1. Technical Field
The present invention relates generally to fiber optic cables, and in particular relates to fiber optic drop cable assemblies for deployment on building walls.
2. Technical Background
Fiber optic communications has experienced explosive growth. In just a few years, the transmission of communication signals for voice, video, data, and the like has soared, and more growth is planned as fiber optic communication technology improves and networks expand to provide greater access.
Fiber optic cables are the backbone of fiber optic communication systems. Fiber optic cables carry optical fibers and other cable elements, which are protected from the external environment by an external jacketing.
Fiber optic cables that carry optical signals to a home or other locations from a connection point (e.g., a local splice box or “fiber distribution terminal” or FDT) on the distribution cable in so-called “fiber-to-the-X” (FTTX) networks are referred to in the art as “drop cables.” In office buildings and apartment buildings (referred to in the art as “multiple dwelling units” or “MDUs”), drop cables are preferably deployed internal to the building, usually through ductwork or molding. However, for certain buildings, and in particular older buildings, such deployment can be time consuming and expensive. Further, in many older buildings, there may actually be no practical way to internally route cabling through the infrastructure. One present alternative to internal cable deployment is to deploy copper cable on the outside of the building. However, this approach is expensive and does not provide the telecommunication performance offered by fiber optic cables.
Deploying fiber-based drop cables on the outside wall of a building would be a preferred cabling solution in terms of telecommunications performance, material cost, and speed of deployment. However, such a solution is made very difficult by the bending tolerances of typical fiber-based drop cables, and is complicated by the need to ground the steel messengers used to offload mechanical loads and strains that would otherwise be borne by the fiber optic cable.