The innovative drop cable solution will change the paradigm of the FTTH network
Created May 31, 2021
Product FocusThe Internet Service Providers and Telecom Companies are always eager to aggressively invest on next generation technology for better service to the customers, and it is possible to achieve this by reducing the maintenance cost and the after sales services rate pursuing high service performance and quality at the same time to satisfy the customer as well. But due to the environment and human factors, the fiber drop cables and the connectors are continuously damaged and it is common worldwide. Also, the increase of data leads to expansion of the fiber network which requires the extension of the drop cables. However, not much solution is present to extend or recover the breakage without any signal loss and appropriate tensile force. Also, suitable connector is on demand to have long lasting performance and to provide high quality service to the customer under the seamless communication environment.
With regards to this issue, we often raise various questions in the FTTH drop cable network industries.
How to extend the drop cable or quickly repair without loss in case of breakdown or breakage?
With the SOLMATE field fusion splicing tool and the indoor or outdoor closure solution, the drop cable can be simply recovered with 100N tensile force and with no waste of cable. Based on wing type adhesive sleeve method for protecting the spliced point, conventional sleeve heating process for fiber splicing is no longer necessary allowing fast and easy assembly. The outdoor closure is water and dust proof having IP65 grade and not only the quality of the network but these closures allow you to have neat cabling structure. Extension of the drop cable is also easy to achieve with low signal loss (0.1dB) using the closure instead of using the connector adapter which causes a lot of loss (Figure 1). By using the high-quality closure solution, it can enormously reduce the failure and aftersales service rate leading to customer satisfaction and costs reduction.
Another question being raised is, what is the long-term cost-effective solution for fiber connector?
Conventional drop cable connectors are fast connectors that use matching gel protection. It was used worldwide due to its advantage that is cheap cost and fast assembly, but the failure rate during the assembly was very high wasting a lot of connectors. Also, the matching gel technology was not suitable for long lasting performance and the quality of signal was unsatisfying to the customer. Then the next solution appeared that is the splice on connector which improved the quality of the performance. However, the failure rate problem during the splicing and heating using conventional fusion splicer still remains, and it takes longer work time compared to the fast connector. But using SOLMATE connector making tool and splicing connector it is possible to achieve advantage of both solutions and also overcome the problems of the both solutions. Without heating procedure using semi-permanent wing type protection sleeve, it takes shorter work time as much as the fast connector, and the simplicity and easiness leads to less failure rate during the work process. Not just because of its competitive price, but considering long term usage without any maintenance due to its high-quality performance using splicing technology, it is also considered more cost effective compared to the fast connector (figure 2).
Due to the simplicity of both connector and closure solution, they can be applied to various solutions for a lot of advantages.
One of the applications of connector for cost effectiveness can be recycling the idle drop cables. There are a lot of drop cables installed in the past and many cables were not used efficiently resulting left over idle cables. Instead of using new long patch cords or pigtails, these idle cables can be easily terminated by SOLMATE splicing connectors, or extended using the closures.
Integrating break out cable (BOC) solution to splicing connector can also be one total solution for spatial issue raised in the narrow-standardized area such as fiber, UTP, Coaxial terminal boxes of apartment, building etc. Existing solution uses fiber distribution frame (FDF) including patch cords and pigtails spliced with heating sleeve protection (Figure 3). But using BOC and splice connector, splicing point protection is inside the connector, so no need of separate terminal for protecting splicing point.
Finally, the closure solution can be applied to the scientific border projects, one of the main topics on the table to improve the military security system. The military started applying fiber drop cable to the border fence, which makes possible to track the exact location of any kind of damage caused by suspicious matter to enhance the monitoring and surveillance system. In this case the military needed to face the frequent maintenance to manage the fiber drop cable fence but using the SOLMATE closure, any failure or breakage outdoor fence can be simply and quickly repaired and the problem can be easily resolved (Figure 4).
The world’s ICT level is rapidly evolving, and people are quickly adjusting to it. The service providers and operators need to adopt suitable solution to be ready for the next generation.
