August 2024

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2024 At FOA - Heading For 100,000 

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Using your FOA Training/Certification to Find the Right Job in Fiber Optics

 

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August may be a big month for taking your Summer holiday, so we still have plenty of reading for you in the August FOA Newsletter. More technical articles, some memories and lots of fiber optic news. Just don't miss the article below about the history of utility poles.

New Fiber U Course: Fiber Optic Safety

Safety must be the first concern of everyone involved in a fiber optic project, including those planning, designing, managing or supervising and of course those doing the installation.

FOA is often asked about safety for fiber optics. Some inquiries ask where it's covered in the FOA Online Guide or textbooks or if we have a course on safety at Fiber U. Almost all Fiber U Courses have lessons covering safety, because safety is important in every aspect of a fiber optic project.

This new Fiber U course will focus on safety alone. There are two lessons in this course, fiber optic construction and fiber optic installation. The dividing line between the two courses is the installation of the fiber optic cables. Construction leads up to and/or is completed when the cables are installed. Installation begins when the fiber tech installs the cable, then completes the splicing, termination testing and documentation. The overlap between the two is the installation of the cables where both construction personnel and fiber optic techs are involved. 

Here is the new Fiber U "Fiber Optic Safety" self-study program. Take the course and get your certificate of completion.

Enhance your safety with the FOA Safety Vest.

Troubleshooting: Factors That Affect Network Performance

One of the technical questions we received this month became an extensive conversation about network performance, testing and the fiber optic cable plant. The conversation focused on a campus network with multiple links among buildings connected to a central data center. Part of the network was suffering from high BER (bit error rate) and it seemed the fiber tech and the network tech were not in agreement on the cause(s).

The links were less than 1.6km long and had 2 to 4 connections at patch panels. The fiber was OS2 singlemode. OTDR traces showed connection losses were all reasonable and the total link loss was less than 2 dB. The reflectance at all connections was not bad for PC connectors, but the OTDR measured ORL (optical return loss, the summation of the reflectance from all connections added to fiber backscatter) as only 37 dB.

What could be causing high BER? Three things are the most obvious; 1) Is the networking equipment overloaded when operating on a singlemode link with ONLY 2 dB loss or are the transceivers causing problems. 2) Is there are problem with the electronics? 3) Reflectance from multiple connections - is the ORL of only 37 dB causing noise or multipath interference on the link?

Troubleshooting a link like this should always begin with checking power in the link. Every piece of communications equipment has an operating range of receiver optical power as shown in the graph below. Having too much power at the receiver can be a big problem on short fiber optic links over singlemode fiber, opposite of the problem with multimode where not enough power is the more common problem.


If the power level is too high, the receiver overloads, signals are distorted and the BER will be high. If the power is too high, the solution is easy, an attenuator at the receiver can be used to reduce the power to an acceptable level. If the receiver power is too low, noise is the problem and the BER will be high. Check the tested transmitter power to see if the output power is within the transceiver specifications.  Even if the transceiver power levels are OK, it's possible that the transceiver has a digital problem, so swapping transceivers is may still be needed. If  the transceiver is OK, the loss in the network needs troubleshooting.

If the power is OK, the next thing to check is the fiber optic transceivers. Most transceivers today are pluggable modules, so swapping out the current modules for new or known good ones will allow determining if they are the problem.

If the power and the transceivers check out, the problem may be with reflectance from the multiple connections in the short network. The problem with ORL or connection reflectance is more complex. We can begin the explanation with the phenomenon of "ghosts" on an OTDR.



Ghosts are caused by high reflectance events in the fiber being tested by the OTDR. Light reflected from the event is sent back toward the source (the OTDR) where it can be reflected back to the far end again. Depending on the reflectance, light can be bounced back and forth several times. 

The OTDR trace can show you what happens with reflectance in a link, but the same thing happens in a communications link. Light reflected back to the source can be a problem with some laser sources, causing noise or modulation problems. Light reflected twice goes back toward the receiver  and adds to the incoming signal making it noisy, It's called multipath interference and can be a big problem in short high speed links.

M

ultipath interference is rarely a problem in long links because there are generally few connections that are reflective (mostly fusion splices) and the fiber attenuates the reflected signals before they reach the ends. But it can be a problem in short singlemode links like a campus network such as the one we describe above. Short links with multiple connections can have many reflections back and forth in the link, causing noise in the links which can affect BER.

Similar problems exist in PONs, either FTTH or optical LANs. That is why these shorter singlemode networks generally use APC connectors. APC connectors have an angle-polished physical contact ferrule (thus APC) that all but eliminates reflectance problems. You can identify APC connectors because they will be green.



If OTDR traces show reflective connections in a network, reflectance may be causing multipath interference. The best solution is to replace connectors with APC connectors, preferably fusion splice-on connectors. Make the changes to a bad link to see if that solves the problem, and if it does, you know your best solution is to replace all of them.

If you are designing or building a short singlemode fiber link with multiple connections, using APC connectors is an easy way to ensure you will not have problems caused by reflectance. And if you have the option, minimizing the number of connections is another good idea. It may be possible to eliminate some connections using fusion splices if the fiber routing is not likely to be changed. If patch panels are needed, making direct connections between fibers rather than using patchcords (creating two connections) can also help reduce ORL problems.

Note: Remember that singlemode APC (green) connectors cannot be mated to regular PC or UPC (blue) connectors - don't mix your colors!

30th Anniversary Of The Fiber U Conference In Long Beach

A posting on the FOA Group on LinkedIn recently was reminiscing about an important industry event that happened 30 years ago - the Fiber U Training Conference in Long Beach, California. It brought back memories of an important event in fiber history.

Mike Connaughton,Senior Product Manager at Berk-Tek, A Leviton Company
I remember participating as a manufacturer in that event. (Long Beach, I think.) A great concept with a lot of enthusiasm. Behind the scenes, the execution was less than perfect as we tried to construct two continuous parallel fiber networks between each of the vendors locations. At each spot, the students would learn about that vendors product(s) and how to actually install it in the "student" network. From the manufacturer side, it felt almost like mayhem. But on the student side, from all accounts, they thought it was great. The students benefited from the training opportunity, but the representatives from the manufacturers (including me) benefited by participating with the students on a "live" network. A great example of "going to Gemba"* to understand how people are actually using your product in conjunctions with other products that are not necessarily under your control.

And all the credit goes to you Jim Hayes - you had the vision to get it organized and the reputation to get a huge cross section of the industry to show up and support the effort.

Jim Hayes Reply:
Yes it was Fiber U in Long Beach in 1994. Mike, you were one of the trainers at Fiber U from about 40 companies. We had almost 250 students and over 100 trainers. It was indeed a wild and crazy event!
The idea of building a working network came from several of us who had participated in Interop shows for years. It was challenging but everybody commented on how educational it was.
An interesting group showed up too, including participants from around the world - as far away as Russia and Australia. And, of course the instructors went on to found the FOA the next year. Attendees kept in touch. One went on to head the Navy FO standards program, others became the head instructor for USAF, the FO trainer for Martin Marietta, the FO program leader for NECA/IBEW/JATC, and on and on!
And Fiber U ran for a decade longer in the US and around the world, then morphed into the FOA Fiber U Online.
It could never have worked without help from people like you, Mike!!! Fiber U was an important event for the fiber optic industry. It showed how interested the tech world was in fiber optics and how the industry could cooperate to build the workforce the industry needed. I wish we could do it again!

*"Going to Gemba"? Part of the Kaizen philosophy. "The first action a leader should take is to go to the Gemba. This means being in the place where work happens, allowing for the situation to be better understood. It also enables observing the problem in its natural context, facilitating accurate and immediate assessment."  Read More.


Memories From Fiber U Long Beach by Jim Hayes
(And photos scanned from old snapshots on film.)



Jim Hayes welcomes attendees and trainers to Fiber U Long Beach in 1994.



Eric Pearson lecturing to the ~250 attendees. Mornings were classroom sessions and afternoons were the labs. Eric, by the way, is still an active FOA instructor.



The hotel ballroom was full of booths and equipment where attendees would sit down with trainers from manufacturers for scheduled hands-on sessions on installation, cables, splicing, termination and communications equipment.



Attendees were scheduled time with manufacturers of their choice to get hands-on instruction. Most vendors brought several applications engineers to Fiber U so attendees got individual instruction from companies like Siecor (R) - the joint venture of Siemens and Corning for fiber optics, before it became just Corning.



The ballroom was filled with vendor demo/training areas, so a tent was erected on the top floor of the parking garage for the OSP training. We had cable pulling equipment, a big area to learn figure-8-ing cable, conduits, and tables where vendors like Dan Silver of 3M, the person behind the idea for Fiber U, did demos and had attendees learn on the equipment they brought.



Attendees to Fiber U Long Beach came from all over the world - Australia, Russia, South America and the Middle East. Amazing how the word about Fiber U spread - remember this was before the Internet became widely available.

Attendees built an operating video network that monitored the ballroom and tent. After the conference there were several kilometers of cable left that were donated to local schools for training. 

Are there more alumni of Fiber U still active in fiber optics? Share your memories on LinkedIn.

New Edition of FOA's Basic Fiber Optics Textbook

Just like they say in the product ads, it's new and improved!

It has been 5 years since we have updated the FOA Reference Guide To Fiber Optics, so it is certainly time for an update. The latest version is different enough we call it a new edition. Many of the updates are for new technologies which are reshaping the fiber optic industry like coherent transmission, BI fibers, etc. We've also added a section on the fiber optic workforce which has much relevance because this book is used to train those entering the workforce.

We've also worked on making the book more readable, adding formatting that eases reading and a new comprehensive index.

Inflation was an issue, but the price only goes up $2 to $29.95 for the paperback and $12.95 for the Kindle version.


The new edition of the FOA Reference Guide To Fiber Optics is available  from Amazon and booksellers worldwide.

A Quiet But Important Change In The Fiber Optic Cable You Buy

What Does Rural Construction Really Look Like?

Online Credentials For FOA Schools And Certified Instructors

Updated FOA OTDR Trainer

FOA Programs Support STEM Education

FOA Newsletter Sections

News

Lots more news in Worth Reading below

Despite Roadblocks, Municipal Broadband Is Growing in US

Podcast "Future of The Fiber Optic Network"

Remember FOA's Articles On Disaster Preparation?

Where is fiber broadband on the hype cycle?

New Online OTDR Viewer

There is a new web based OTDR trace viewer called OnlineOTDR. It’s a free service paid with advertising on the site. The functionality of the OTDR Trace analysis is still pretty light and but they are developing more features over time. It's much simpler than Fiberizer which FOA uses for its OTDR trainer, but is a quick and easy way to look at OTDR traces. https://onlineotdr.com
 

Coming To San Diego October 30-31, 2024

The inaugural Broadband Communities Summit West will be held in San Diego on October 30-31. The conference is the latest addition to the Broadband Communities event portfolio and will bring together 1,000 like-minded professionals, who are invested in delivering better connectivity for communities in the Western United States. You'll be hearing from public officials across 12+ states on how they intend to ensure meaningful and long-lasting change in their communities.

New Technical Book On FTTx In Serbian

The book can be ordered through the publisher Infoelektronika website  https://www.infoelektronika.net/.  Delivery is available to all countries worldwide via standard mail or international express mail EMS.

Quote Of The Month Year:

Speaking at the Goldman Sachs Communacopia + Technology Conference, AT&T’s CEO John Stankey said, “There’s a fallacy to say there’s fixed networks and wireless networks. There are only fiber networks with different access technologies on the end of them. That’s where this is all going.”

Technical

Fiber optic technology, standards, equipment, installation, etc.

Cross Reference To FOA Technical Reference Materials

The FOA has almost 1,000 pages of technical information on the FOA Guide, 100+ videos and two dozen online courses at Fiber U, all this can make it difficult to find the right information.

Cross Reference To FOA Tech Materials
To help this, we have created a cross reference guide to the textbooks, Online Guide and Fiber U courses, all the FOA technical information. Besides the textbooks, online Guide and Fiber U, each section of the Guide also includes links to the 100+ FOA videos available.
Cross Reference Guide to Textbooks, Online Guide and Fiber U

A Quiet But Important Change In The Fiber You Buy

Singlemode Fiber - G.652 becomes like G.657 Bend Insensitive Fiber

Last month, FOA technical advisor Joe Botha provided some interesting data on the splicing compatibility of conventional G.652 singlemode fiber and G.657 bend insensitive (BI) fiber that showed excellent compatibility. That got us thinking. With so many cable designs today, like microcables or high fiber count cables, requiring bend-insensitive fibers, would it make sense to make all or most singlemode fibers as bend insensitive fiber?

We reached out to some of our contacts at fiber manufacturers and asked them. What we got was a good tutorial on BI fibers and an answer to our question. First the technical tutorial.

Conventional G.652 singlemode fiber has been around about 40 years and the standard for it is almost as old. The specifications are straightforward.

G.652 Singlemode
Outside Diameter: 125 µm
Mode Field Diameter (MFD): 8.6-9.2 µm @ 1310 nm
And several new specifications added more recently:
Low water peak. With maximum attenuation of 0.4 dB/km across a band from 1310 nm to 1625 nm
Minimum bend radius: 30mm

With the introduction of BI singlemode fiber, new standards were written as G.657 fiber with several grades, each having a minimum bending diameter and loss specification.

G.652 fiber bend radius 30mm
(The G.657 standard notes "ITU-T G.652 fibres deployed at a radius of 15 mm generally can have macrobending losses of several dB per 10 turns at 1625 nm.")

G.657 fiber (bending loss specs at 1550nm)

G.657.A1  bend radius 10mm, loss 0.75dB/turn

G.657.A2  bend radius 7.5mm, loss 0.5dB/turn

G.657.B3  bend radius 5mm, loss 0.15dB/turn (for special applications)

Designing singlemode fibers requires tradeoffs. A smaller mode field diameter will have better bend performance but higher attenuation. Larger MFD provides lower attenuation, and the majority of G.652 fiber, which is much of the installed base, is a MFD of 9.2 µm. Simply reducing MFD for better bend performance leads to mismatch losses when splicing or connecting fibers and causes OTDR tests with gainers, requiring time consuming bidirectional testing.

Corning data and graphic

The right way to create a BI singlemode fiber is to redesign it to get BI performance while maintaining a larger MFD for compatibility and lower attenuation. And that's what has already happened at some fiber manufacturers with standard 250 micron and smaller buffer coating fibers.

Here is what two say:

Corning: The industry is moving towards a G.657.A  specification in fiber, because the industry is moving towards smaller denser cables in the network & the bend resilience is a requirement for the cable design. The industry will not move wholesale towards a G.657.A2  specification because this is not necessary in all cases. There is no need to compromise on the 9.2 um MFD to get a G.657.A  fiber because Corning innovation delivers this, alongside the bend resilience in; SMF-28 Ultra and SMF-28 Contour fibers.

Worth reading: Corning ap note AN2020 on splicing compatibility.

OFS: The simple answer is most SMF is moving to G.657.A1. OFS AllWave+ and Corning’s Ultra fiber which are among the most deployed fibers in America right now are both examples of this trend.  There have been some modifications to the G.657 specification that puts more stringent boundaries on MFD to assure compatibility of BI fiber with standard G.652 fiber. Further ITU has studied the full set of transmission parameters for G.657A1 and A2 fibers and has stated that the products are fully compatible. That said, smaller MFD’s have better macrobend performance and as a result many of the more bend insensitive G.657.A2 and G.657.B3 fibers on the market may show artifacts in one way OTDR traces due to the MFD change.
 
So singlemode fiber is moving to being BI fiber, exactly what happened with 50/125 laser optimized fibers a decade ago. With most new fiber, compatibility is not an issue. But it is recommended to check with the cable manufacturer if you are not sure what fiber is being used in the cable you are purchasing.

This was a followup to the article below - both are important technical news.

The Curious Compatibility Issues Of Bend Insensitive FIber

(Repeated from to accompany the article on BI fiber above.)

Bend insensitive (BI) fiber (also referred to as reduced bend sensitive - RBS - fiber) has been around for more than a decade now, but it is still not well understood and there are some technical controversies associated with it. When first introduced, it was mainly for multimode fiber which can get a lot of bending stress in premises applications, especially around patch panels. It took little time before practically all MM fiber was BI.

That created the first controversies. There was much concern at the time over the testing of MM fiber with its dependence on modal distribution when testing loss. For many years, standards for testing called for using reference test cables with non-BI fiber. The problem was finding non-BI MM fiber cables. Eventually most standards changed to say use either fiber for reference test cables.

Singlemode fiber only recently joined this controversy. BI fiber (ITU-T G.657) was an essential component in making cables more densely packed with fibers. Not only did cables start using BI fibers to make cables more fiber dense, but they began using coatings of less than 200 microns on the fiber instead of 250 micron coatings to increase density even more. Many of today's cables, especially the high fiber count cables and those with flexible ribbons rely on BI fibers in their designs.

Then this month, FOA gets this inquiry: "I've currently got quite a few G652 launch boxes of various lengths but we are testing more and more G657 A1 fibre. My question is, are my G652 launch boxes compatible for testing G657A1 cable."

An ITU online publication says "ITU-T G.657.A1 and ITU-T G.657.A2 fibres are fully compliant with ITU-T G.652.D fibres."

FOA asked our technical advisor Joe Botha of Triple Play Fiber Optics about this compatibility. Joe has done studies on this issue for clients in Africa.
Here is what Joe tells us.

"To start with, they are perfectly compatible, with a marginal difference in MFDs i.e. only a slight gainer and additional loss is visible. With latest Corning fibers, the two MFDs are identical.
 
Years back, I was asked to do research on exactly this for a few FNO’s . Based on findings, the following recommendations are made:
Not too many are aware that the ~27m long fiber in a OTDR, is in fact G.652D - which is a good reason to use a G.652D launch patch cord and pigtail in your patch panel.
Where a fiber terminates in a patch panel, whether it’s a G.655, G.656, G.657, or G.652, etc, you should splice-on G.652D pigtails. The reasons for this are:
Your patch cords will in all likelihood be G.652D. And remember, the fiber in the OTDR is G.652D.
With different fiber types, one cannot obtain a perfect enough core alignment, like you would with a fusion spice, through a connector/mating adapter type connection."

From the trace below taken at 1310 nm, the splice loss of the joint between two ~25km fibers, one G.652 and the other G.657, is low and has minor directional differences. At 1550, the loss of the splice was too low in both directions for the OTDR to detect it.


So the answer to the original question is "Yes, you can use your G.652 launch cables with G.657 fibers. The bigger question of compatibility of the two fibers is "Yes, they are compatible."

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What's A Fiber Identifier?

Updated FOA OTDR Trainer

For many years, FOA has had an OTDR trainer, created from PC software that allows analyzing OTDR traces offline. It would read the OTDR standard ".sor" files and allowed analyzing the trace on the computer. We added a set of traces that showed how the user-set test parameters like distance, wavelength, test pulse width, fiber index of refraction and number of averages affect the measurements  made by the OTDR and taught the user how to choose the proper settings for any test conditions.

FOA has rewritten the FOA OTDR Trainer around Fiberizer. The Fiberizer PC software was the version we used for creating the Trainer, but the basic techniques apply to all versions of Fiberizer. FOA provides a folder of sample traces in 3 categories - Parameter Traces, Sample Traces and PON Traces - around which we build the trainer. If you set up Fiberizer, you can complete the FOA OTDR Trainer lessons and then use the same software to analyze other traces you may have, even from other brands of OTDRs, as long as they are .sor files.

The FOA OTDR Trainer is ready to help you learn about OTDRs. Go to the OTDR Trainer page,
tech/ref/testing/OTDR/OTDRsimulator.html, choose your version of Fiberizer, download the FOA Traces and you are ready to go.

FOA wishes to thank VeEX for permission to use their Fiberizer® software in our OTDR trainer. And our compliments to them for making the ap available on multiple platforms that ensure anybody can use it.

How Good Are Your OTDR Launch/Receive Cables?

Introduction to GIS and Fiber Management Systems

NECA/FOA 301 fiber optic installation standard withdrawn

FTTH Technical Papers

FOA contributor Vladimir Grozdanovic has created another technical paper on testing FTTH PON based on his field experiences.

Testing The FTTH PON Network (new) 

Recycling Fiber Optic Cables?  Contact LD4 Recycle  

Learning Important Information From A Found Cable Scrap

Managing Fiber Optic Projects - The Gantt Chart

(With An Excel File To Make Your Own)

The most common way to track projects is the Gantt Chart, a chart of activities that tracks the progress of projects along a timeline. each activity is represented by a bar and the position and length of the bar represents the starting date and duration of the activity. This allows you to see what activities are needed for the project, when the activities start and end so it can be used to track the progress of the project visually. Here is what a Gantt Chart for a fiber project might look like:

Help On Color Codes (Including Copper Cabling And Fiber Optics)

The FOA has created a print-your-own pocket guide to fiber optic color codes. It has color codes for fibers and buffer tubes, connectors and premises cables inside and on the back, QR codes to take you directly to the FOA Guide and Fiber U. The FOA Guide page on Fiber Optic Color Codes is one of the most read pages on the FOA website and the Fiber Optic Color Codes minicourse on Fiber U very popular also.

Warning For Techs Doing OSP Restoration

Try The FOA's Online Loss Budget Calculator

Worth Reading

Each month we read hundreds of newsletters and online articles. These are the ones we think you will find "worth reading."

FOA  has a web page with resources on fiber broadband networks and the IIJA/BEAD funding programs.

Cross Reference Guide to FOA Textbooks, Online Guide and Fiber U

FOA Timeline of Fiber Optic History  and the new FOA video "The History Of Fiber Optics"

• Last Gasp For Multimode Fiber?  
• Who Lost Lucent? The Decline of America's Telecom Industry.
  
• How Many Fibers? Optimal cable Size. 
• Women Installers In Alaska. . 
• Building Rural FTTH - Learning From The History Of Rural Electrification. 
• Warning For Techs Doing Restoration (Fiber Amplification).
  
• The Future Of Work Is Skills - So Stop Worrying About Degrees - The reality is the future of work is about skills, not just degrees. (FOA Newsletter Feb 2020)

Recent articles from The FOA Newsletter
Fake OTDR Traces Submitted For Testing Documentation  January 2023 Tech  
Using OTDRs To Test Transoceanic Cables And PONs February 2023 
POF - the Other Fiber March 2023 
What Do Employers Expect From A Fiber Optic Tech?  April 2023  
Are Standards Ignoring The OSP? May 2023 
FOA Has Proven Results In Fiber Optic Workforce Development June 2023 
BEAD Funding For States Announced And Analyzed  July 2023  
Wisdom From The Street (Analyzing the printing on a fiber optic cable) July 2023 
Focus On Disasters August 2023  
FOA's Role In Education and Work Done By Fiber Techs  September 2023  
The Workforce: New US DoL Bureau of Labor Statistics Telecom Tech Category  October 2023  
How Many Telecom Techs Do We Need and How Big Is The Fiber Optic Market  November 2023 
Guidelines For Fiber Optic Project Planners December 2023 
2023 Year In Review. Kentucky Shows The Value Of Fiber  January 2024.
What is Broadband? History of the Cable Modem  February 2024 
It's Just Economics. Things you need to know. March 2024.

Fiber To The Shore - Undersea cables along the coast April, 2024.
The Future Of The Fiber Tech May 2024.

Worth Reading (And Watching Or Listening): 

Fiber Optic Network Construction: Process and Build Costs - Dgtl Infra

Meta’s Data Center Locations for Facebook and Instagram - Dgtl Infra - Not where you might expect

Comparison of traditional cabling vs. micro cabling from a cost perspective and environmental point of view - Hexatronic

Corning opens new Hickory, NC, optical cable manufacturing campus - Lightwave

How a simple fix could double the size of the U.S. electricity grid - Washington Post -
Rewiring miles of power lines could make space for data centers, AI and a boom in renewables.

Recent Articles

Can Our Industry Develop Fiber Talent? ISE Magazine. Learn how states, schools and training organizations must work together to develop fiber field talent.

Landlines are dying out. But to some, they’re a lifeline. Washington Post Providers want to scale back landline service, but people with poor cell reception still rely on it for emergencies.

Pre-Excavation Safety Checklist (PDF) - Excavation Safety Alliance - essential steps before breaking ground for underground construction.

Developing a Fiber Workforce Really Does Take A Village - ISE magazine looks at the role of manufacturers' training in developing the fiber workforce.

How Many More Fiber Techs Do We Really Need?  - ISE Magazine

You can also buy copies - Telegeography




CABL® (cabl.com) serves the business needs of the Broadband industry (including traditional cable TV, fiber, telecom and satellite providers) with employment listings, classified ads, discussion forums, and more. A contractor told us it's where they find lots of opportunities for subcontracting.

Do You Believe In Magic? Sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.  ISE Magazine.

Fiber Optics Installed By The Lowest Bidder  - ISE Magazine

Building Broadband During Component and Worker Shortages - Broadband Communities - Completing broadband builds requires competent fiber optic techs, but training them requires understanding how they learn.

Worth Reading - Magazines, Websites and Newsletters

CABL® (cabl.com) serves the business needs of the Broadband industry (including traditional cable TV, fiber, telecom and satellite providers) with employment listings, classified ads, discussion forums, and more. A contractor told us it's where they find lots of opportunities for subcontracting.

The Institute for Local Self-Reliance weekly newsletter has lots of interesting articles and links.

Next Century Cities Newsletter - News from cities around the US including Detroit and New York plus small

FOA was founded in 1995 - FOA's History

Worth Reading - History & Technical

Restoration: If you are interested in restoration - aren't we all? - you should also read this article in dpPro magazine by FOA President Jim Hayes: Damage Protection Requires Looking Overhead As Well As Underground - dpPRO Magazine - about the problems with aerial cables. His previous article for the magazine was New Techniques for Fiber Optic Installation.

Universal access to broadband is a cornerstone to a strong economy, Achieving universal access will require community partnerships. by Alfreda B. Norman, Sr. VP,  Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas

FIBER TO THE FARM: The co-ops that electrified Depression-era farms are now building rural internet. Be sure to check out the high-tech equine installation equipment.

Infrastructure Get Some Respect, NY TImes "On Tech"   "The magic of the internet requires a lot of very boring stuff behind the scenes. "

VIAVI Books On Fiber Optic Testing (2 volumes) - They're back!

Q&A

When readers ask us questions, we genrally refer them to FOA resources where they can find the answer to their question and many more. We first send them to the FOA Guide which is the table of contents for the FOA technical resources. There they can find pages indexed by topic and a search engine for the FOA website. It also links them to FOA videos and courses on our free online learning site Fiber U.

The FOA Fiber FAQs Page (FAQs = frequently asked questions) gathers up questions readers have asked us (which first ran in this newsletter) and adds tech topics of general interest.

Good Question!

Tech Questions/Comments From FOA Newsletter Readers 

More Q&A in the FOA FAQs Page  

Calibrating Multimode Optical Power Meters
Q: Should I be calibrating multimode optical power meters with an LED source or a laser? I know that standards call for testing multimode loss with LEDs not lasers.
A: The reason standards call for testing MM fiber with LEDs is the coherence of lasers leads to modal noise in the fibers and unpredictable variations in loss. But the wide spectral width of LEDs makes calibration less accurate than when using lasers at the correct wavelengths. Calibrate meters with lasers, test fibers with LEDs.

Color Codes On Higher Fiber Count Cables
Q: Why do buffer tubes 13-24 repeat the colors with a black stripe (black will have a yellow stripe)?  Why does it start with black stripe vs starting with blue? And what happens when you get to black tube color again do you skip it?
A: Color codes are an interesting topic. The basic color codes go back to the beginnings of multi-pair phone cables. TIA added color codes for premises cable jackets and connectors in TIA-598 to the 1-12 color codes for fibers and buffer tubes. FOA covers that basic system in the online Guide here: https://foa.org/tech/ColCodes.htm
The question about the second black fiber, fiber 20, is an interesting one. Many cables use black with a yellow stripe but Corning uses a clear buffer with a black stripe. https://www.corning.com/catalog/coc/documents/application-engineering-notes/AEN029.pdf
 It turns out that cable manufacturers don’t all do it the same way for higher fiber counts. Most use the 1-12 colors for fibers and the same for buffer tubes. 12 fibers per colored buffer tube is the tradition, but there are 24 fibers in some tubes, so it’s 1-24 colors.
Ribbon cables are another story. With the older hard ribbon designs, cable manufacturers often printed information on each ribbon. Those are becoming obsolete and you can’t print on the new flexible ribbons the same way, so I’ve seen schemes to print dots and dashes on the fibers in the ribbons!
So what we have is a standard, but standards are voluntary, so not everybody follows them!

Stripping Fibers For Splicing
Q: Are there rules for how much of the primary protection should be removed from the fiber and the length at which the fiber should be cut (cleaver)? The same question for pig tails.
A: We don’t know any “rules.” It depends on the splicing machine for length of stripped fiber and the splice tray and closure for the lendth of fiber exposed from the cable. Generally the cable jacket is cut at the closure entry, buffer tubes ~1m to the splice tray, ~1m fiber spliced to fit in the tray. Fiber stripping is long enough for it to fit in the fiber holders of the splicer - ~15-25mm typical.

Repairing Fiber Optic Connector Ferrules
Q: Can you take an existing fiber optic number connector and polish the end if the end is to dirty or damaged that it cannot be cleaned via dry or wet methods?
A: Yes, using special polishing techniques. We have a page on that in the FOA Guide: Fiber Optic Connector Repair  

Consider hands on fiber training in a VR setting?
 Q: Thank you for your fiber u training and FOA in general. Currently going thru the training and planning to get certified. Currently, to get hands on and complete my training, I will be visiting a local school in my state  but your video on fiber history that showed how fiber stayed on the cutting edge got me thinking. We’re now seeing virtual environments and I wonder how close we are to being able to get hands on building fiber that way?
       Imagine testing out loss after following the steps to build a case or access different cases to see what parts they need via a virtual library. Better yet, can we elevate troubleshooting skills by recreating scenarios in a virtual simulator and get familiarized with tools? I’m curious on your opinion on whether we’re close to this future since you appear to have a front row seat to cutting edge in the fiber training market. Do you think something like this is possible in the next 5 years? Thank you for your time and indulging my crazy thoughts.
A: FOA has been investigating and experimenting with virtual training for 20 years. So have others, particularly the electrical trades because of the danger involved. We’ve looked at VR and AR including the goggles and they can only go so far. Eventually you need to get your hands on real equipment and components to get the “feel” of the processes.
     During the pandemic we tried another tact; we created the Fiber U Basic Skills Labs in fiber optics  and premises cabling  that try some simple simulations for some things like testing (including our new OTDR trainer.
Practices like mechanical splicing and termination or copper termination can be learned from the virtual exercises if you purchase some inexpensive tools and components online. We helped a few people try it but it’s not an easy way to learn.
     As for VR and AR, the problem is cost. Creating simulations is a big dollar(millions)  proposition that most companies and certianly the FOA cannot afford. A few have been done as examples, most by companies trying tosell their creation services. but they are very short and barely useful. We spent some time with one AR company but found the cost was so great the only customers they could get were giant military contractors.
     We too. wish it wold get cheaper so some basic modules coule be created, but it does not look promising.

Past Questions

Grounding Armored Jumper Cables
Q: Do you need to bond/ground FTTH drop "jumpers" that ise an armored cable?
A: Yes, just like any other cable that has conductive elements.  A manufacturer of the cables Tinifiber seems to agree:  https://tinifiber.com/bonding-and-grounding-armored-fiber-cable/
I do not know of any fiber optic connectors that address this, unlike the RJ-45/modular 8-pin connectors for UTP copper.

Disoposal Of Fiber Optic Cables
Q: How does an organization dispose of unwanted fiber optic cables in an environmentally safe manner?
A: We recommend that users save some reels leftover from an installation for possible use in restoration. If a cable break occurs, getting cable quickly can be a problem. We also have a contact who says he can recycle fiber optic cable:
Contact: Steve Maginnis, LD4Recycle/ CommuniCom Recycling, (Visit website https://ld4recycle.com), sm@LD4Recycle.com, 803.371.5436
Otherwise, it is basically landfill.
 
Finding Buried Fiber Optic Cables
Q: We have a client that needs their private fiber located.  We have been on site and confirmed the lines were installed with no tracer wire or conductive conduit/sheathing.  Want to know if you had any suggestions on how to locate or if there was specialized equipment that I am aware of.
A: Interesting question on an important topic. The answer is a qualified maybe. Ground penetrating radar (GPR) can sometimes spor fiber optic cable, maybe more easily if it is in duct or conduit. It requires someone with a lot of experince in GPR. There are companies around the US with this capability. Then there is a new proposal using the sensing capability of fiber with above ground vibrators. Nothing commercial is available here as far as I know.
https://www.winlab.rutgers.edu/~hansiiii/papers/OECC_2020_Liu.pdf

Fiber Optics For Alarm Systems
Q: Can you please help me with having information about if do you know if someone did use fiber for complete fire alarm systems, sensor, smoke detectors, panels etc.
A: FOA checked with my technical contact at the IBEW, Jim Simpson, for this topic. Here is his answer:
NFPA does indeed have requirements for fiber in fire alarm systems. Keep in mind, the requirements may vary depending on which edition of NFPA 72 the jurisdiction has adopted. The info below is based on the 2022 NFPA 72.

• Chapter 12 covers Circuits and Pathways
• Section 27.4 covers Communications Methods
• Section 27.7 covers Public Cable Plant

Updating FOA Courses And Reference Materials
Q: How often are FOA courses updated? And when they get updated, what happens to those who would have done a previous version?
A: The FOA certifications are updated as needed to stay current with technology and applications. Udates are incremental and we do not require current certification holders to retake courses or exams. Some of our updates are almost humorous. For example, over the last 20 years the definitions of “hybrid” and “composite” cables have flipped twice in several international standards. At the last time, we changed all references to these cable types in all our materials to note the confusion it creates, then purged all questions from our exams that covered this confusing topic.


Older questions can be found on the FAQs page.

More Q&A in the FOA FAQs Page  

New Edition of FOA's Basic Fiber Optics Textbook

Just like they say in the product ads, it's new and improved!

It has been 5 years since we have updated the FOA Reference Guide To Fiber Optics, so it is certainly time for an update. The latest version is different enough we call it a new edition. Many of the updates are for new technologies which are reshaping the fiber optic industry like coherent transmission, BI fibers, etc. We've also added a section on the fiber optic workforce which has much relevance because this book is used to train those entering the workforce.

We've also worked on making the book more readable, adding formatting that eases reading and a new comprehensive index.

Inflation was an issue, but the price only goes up $2 to $29.95 for the paperback and $12.95 for the Kindle version.


The new edition of the FOA Reference Guide To Fiber Optics is available  from Amazon and booksellers worldwide.

The Types of Work Done By Fiber Techs And How It Affects Training

New In Spanish - Nuevo en español

FOA Spanish Textbook And Online Guide Updated

Libro de texto en español y guía en línea de FOA actualizados

FOA Adds Fiber Optic Network Design in Spanish

FOA School News

Need A Fiber Optic Course Onsite? Invite an FOA School To Come To You

Fiber U On-The-Job Training (OJT) Program

Like other FOA programs, the OJT-To-Cert program is free. If you and/or your company is interested in the FOA OJT-To-Cert program, contact FOA.

To explain how OJT works and FOA's OJT-To-Cert program, FOA created a short video: Lecture 62: On The Job Training For Fiber Optics Using Fiber U     

FOA Direct Certification Program For Experienced Fiber Optic Techs

Experience Plus Online Study At Fiber U = FOA Certification

Fiber U "Basic Fiber Optics" Online Self-Study Course Now In Spanish

El curso de autoaprendizaje en línea "Fibra óptica básica" de Fiber U ahora en español

El sitio de aprendizaje en línea de FOA, Fiber U, tiene más de dos docenas de cursos de autoaprendizaje gratuitos sobre fibra óptica y cableado de instalaciones. Como era de esperar, el tema más popular es el curso "Fibra óptica básica", que se utiliza para iniciarse en la fibra óptica y como curso de preparación para realizar el examen de certificación FOA CFOT.

Ahora el curso básico de fibra óptica está disponible en español, utilizando el libro de texto FOA en español, la sección de la Guía en línea en español y la capacidad de YouTube para traducir subtítulos de video al español. El curso funciona exactamente como la versión en inglés con 10 lecciones, cada una con cuestionarios y una opción para tomar un examen de Certificado de finalización.

Para presentar el nuevo curso de español Fiber U, el examen Certificate of Completion es gratuito, así que dígaselo a sus contactos.

Curso Básico de Fibra Óptica de Fibra U en español.

New Fiber U Course: Fiber Characterization 
FOA has added a new course at Fiber U on Fiber Characterization. Fiber characterization is the process for testing long fiber cable plants for its ability for carrying high speed communications. With so many networks now operating at 100, 200, 400 or even 800 Gb/s, fiber characterization is important, especially on older fiber optic cable plants.The free Fiber U Fiber Characterization course is available in two forms, as a standalone Fiber U fiber Characterization Course with its own Fiber U Certificate of Completion and as a separate Lesson in the Fiber U Fiber Optic Testing course. This course is recommended for those studying for the FOA CFOS/FC Fiber Characterization certification.

Fiber U MiniCourses: Got An Hour Or Less? Learn Something New About Fiber Optics.

What Fiber Techs Don't Know -

What We Learn From FOA Certification Tests

FOA offers free online self-study programs at Fiber U. Many users are preparing for FOA certification programs - taking courses at our schools or using the Direct Certification program. Some of our schools are requiring Fiber U programs as prerequisites for their classroom courses so they can spend more time on hands-on activities.

Cross Reference To FOA Tech Materials
FOA has so much technical reference material, we created a cross reference guide to the textbooks, Online Guide and Fiber U courses, all the FOA technical information. Besides the textbooks, online Guide and Fiber U, each section of the Guide also includes links to the 100+ FOA videos available.

Cross Reference Guide to Textbooks, Online Guide and Fiber U

FOA Guide To Fiber Optic Workforce Development

To help those new to fiber optic workforce development, FOA has created a web page we call  "Fiber Optic Workforce Development."  In this page, we share what we have learned about the fiber optic workforce, who they are and how they learn their trade. We discuss what defines a fiber optic tech and how they should be certified.

Read the FOA Guide To Fiber Optic Workforce Development online.

Latest FOA Book: Fiber Broadband (Paperback and Kindle)

More Translations of FOA Textbooks

FOA is a very international organization and it works hard to accommodate the language needs of everyone. We have been translating our books and website into the languages most requested, and this month, we add two more textbook translations. We also want to thank Jerry Morla, FOA CFOS/I instructor and Director who has been doing the recent translations into Spanish, his native language.

Planning A Fiber Optic Project?

FOA Video Lectures On YouTube

Did you know YouTube will close caption videos in many languages?


Sign in with Google to get translations for closed captioning. Click on the settings icon (red arrow.) Choose "Subtitles".  English is the default language. Click on the arrow after "English (auto-generated) >". In the new window click on "Auto-translate" and choose the language you want. 

FOA Loss Budget Calculator On A Web Page 5/2020

FOA has written many articles about loss budgets, something everyone involved in fiber optics needs to know and needs to know how to calculate. We recently discovered how to get a spreadsheet ported to a Web page, so we created this web page that calculates loss budgets. We have an iOS loss budget app, but with this web page, you can calculate loss budgets from any device, smart phone, tablet, laptop, or desktop computer that has web browsing capability.

 

Bookmark this page (especially on your smartphone): FOA Loss Budget Calculator Online

We are continually updating the Online Reference Guide to keep up with changes in the industry and adding lots of new pages of technical information. When you go to the FOA Guide Table of Contents to see the latest updates - look for .

 
 
 

 

Fiber Optics (4 languages), Premises Cabling, OSP fiber and construction, Network Design, Testing, FTTH Handbook and our latest - FIber Broadband

   The FOA has it's own reference books for everyone working in fiber optics - contractors, installers and end users as well as for use as textbooks in classes at educational institutions. They are available as printed books or Kindle at much lower prices than most textbooks since we self-publish and sell online, cutting out the middlemen. Click on the book images for more information. The Reference Guide To Fiber Optics is also available in Spanish, French and Portuguese. The Design book is available in English and Spanish.

Click on any book for more information about it.

  

Fiber Optic Safety Poster to download and print

On Safety

There is a toll-free "call before you dig" number in the USA: Dial 811. See www.call811.com for more information in the US. Here is their map of resources by states.

In Canada, it's "Click Before You Dig.com" They also have a page of resources by US states and Canadian provinces.

The Common Ground Alliance has an excellent "Best Practices Guide" online

The US Department of Transportation has a website called "National Pipeline Mapping System" that allows one to search for buried pipelines.   

Why We Warn You To Be Careful About Fiber Shards


Photo courtesy  Brian Brandstetter,  Mississauga Training Consultantcy

Contact Us:  http://www.foa.org or email <info@foa.org>

Contact Us
The Fiber Optic Association Inc.
       

 FOA Logo Merchandise

New FOA Swag! Shirts, Caps, Stickers, Cups, etc.

Your Name, CFOT® - It pays to advertise!

The FOA encourages CFOTs to use the logo on their business cards, letterhead, truck or van, etc. and provides logo files for that purpose. But we are also asked about how to use the CFOT or CFOS certifications. Easy, you can refer to yourself as "Your Name, CFOT" or "Your Name, CFOS/T" for example.

Feel free to use the logo and designations to promote your achievements and professionalism!

Privacy Policy (for the EU GDPR): The FOA does not use cookies or any other web tricks to gather information on visitors to our website, nor do we allow commercial advertising. Our website hosts may gather traffic statistics for the visitors to our website and our online testing service, ClassMarker, maintains statistics of test results. We do not release or misuse any information on any of our members except we will confirm FOA certifications and Fiber U certificates of completion when requested by appropriate persons such as employers or personnel services.
Read the complete FOA Privacy Policy here.