Field Experience with Fiber-Optic Cable Installation, Splicing, Reliability, and Maintenance
The experience obtained during the installation of more than 700 sheath km of fiber-optic cable is summarized. These include in-building, underground (duct), aerial, buried, and underwater installations. In general, no special precautions are required except to maintain the specified pull tension and cable bend radius. Field splicing is discussed and results are given on splice losses with and without splice loss monitoring with the optical time domain reflectometer. A 28 percent learning curve for fusion splicing is derived. Reliability data on 312 sheath km of installed cable and field splices are presented. Most of the cable failures were in the "uncontrollable extrinsic category," and most of these were due to complete cable cuts. Finally, restoration is reviewed with emphasis on troubleshooting, repair, emergency restoration, and offset breaks.
Bibliography of literature on telecommunication systems reliability
Abstract This paper presents an extensive list of selective references on telecommunication systems reliability.
Origin of temperature dependence of microbending attenuation in fiber optic cables
Abstract Temperature-induced changes in the attenuation of multimode optical fiber cables are shown to be caused by mismatch between the thermal expansion coefficients of the fiber and the cabling materials. A quantitative theoretical model of low temperature loss, based on the formation of fiber microbends by microvariations in the jacket concentricity, is described. This model applies to tightly jacketed, soft buffered cable designs. An equation relating the low temperature optical attenuation to cable parameters is derived using this model. Good agreement is obtained between this theoretical prediction and experimental results. The theoretical model is used to compare the effectiveness of different cable designs on reducing excess loss at low temperature.