causes bad splicing
Fuse the
fiber

For better Fusion Splicing

set the……….
 Current supply to electrodes
 Splicing time

Observe & try to maintain……….

 Weather Condition
 Temperature & Humidity
Some Observations about Fusion Splicing
rotect the fiber

Protect the spliced fiber using protection

sleeve
Summary