Fiber Cable

Where To Use and Why.

•Troy Bowen – JFC Solutions

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Agenda

Cable Types

What?

Why?

Which used Where?

Inside Plant

Distribution

Break-out

Fire Rating - OFN, OFNR, OFNP

Outside Plant

Loose Tube

Central Tube

Water Blocking

Armoring

High Density

Ribbon Cable

Loose Tube

Operation Specific

Indoor / Outdoor

ADSS

OPGW

Figure 8

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Fiber Optic Cables

How do you choose the type of cable to use?

Why use one over the other?

What’s the big deal?

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Cable Types

Primary Cable Types

Indoor (ISP) – Tight Buffered design

Tight-buffered cable is primarily used inside buildings.

With tight-buffered cable designs, the buffering material is in direct contact with the fiber.

This design is suited for

"jumper cables" which connect outside plant cables to terminal equipment.

linking various devices in a premises network.

Multi-fiber, tight-buffered cables often are used for intra-building, risers, general building and plenum applications.

Outdoor (OSP) – Loose Tube design

Loose-tube cable is used in the majority of outside-plant installations.

It is a modular design of buffer tubes which typically holds up to 12 fibers per buffer tube.

They can be all-dielectric or armored.

The modular buffer tube design permits easy drop-off of groups of fibers at intermediate points, without interfering with other protected buffer tubes being routed to other locations.

The loose-tube design also helps in the identification and administration of fibers in the system.

Why

Environmental

Heat, cold, water

Physical Protection

Sheath composition, number of sheaths, armoring, type of armor, number of armored wraps

NFPA, OSHA, MSHA

Non-rated, riser, plenum, LSZH, ship board, mining.

Which used where

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Fiber Cables – Inside Plant (ISP)

Indoor – Inside Plant (ISP) cables are available in a variety of fiber

counts, constructions and jacket materials.

They are designed to perform in inside plant applications such as

Connecting outside plant cables to terminal equipment.

Linking various devices in a premises network.

Intra-building, risers, general building and plenum

applications.

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ISP Cables – Distribution

Indoor Tight Buffer Distribution Fiber Optic Cable

Has individually thermoplastic color coded 900μm buffered fibers.

The buffered fibers are then surrounded by all-dielectric aramid

strength members for strength and minimization of stress during

installation.

The core groups are then protected with an overall jacket.

On cables with higher (>24) fiber counts the fibers are bundled in

groups of 6 or 12. these are called subunits.

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ISP Cables – Breakout

Indoor Tight Buffer Breakout Fiber Optic

Cable

900 μm tight buffered

fibers

Color coded for easy

termination

Flame Retardant

UL listed for code

compliance

Direct connectorization

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ISP Cables – Fire Rating

National Fire Protection Association® (NFPA®) NEC The NFPA/NEC develops and produces fire and safety codes relating to telecommunications. Article 770 of the National Electrical Code (NEC), also known as NFPA 70, covers requirements for optical fiber cables.

Fire Rating – Optical Fiber Cables are normally rated OFN, OFC, OFCR, OFNR, OFCP and OFNP

OFN, stands for Optical Fiber Nonconductive Non-rated / OFC, stands for Optical Fiber Conductive Non-rated

OFNR, stands for Optical Fiber Nonconductive Riser-rated/ OFCR, stands for Optical Fiber Conductive Riser-rated

OFNP, stands for Optical Fiber Nonconductive Plenum-rated / OFCP, stands for Optical Fiber Conductive Plenum-rated

NEC dictates where and how cables my be used within buildings.

Non rated and General cables can be used in non-fire rated environments and these cables can be brought into a building < 50 ft.

Riser Rated cables can be used in riser rated and non-fire rated environments.

Plenum Rated cables can be used in plenum, riser and non-fire rated environments.

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Fiber Cables – Outside Plant (OSP)

Outdoor – Outside Plant (OSP) cables are available in a variety of

fiber counts, constructions and jacket materials.

They are designed to perform in outside plant applications such as

ducts,

aerial and

direct buried applications.

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OSP Cables – Duct, Conduit, Aerial

Loose Tube Cable

All dielectric central strength member

Excellent attenuation performance

Water blocking for moisture protection

Polyethylene jacket for weather and UV protection

Recommended Applications

Building interconnections and data trunk

Long haul networking

Ducts between buildings and aerial lashing

Applications requiring good ozone, moisture, weather resistance

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OSP Cables

In a Loose tube cable design the optical fibers are

placed inside “filled” buffer tubes.

The core is constructed by stranding the buffer tubes

around a central member using a reverse oscillated lay.

The core is then wrapped with flexible strength

members, then either covered with a water blocking

tape, gel or ,

Then encased with a black polyethylene jacket. Ripcords

are included for ease of entry.

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OSP Cables

OSP cable design can vary in many different ways. Some typical

variations are:

Central Tube

Water Blocking – Liquid / Tape / Powder / Gel

Full / Partly Flooded

Armored – Aluminum / Steel / Interlocked

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ISP / OSP Cable Commonalities

Fiber Types Supported

Multimode

Single mode

Hybrid

Physical Protection

Armoring

Aramid Yarn

Fire Rating

Riser –CMR or FT-4(indoor/outdoor)

Plenum CMP or FT-6(tight buffer/MSHA)

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High Density

One of the significant advantages of fiber cable is the density it can achieve. This density can be accomplished via 2 methods

1. Ribbon Fiber – 1008 fibers (1.06 OD) 144 fibers per tube (12x12)

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High Density

2. High Count Loose Tube – 432

fibers (.91 OD) 12 fibers per tube –

36 tubes

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Application Specific

In general, “indoor” implies that the cable has at minimum an NEC Fire Resistance Rating so that the

cable is not subject to the typical 50-foot indoor length limitation that applies to outside plant (OSP)

cables. “Outdoor” generally implies that the construction of the cable is such that it will withstand

certain environmental extremes typically only experienced outdoors.

Designs are available in loose-tube and tight-buffered construction and are suitable for all fiber

types.

Indoor/outdoor fiber optic cables are generally all-dielectric and thus exempt from the grounding

issues inherent to copper conductor cables.

Indoor / Outdoor Cable – This cable is water-blocked/sunlight resistant indoor/outdoor tight buffer –

Riser Rated OFNR

Indoor/outdoor cable offers a premises fiber optic cable versatility.

Can be extended inside the building and not require a transition splice.

Can be installed in open spaces, trays, conduits, inner-ducts, trenches, steam tunnels and building riser locations.

Dry-water blocking technology eliminates the need to clean off the traditional gel-based water-blocking compounds

Breakout kits and or other special termination equipment are not required

Outer jacket is UL listed sunlight resistant polymer for exposure to long-term direct sunlight without the concern of material degradation.

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Application Specific

Figure 8 - black polyethylene outer jacket with integrated EHS steel messenger

ADSS - for use on distribution and

high voltage transmission lines as it

is unaffected by electromagnetic fields

OPGW - dual functioning cable a

static ground wire incorporating

optical fibers into the design of the

cable

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Obsolete Fiber Optic Connectors

Optimate

The AMP Optimate was

popular in the early

80s. It used a conical

plastic ferrule and

screw-on nut. It was

available for every fiber

size including plastic

fiber. Some may still be

in use in utility and

industrial systems.