Outdoor optical fiber layout should fasten the environmental requirements

The problem of optical fiber to indoor outdoor layout has been the focus of attention in the industry, in the use of more buried layout way to build FTTH, it is necessary to comprehensively measure cost, flexibility, performance, accessibility, environmental interference and temperature difference adaptability and other indicators.

At present, the outdoor part of the optical fiber to the household network system the two most common ways to create access points when connecting buried branch cables are ground (floor) and underground (hand-hole-type). However, there are a number of important issues to consider in each of these ways, such as weld vs. access, accessibility, environmental problems, and the effects of drastic temperature changes.

More outdoor use advantages of connecting connectors

On the question of whether to use the weld or the connection in the outdoors, there have been lengthy discussions, both of which have strengths and weaknesses, but the current basic idea is that when a technician needs to visit a connection regularly, for example to test, open the business, and reconfigure the network, in these situations, It is more beneficial to adopt a pair of connecting heads, which can save the operation cost and time significantly compared with the welding mode.

Optical access terminals require these advantages provided by the connection head. The new enhanced connectors are already available in outdoor environments and can withstand even worse environmental conditions, effectively playing the role of connecting head in outdoor environments.

Hand hole on the ground

The hand hole is a hole dug in the ground, the technician can simply open it and operate on the network. The hand-hole type can protect the equipment from the outside, but because the hand hole type is underground, using the hand hole under the extreme weather conditions may make the winter maintenance work especially difficult.

Compared to the hand-hole type, the floor base distribution and branch cables are still underground, but all pass through the bottom of the base, greatly simplifying access to the terminal. At the same time, another advantage of the floor is the cost, the installation of a pedestal is lower than the cost of setting a hand hole, the installation of a hand hole needs to be a large excavation, and the floor can only install a small base, which significantly reduces the cost of network construction.

However, the disadvantages are also more obvious, its base is susceptible to damage to a variety of media, and more serious is that the floor has always been difficult to solve the aesthetic problem, in every two or four houses installed a pedestal, may be offensive to the neighbors, they are more inclined to bury these things underground.

Temperature effect can not be neglected

Drastic temperature changes can have a detrimental effect on the outdoor cable accessories used in the base or hand hole environment. This has become a challenge for manufacturers in developing accessories that have been reinforced to withstand the effects of temperature. Basically, the components used to build outdoor cable accessories are usually made of plastic, which will shrink at a cold temperature, causing the temperature to cause the fibres and parts to eventually fail.

Everything under the hand-hole is underground, and its cover is used as an insulator to the cable, branch and interface, providing an inherent protection against cold temperatures. However, in the floor environment, the change of temperature is more obvious. In winter, the temperature in the base may be as cold as the external temperature, and the summer may be more muggy than the outside, because the junction box itself will be heated if exposed directly to the sun.

Proper design and planning of the outdoor parts of the fiber to the household will help ensure optimal performance, accessibility, and flexibility and ensure that the advantages of the fiber are passed directly to the customer.