A comprehensive explanation of Optical Fiber Connection Technology in network cabling

With the development of China's access industry, it has also promoted the wide application of optical fiber connection technology. Here we mainly analyze the Optical Fiber Connection Technology in network cabling. After reviewing the network development process, we will all feel that the network is evolving with each passing day, and network applications have been updated and upgraded almost every several years, the continuous development of network applications puts forward higher bandwidth and other related performance requirements to people. With the popularization and application of gigabit and 10-Gigabit networks, in our traditional cabling system, currently, copper cable systems can only be used for end users.

In the face of ever-increasing requirements, optical fiber cabling products have become an indispensable part of Network Cabling Design and are widely used in cabling networks, this is because the optical fiber connection technology has the advantages that copper products cannot match. Currently, optical fiber systems are not only widely used in backbone cabling systems, but also in horizontal and desktop applications. In a cabling system, the transmission medium is like a road or bridge in a transportation network, the correctness of all network security operations and information transmission between different parts must be based on the security, stability, and reliability of the cabling system, if the reliability of the network cabling component is uncertain, the network operation security on this basis becomes even more unpredictable and uncertain.

Therefore, the most basic condition for safe network operation is to ensure the security, reliability, and effectiveness of the transmission media. Therefore, it is necessary to ensure high security and stability of network cabling and connection components and ensure a good matching between components, reduce the signal loss as much as possible, and provide sufficient transmission capacity to support today's and tomorrow's application requirements. Because the signal transmitted in the copper network is an electrical signal, and the signal transmitted in the optical fiber connection technology is an optical signal, many parameter indicators vary in the performance of different network media, however, both electrical signals and optical signals, insertion loss, ripple loss, and noise interference are the main factors affecting network performance, of course, the network performance degradation caused by the mismatch between the connectors also belongs to the above factors. Here, we will only discuss the optical fiber network.

In current generic optical fiber cabling networks, the process and quality of optical fiber cables used for cabling are generally stable, therefore, most of the characteristics of optical fiber cables consisting of optical fiber cables and various optical fiber connectors, jumpers, pigtails, and other components are relatively stable, and they are relatively fixed during the actual use of wiring, most of the reasons that may affect the stability of the optical fiber network are focused on the optical fiber connection technology. Next, we will analyze and discuss the commonly used Optical Fiber Connection Technology:

1. Fusion mode: Optical Fiber fusion is currently a commonly used connection mode. In contrast, fusion is a method with a high success rate and connection quality. However, it should also be noted that, the welded joint is one of the main factors that are prone to damage or failure. Because equipment maintenance operations are necessary during use and maintenance, therefore, its security is an issue that must be considered. Under normal circumstances, welding can produce a small connection loss, which is usually below 0.2dB, but the return loss is not easy to control. At the same time, during the optical fiber fusion process, there are many external factors that affect the welding quality, such as environmental conditions including temperature, wind power, dust, etc.), Operation proficiency, including preparation of the optical fiber end face, and aging of the electrode rod) and the matching of optical fiber, including matching of pigtails and pigtails, and matching of Optical Fiber manufacturers. If MTP and other multi-core band optical fiber connectors are not used in China, band-based optical fiber splitters cannot avoid the fact that the loss of individual optical fiber cables is too large during the splicing process. In addition, experience tells us that the actual loss value of splicing must be obtained through testing, in the case of a large number of Optical Fiber cores, the damage is easily completed. In the test phase, if the test results are unsatisfactory or fail to meet the standards, it should be selected again and then reworked; after the network is used, if a network cabinet or terminal needs to be moved, the optical fiber link must be interrupted and re-fused in a new location. All the above possibilities may occur, we have to pay a lot of effort and pay more attention to the safety of the optical fiber connection technology.

2. Cold connection or on-site grinding of optical fiber connectors: all colleagues engaged in factory manufacturing and production of optical fiber products should be very familiar with this, on-site grinding and factory manufacturing are two completely different methods that cannot be compared. The factory adopts five grinding processes from coarse to refined for special grinding machines, on-site manual grinding is impossible to adjust pressure and maintain consistency. In traditional low-speed networks, network applications may accept insertion loss, response loss, and unstable connections, because optical fiber is rich enough to digest the effects of these factors, many indicators and parameters are extremely sensitive in today's increasingly high-performance networks, because the link does not meet the design requirements or is time-consuming and labor-consuming, designers or construction engineers may have to worry about it, and sometimes the loss exceeds the requirements of the network design and the test fails. As a result, resulting in delays in the construction period, design changes, or re-planning. In view of the above design and construction conditions, in order to solve the problems that may be encountered in the optical fiber connection technology, the design, construction, maintenance and use are more reliable and stable, and the system change is easier to operate, preCONNECT, a pre-connection technology developed by rosenberger, Germany, can be used to select the PE or LSZH indoor or outdoor optical fiber cables at both ends of the pre-tip connector based on the actual needs of the site, pre-connected optical fiber cables use special branch components to convert the bare optical fiber in the optical fiber cables at the output end into capable of tensile strength and compression. 0 or Phi 2. 0 optical cable, which can minimize the damage or security impact on the optical fiber link caused by various uncertainties during the design, construction and use of the optical fiber network, fully ensures system security and meets design requirements.

The pre-connection cable and installation and construction flowchart are compared with the traditional optical fiber terminal methods. The pre-connection technology adopts the optical fiber connection technology, that is, the optical fiber has no connection points. According to the customer's requirements, the product is customized by the factory and standard program grinding is carried out. All technical indicators comply with IEC, TIA and related standards. At this point, the technical indicators far surpass the on-site grinding connectors. At the same time, the optical cable structure is different from the indoor soft cables widely used in China. In order to ensure that the optical cable has sufficient mechanical performance, its structure is a 2-to 144-core center bundle tube or multi-Bundle Tube Layer twisted indoor or outdoor optical fiber cable. The oil filling structure also ensures the optical fiber environment and water resistance characteristics, in the output part of the optical cable, there is no splicing or other mechanical connection mode to eliminate possible adverse consequences due to contacts, the user obtains the optical cable products specified by the test indicators without any possible additional factors, making the network design or construction easier to control.

In addition, due to the use of special optical fiber branch components for pre-connection, the plug-in structure can be used to firmly fix the optical fiber cable on the rack of a dedicated machine, to ensure that the tension distribution box of 50kg is not deformed, the rectangular card interface prevents the stress release during the use of the optical fiber cables, so that the optical fiber links between the two connectors are always in the free and relaxed state, avoid affecting the performance of the optical fiber because the outer skin of the optical fiber is squeezed, stretched or twisted, and maximize the security of the optical fiber network and the investment of the owner. From the above structural characteristics, we can see that the type of the fiber optic connector used for pre-installation is variable, mainly based on the design and customer requirements, if you use the multi-core MTP connector, it is more advantageous, completely eliminating the impact of various unfavorable factors in the multi-core optical fiber connection, so that users can achieve the ideal application effect.

For the majority of engineering personnel, the following content is closely related to the actual project, "how to install the pre-connection optical cable? "At the same time of product R & D, we have designed a Protective Tube for this purpose. Its function is to ensure that the optical fiber cable can withstand sufficient strength when it is installed in the pipe or cable tray, at the same time, the sealed structure ensures the dust-proof and waterproof performance during the installation process. Therefore, the installation of the sealed structure will not cause any damage to the optical fiber and optical cable, just like in the past construction, the waterproof and protection levels are IP50 and IP67 respectively. Finally, the advantages of the pre-connection mode are also reflected in the improvement and upgrade of the network. As described above, the rapid development of network applications will inevitably lead to changes and fixes of the network, however, due to the features of the connection method used in the past, in many cases, the customer may leave the case because the project is too complex. In the end, the structure of the IDC after expansion may be unreasonable, the Use and Maintenance of pre-connected optical cables become complicated and cumbersome, and the features of pre-connected optical cables are well resolved. If the network terminal moves or the path is changed, then, the customer only needs to select the appropriate time to unplug the pre-connected optical fiber cable from the rack, and then re-pin the optical fiber splitter to the rack in the new location. The whole process takes only several minutes. Based on the above analysis, we have summarized several features of pre-connection Optical Fiber Application:

1) The effectiveness and security of the protection of the owners' investment pre-connection optical cables must be customized, which puts forward higher requirements on the early stage and actual on-site survey capabilities of integrators, the purpose is to fully protect the owner's right to control the project and use the product, and avoid the risk of material waste and project investment.

2) the cost-effective welding process requires machines, consumables, time and personnel. In general, the pre-connection method does not increase the additional cost.

3) easy to use, easy to install, and save installation time. You only need to plug and play as needed.

4) The loss test has been completed, and the quality is stable. The use of reliable pre-connection optical fiber cables is 100% tested in the factory. Other products are not attached during the installation process, and the field test is simple.

5) optical fiber link protection is not exposed to air due to fusion points and bare optical fiber cables, and there will be no worries about aging and joint breakage.

6) the mechanical performance of the splitter with convenient maintenance and safe pre-connection optical fiber cables is excellent, and the maintenance or operation process does not affect the normal use of optical fiber cables.

7) You can reinstall and move the pre-connected Optical Fiber splitter to quickly and securely plug and remove and move the pre-connected optical fiber cables, and reinstall them as needed. Pre-connection methods have been applied to the design and construction of optical fiber networks for telecom operators, finance, education, public security, customs, enterprises, and technology parks, at the same time, it has also won high praise from integrators and end customers, making us more confident, we hope that more users can have optical fiber networks with convenient construction, high security, and outstanding performance, because we always believe that network wiring is one of the most important parts of future applications, with a highly secure and reliable foundation, more exciting and outstanding network applications will be available.