Cabling synthesis Comparison: air blown fiber and traditional fiber

Most of the integrated City Line systems are installed using traditional optical fiber systems; In this case, the appropriate optical installation should be done using the design methods already discussed.

The system proved to be feasible through countless successful cases, reliable, stable, mature and excellent.

Another recent installation technology, known as "gas-blown fiber," has been developed in the late 80, many years ago. The principle of the gas-blown fiber system is to install a set of pipes between the locations where the fibers will or may take place, also known as "tubing" or "micro-piping". When you need to lay the fiber between the two points of the network, the fiber is "blown" into the pipe through a dedicated installer and then connected to the fiber with the connector.

The traditional optical fiber installation principle is: The optical cable is placed into the catheter or the groove; then drag from one point to another. Even a large optical cable with 288 optical fibres will not have a diameter of more than 1 inches, much smaller than a piped structure used in a gas-blown fiber system. After the cable was towed, the fiber was laid out and finally received a hardware device. Link loss can be determined, optical fiber can be put into use. The material cost of this system is lower than that of a gas-blown fiber system, except that the hardware is not needed elsewhere in the cable. The design is fixed, helps long-term maintenance, can move or change the system, no need to ask the installer to come back for a new upgrade. And can install Single-mode fiber, provide the future upgrade path.

Gas-blown fiber systems in LAN environments claim to have lower cost advantages, and traditional fiber cabling systems cannot be compared. It is said that the gas-blown fiber system can save space and time, while also improving system design and flexibility. However, other issues need to be considered, such as compliance with standards, costs, open vendor support, quality and toughness, size and ease of use. Whether you choose an air blown fiber system or a traditional system to install optical cables, you may have unexpected needs in the future.

The flexibility of traditional and air blown fiber systems directly affects the cost of the whole system. The use of gas-blown optical fiber system, if the two points between the pipeline can not be installed optical fiber. As with traditional optical fiber systems, there is no fiber to install new fiber. However, as described in the design chapter, if a redundant link is installed as part of the traditional wiring design, the use of a patch or network switch can be very easy to resolve the various routing, loop topologies, and additional fiber required.

Air-blown optical fiber system, installation depends on the diameter of the fiber products, catheter diameter, the use of materials such as friction index, air flow, pressure, vertical rise in the number of obstruction, catheter discontinuity and other parameters. These factors can lead to mounting distances and high levels of uncertainty. Furthermore, if future changes are required, the installation of optical fibres in places where there is no conduit or conduit will be a major impediment to the laying of a conduit system in the building. After a while, the catheter or piping system may undergo rigorous processing. General building applications involve the installation of additional optical cables, the installation of routine operations on utilities (power supplies, alarms, sprinklers, HVAC, loudspeakers, compressed air, indoor drainage facilities, etc.), and operations that may pose hazards to existing facilities. If the pipe looks very durable, it must be very durable. Maintenance workers may think that gas-blown fiber pipes may be more durable than they actually are, and that they can be treated in this way. It is noteworthy that the air blowing process is sensitive to humidity and temperature, the gas blowing performance in different environments will vary, but the traditional wiring system is extremely stable and strong, can adapt to a large range of temperature changes and various environmental conditions.

If the pipe is blocked, cracked, or the airflow is incomplete, any cost or time advantage will disappear quickly. Also, the need for future additions to the system where no piping is installed will always occur. Although the cost of installing an empty pipeline may be low, the cost of fibre and air blowing is high, resulting in higher installation costs than conventional optical fiber systems (up to 50%).

In voice, data or video communication, reliability is one of the most important aspects of communication systems. To ensure reliability, the use of tested, industry-standard optical cable products will be more secure. These standards include not only optical fiber standards, but also machinery. and environmental indices, such as fire and smoke requirements. Optical cables and tubing products must be able to withstand coarse expansion during installation, and are not used in general buildings. Routine building maintenance, overcrowding in the access area, and the movement or displacement of public facilities can cause potential difficulties for future installation teams to remove or pick up optical cables to blow into more fiber. Using a product that does not conform to industry standards or untested products has a degree of risk at the expense of system reliability and may result in a single source situation. Air-blown fiber is an alternative product that is not widely accepted in the LAN application market. It is a proprietary technology, with existing versions using different or incompatible components and technologies. This limits the choice of the present and the future.

System integrity will eventually become an important practical requirement. If the future is fully taken into consideration, a cost-effective system can create problems of security and liability. Who is responsible for the unexpected expectations found after a few years of initial work completion? What is the degree of reliability? What is its impact on development? How to determine the real cause of the problem, who will bear the cost? With traditional wiring infrastructure, these problems can be designed in advance.

Traditional cable design and wiring rack hardware allow the introduction of the middle section and allow the fiber to "flow through" the middle point. Connectors and connectors are used only when fiber extraction points are required or for convenience. The middle section of a fiber-optic product with a plastic coating that never meets the standard seems impractical. In fact, the intermittent opening may destroy the aerodynamic integrity of the gas-blown fiber channel. To enjoy the advantages of the simplicity of air blown fiber installation, it is necessary to create a homing line from the engine room to each terminal endpoint, otherwise, you must install the gas blowing equipment in multiple locations. From the point of combination and interconnection, the air blown fiber system has no obvious advantages.

The final connection of the gas-blown optical cable is not different from the traditional cable, but more attention should be paid to the bending radius, so that the pipe bundle has a good air blowing environment (bending too tight will shorten the gas blowing core distance).

The optical fiber protection in the pipeline is limited, and there is no internal strength component. It does not have the same level of tensile strength or compressive capacity as conventional optical cables. Avaya's Accumax building cable can withstand a 200-pound occasional strain, 8 times times larger than the standard twisted pair of twisted-wire cables.

After wiring is completed and debugged, the traditional wiring system hardly needs to be maintained. You can add ports or mobile devices as needed, and the operation will not be affected too much; however, the air blown fiber system needs to arrange the installer to the scene during the operation. The maintenance of the gas-blown optical fiber distribution system requires accurate piping distribution records, a variety of dedicated optical cable combination and insertion of hardware equipment, gas blowing equipment and well-trained installers. The need to use compressor gas blown fiber, which may affect health and safety, but also can not be used in the future industrial or office environment in the air blowing operations. All gas-blown optical networks should consider the blockage of air in the internal or external junction of the building population, as well as the external and underground water blockage.

Air-blown optical fiber is a feasible method of building internal cable installation. But even in the ideal application conditions, the system reliability is extremely important. Therefore, we recommend the use of products that conform to industry standards. The large number of applications noted above make planning of gas-blown optical fiber system as difficult as planning traditional wiring system. In the traditional wiring system, the redundant link can be designed conveniently in the traditional wiring system, but in the air blown fiber system, the redundant link will make the installation personnel's access more complicated in the future. Traditional optical cable systems conform to industry standards and are supported by multiple vendors. From the initial cost, the traditional construction of optical cable installation is higher than the air blown fiber system, but it needs more connectors and connectors than gas-blown fiber systems, and later maintenance costs will be lower, the purchase of gas-blown fiber system users will only rely on individual vendors to provide follow-up expensive products or improve performance.

Traditional fiber cabling technology is a certified and standards-based approach that can easily meet the requirements of demanding LAN customers in the future. Wiring should only be done once! Who would like to ask the installer to come to the scene often? Avaya recommends the use of traditional fiber-optic building cabling systems, which are used for long-term system reliability and for timely and flexible use. Cost predictability as well as comprehensive industry standard compatibility for best building fiber cabling options.