A Salute To FOA Schools
FOA Converting To Online Credentials
Submarine Cable Failures
Latest FOA Book - Fiber Broadband
New Fiber U MiniCourse - Project Management Fiber Optic Conference For Latin America
More Translations Of FOA Textbooks
Cross Reference To FOA Tech Materials
Special Photo Feature - Salute To FOA Schools
Newsletter Sections
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on any link to jump to that section
News FOA School News
New 5G Cell Sites in New York City
Underground Utility Damage Increases
EU Deal On Internet Satellite System
States Loosen Restrictions On Broadband Telecom Fiji Gets Trained, Instructors Also
Warriors4Wireless Training in SC
Technical
144 Fiber Connector
Protection For Buried Cables Managing Projects - Gantt Charts
Guidelines For Patch Panels
FOA Color Code Guides FOA Online Loss Budget Calculator
Where
Are The Jobs In Fiber Optics? FOA talks about
all the applications for fiber optics, what jobs
involve and the qualifications for the workers in
the field in this YouTube video.
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Trademarks:
The FOA CFOT® (Certified Fiber Optic Technician) and
Fiber U® (the FOA online learning site) are
registered trademarks of the FOA.
Want to know more about fiber optics?
Looking for specific information? Here's the largest
technical reference on the web: The
FOA Online Fiber Optic Reference Guide.
Free online self-study programs
on many fiber optics and cabling topics are
available at Fiber U,
FOA's online web-based training website. FOA
Reference Books
Available Printed or eBooks The fiber book is
available in Spanish and French
Lennie
and Uncle Ted's
Guides are now also available as free iBooks on
iTunes. Click on any of
the books to learn more.
To
keep your FOA certifications active, you need to
renew them when they expire. Now we have a new more
convenient way to renew - an online store at Paypal
- where you can quickly and conveniently use your
PayPal account or your credit card to renew your
certifications.
A Salute To FOA's Schools And Training Organizations
When the FOA was started in 1995, the founders were mostly
teachers. They taught for their companies, schools, military services or
were independent trainers offering courses wherever they were needed.
They rcognized the need for a trained workforce and had been doing their
part to train people to join that workforce.
The FOA was created to not be a training organization but as a
professional organization that would set standards for training and
certifying techs. The FOA created a network of training organizations
that offered training that met the FOA's stringent standards for
curriculum, facilities and instructor competence.
A quarter of a century later, the FOA network of approved
schools worldwide is recognized as the best source for general fiber
optic training and certification. We do not mean to slight the many
manufacturers who offer training on their products; that training is
among the best you can get, but it's specific to their products. Some of
the FOA approved schools even train for or in partnership with specific
manufacturers.
FOA Schools Worldwide - plus many travel to other regions, pole to pole.
As a non-profit organization founded by the
industry specifically to develop a competent workforce, FOA provides the
consultation, curriculum and contacts to get schools started as a
service to new schools. FOA's worldwide network of 200+ approved schools is growing as
more organizations take advantage of our expertise in workforce development and
our comprehensive support for getting new schools started. FOA has over
25 years experience and nearly 90,000 certified fiber techs (with
~120,000 certifications) have been trained and certified by FOA schools.
FOA's schools join a network of schools that
collaborate to create better training. We share technical knowledge, new
training techniques and experiences in training that often results in
better training at all the schools. That was especially important in
during the pandemic as schools adapted to the need for student safety
while ensuring high quality training. One useful technique that was first
used then was controlling instruments remotely using the participants
smart devices (phone or tablet), allowing students to use OTDRs
themselves without ever touching the instrument itself.
FOA encourages the schools to adapt the basic CFOT curriculum to the
needs of their students. This allows FOA to also use its schools to help
us learn about new technologies being used in the field. Schools are
encouraged to bring vendors into the training to teach about the use of
new products and techniques. They share this with the FOA and we can
help inform others about this. It has also led to new courses and
certifications, like data centers, fiber for wireless and premises
cabling.
The process of becoming a FOA approved school is not easy. Schools must
have a proven track record in training, meet requirements for curriculum
and hands-on labs, then identify
a capable instructor who must follow the path to FOA instructor
certification. It takes all that to ensure a school can provide quality
training for fiber optic techs.
FOA is proud of its schools! We're pleased to show you below more about
them and their facilities, instructors and trained and certified fiber
optic techs.
FOA Is Converting To Online Credentials For All Certifications
FOA will start issuing credentials for all certifications online in 2023.
Instead of a paper or PDF ID card, all new and renewal certifications
will be issued electronically and viewed online. One online certification will list all the FOA certifications the person
holds. Users can post the credential on LinkedIn, Facebook and other
social media platforms. AND they can print themselves a real paper
certificate!
When we upload the credentials, the certification holder will get an
email with directions on how to log in and receive their credential.
This change is being implemented soon and future certification
credentials will be online.
Can A Cable Failure Cut Off Internet For A Country Or Region?
Telegeography
asked this question in a recent blog post. It provides an excellent
view of how important fiber is to the world's communications networks.
With the recent damage to the Nord Stream gas pipeline, there's been
lots of talk about the potential risk to submarine telecommunications
cables in Europe. This incident has led to speculation about whether it
would be possible to somehow “cut off” Europe from the rest of the
world. While I don't want to speculate on the risk of sabotage, I did
think it would be worthwhile to explain exactly how the continent
connects to the rest of the world.
Map of European submarine cables (Telegeography map)
Undersea cables are fragile. On average, 2-4 cables break somewhere in
the world every week. Given this situation, the submarine cable industry
is sharply focused on efforts to mitigate risk to cables. Cables are
heavily armored and buried when laid in fault-prone areas. Submarine
cables are also protected by a robust system of response and
repair. Dozens of cable ships are standing by to repair damaged
cables.
Bear in mind that the capacity of the cables varies dramatically. The
brand-new Grace Hopper cable, which links the U.K. and Spain to the
U.S., has a potential capacity of 352 Tbps. In contrast, the older
Yellow cable is capable of only 25 Tbps.
Europe is connected to North America via 17 cables. The majority of
trans-Atlantic cables land in the U.K. and France, but Denmark, Norway,
Ireland, and Spain also have landings.The trans-Atlantic route accounted
for 75% of Europe’s total interregional bandwidth in 2021.
There are six major Europe-West African cable systems, along
with 11 smaller cables that link Southern Europe to Northern Africa
(excluding Egypt).
Presently, 13 cable systems link Europe to Egypt and the Middle East.
The vast majority of these cables are connected to Egypt. These systems
are also responsible for carrying data between Asia and Europe.
Beyond these three major corridors, Europe does have a few other
intercontinental options. The EllaLink cable links Portugal to Brazil,
and the Caucasus Cable System spans the Black Sea, linking Bulgaria to
Georgia with terrestrial connectivity to other countries in the Caucasus
region.
What About Land-based Options?
There are, of course, terrestrial networks that link Europe to Asia.
These networks feature far less capacity than what is available on
subsea cables, but more importantly, they all go via Russia (maybe not a
preferred routing these days). For Europe to the Middle East, there are
terrestrial links from Bulgaria-Turkey down to the Middle East. This
option lacks the capacity to fully replace subsea connectivity on the
route.
Overall, terrestrial options just aren’t a viable back-up option for all of Europe’s interregional capacity.
Latest FOA Book: Fiber Broadband (Paperback and Kindle)
How does broadband work? Without fiber optics it would not work.
This book is not the typical FOA technical textbook - it is written for
anyone who wants to understand fiber broadband or fiber optics or the
Internet. It's also aimed at STEM teachers who want to include
communications technology in their classes. This book will try to
explain not only how fiber broadband works, but how
it was developed. It is intended to be an introduction to
communications technology
appropriate for a communications course at almost any level (junior
high, high school or
college,) for managers involved with broadband projects, or for anyone
who just wonders how all this stuff works.
New Fiber U MiniCourse - Fiber Optic Project Management
Managing
a fiber optic project can be the easiest part of the installation if
the design and planning have been done thoroughly and properly, or, if
not, it can be the the hardest. It's certainly important to understand
what managing a project entails.
This new Fiber U MiniCourse starts by defining a fiber optic project
then explains what's involved in managing it from concept to operation.
As usual with Fiber U online learning courses, the course is free and like the Fiber U FTTH course, the Fiber U Certificate of Completion is free also.
With so many new fiber optic projects starting up and so
many new managers, FOA decided this MiniCourse should also offer the
Fiber U Certificate of Completion free.
Fiber Optic Conference Held For Latin America And South America - November 15-17
Earlier this month, the Latin America oriented digital magazine TodoFibraOptica held a 3-day virtual event #EXPOFIBRA catering
to Spanish speakers throughout all the Americas, co-sponsored by the
FOA. The event was themed: “Fiber Optics” The Electricity of the 21st
Century”, and achieved to bring together industry leaders,
organizations, and stakeholders from various regions to participate from
workshops, round tables, and presentations aimed at promoting fiber
optics, as well as informing and connecting various parts of the
industry’s ecosystem.
FOA Master Instructor and Director, Jerry Morla, was part of roundtables
and talks regarding workforce development, leadership and
entrepreneurship in telecom, as well as presented a series called
“Demystifying Fiber Optics by FiberWizards” posted on YouTube here.
Conferencia de Fibra Óptica Realizada Para América Latina y Sudamérica - 15-17 de noviembre
A principios de este mes, la revista digital orientada a América Latina
TodoFibraÓptica realizó un evento virtual de 3 días #EXPOFIBRA dirigido a
hispanohablantes de todas las Américas, copatrocinado por la FOA. El
evento tuvo como tema: “Fibra Óptica” La Electricidad del Siglo XXI”, y
logró reunir a líderes de la industria, organizaciones y partes
interesadas de varias regiones para participar de talleres, mesas
redondas y presentaciones destinadas a promover la fibra óptica, así
como como informar y conectar varias partes del ecosistema de la
industria.
El Instructor Maestro y Director de FOA, Jerry Morla, formó parte de
mesas redondas y charlas sobre el desarrollo de la fuerza laboral, el
liderazgo y el espíritu empresarial en telecomunicaciones, y también
presentó una serie llamada "Desmitificando la fibra óptica por
FiberWizards" publicada en YouTube aquí.
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.
Cross Reference To FOA Technical Reference Materials
With a dozen textbooks in 4
languages, 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. To help this, we have created a cross reference guides: Cross Reference Guide to Textbooks, Online Guide and Fiber UFOA Videos Guide.
Since FOA started offering the CFOT certification 25 years ago, FOA
Approved Schools have been teaching people to design, install and
operate fiber optic networks, creating the workforce that has been
instrumental in building today's communication networks. FOA and its
worldwide network of advisors has created the standards for certifying
techs and helped the schools by offering technical references and
curriculum for them to adapt to their students needs, but it is the
schools who do most of the work, certifying most of the nearly 90,000
fiber optic techs who hold about 120,000 FOA certifications.
FOA wants to salute our 200+ schools worldwide for all their
achievements over the years and introduce them to you. We asked them to
send us some photos of their schools, instructors and students for
this special issue of the FOA Newsletter. Here is a selection of photos
from FOA schools around the world.
Reports From The Schools: SOAR Summit, PikeVille, Kentucky
My name is Tim Long and I am the Fiber Instructor for the Southeast
Kentucky Community and Technical College (FOA Approved School #353)
located in Harlan, Ky.
I recently attended the SOAR Summit Seminar in Pikeville, KY,
October 19-20, 2022. At this event I had a booth showing attendees how
to splice fiber and illustrate the basic fiber optics techniques.
FOA helped provide essential teaching guides for my booth.
While there, I had Congressman Hal Rodgers of Kentucky's 5th District
to stop by. Congressman Rodgers has been instrumental in providing
broadband fiber funding for our distressed region. While he was at our
booth, I showed Congressman Rodgers, how to splice a fiber.
Southeast Kentucky Community and Technical College in Harlan, Ky
is one of 9 KCTCS colleges FOA helped set up fiber programs to train the
workforce to build "Kentucky Wired." When they started their programs,
there were 2 FOA CFOTs in Kentucky; today there are 1200! Good work
everybody!
New 5G Cell Sites Are Appearing In New York City
Photo: Amir Hamja for the New York Times
By now everybody is familiar with the usual urban 5G cell site, a small
antenna on a street light or utility pole along many city streets around
the world. But the NY Times reported a new type of cell tower has been
showing up in NY City.
The tower is a new 5G antenna tower erected by LinkNYC, the latest hardware in New York’s sweeping technological upgrade. New York City has an agreement with CityBridge, the team behind LinkNYC,
that involves installing 2,000 5G towers over the next several years,
an effort to help eliminate the city’s “internet deserts.” Ninety
percent will be in underserved areas of the city — neighborhoods in the
Bronx, Brooklyn, Queens, Staten Island and above 96th Street in
Manhattan.
Once the towers are activated, residents will have access to free
digital calling and free high-speed WiFi as well as 5G service. That
seems to be te reason for the size of the tower; it needs to be big
enough for several antennas. Many of the locations were previously home
to pay phones, some of which may have been converted to Internet kiosks
in another NYC project.
Underground Utility Damages Increased Since 2019 Per "DIRT" Report
The Common Ground Alliance (CGA - the "Call Before You Dig" group) recently announced the findings from its 2021 Damage Information Reporting Tool (DIRT) Report, and the data indicate that damages have increased since 2019.
The analysis suggests that following challenges in the damage prevention process are responsible for nearly 76% of all damages:
no notification to the 811 center
failure to pothole and/or maintain sufficient clearance
facilities not marked or marked inaccurately due to locator error
improper excavation practices
The Report recommends that stakeholders tailor damage prevention efforts
and investment to address the specific leading root causes to most
effectively lower damages and improve the damage prevention process.
EU secures deal on satellite internet system
The European Union has reached a deal on a 6-billion-euro ($6.2 billion)
satellite internet system, driven by the bloc's push to boost its own
space and communications sectors and ensure security by cutting its
reliance on foreign suppliers, The European Commission announced the
initiative to build and operate a satellite internet system in February.
The EU scheme comes amid growing concerns about Russian and Chinese
military advances in outer space and a surge in satellite launches.
Having its own satellite internet system could help the bloc speed up
the rollout of broadband internet in Europe while it would also cover
Africa, allowing the EU to offer countries there an alternative to
Chinese competitors. A space-based network could back up terrestrial
networks in the event of major outages or disasters, and offer
connections in places not covered by traditional service providers.
Alabama, New Mexico loosen restrictions on broadband funding
Voters in Alabama and New Mexico signed off on similar amendments to
their state constitutions removing barriers for funding to boost
internet access. Both states had restrictions on local governments
providing aid or grants to private entities, which created a major
hurdle for officials to disperse the broadband funding it received
through the covid-19 economic recovery package signed into law last
March. The approved amendments will create exceptions allowing officials
at either the state or local level to dole out broadband funds more
easily.
FOA's roster of 200+ approved schools is growing as
more organizations recognize our expertise in workforce development and
our comprehensive support for getting new schools started. FOA has over
25 years experience and nearly 90,000 certified fiber techs (with
~120,000 certifications). As a non-profit organization founded by the
industry specifically to develop a competent workforce, FOA provides the
consultation, curriculum and contacts to get schools started as a free
service to new schools.
Here is some news about organizations being trained by FOA Approved Schools and Certified Instructors.
Training At Telecom Fiji
Andy Edwards of CommsLearning Limited emailed us as he was preparing to
head home to New Zealand that he had just spent time training personnel
at Telecom Fiji - 55 CFOT’s trained, 6 Designers and 4 instructors who
can deliver CFOT
internally with certifications going via
CommsLearning, FOA's Approved School In Zew Zealand.
Here is the report from Andy Edwards, CommsLearning, NZ:
Telecom Fiji engaged CommsLearning to train 55 technicians to CFOT
standard and 6 Planners to CFOS-D standard. In addition, we were to
teach 4 of their staff to become CFOS-I’s, FOA Certified Instructors so
they could train others. To begin with, I taught the 6 planners on
CFOS-D, whilst the trainee Instructors observed. The group of 6 all
passed their exam. We then moved onto the Technicians, training them in 4
groups, I presented the first course, then the instructors took a
couple of sections each, until the final (4th) course, where the
Instructors ran the whole session under my watchful eye.
To enable the exam to be taken after just 3 days, the Instructors ran
evening study groups in local language, often continuing until 9pm,
which saw some very impressive results from the 4 CFOT groups who all
took the exam online.
This was an intensive program of work, but was very enjoyable, and now
Telecom Fiji Limited have 4 Instructors who are able to deliver the CFOT
course internally to TFL technicians, with exams being taken online
through CommsLearning.
We have now started discussions to allow the Instructors to deliver the
CFOT training to Teleocm Fiji customers - that’ll bring benefits to all
concerned.
And, of course, some photos of the classes:
Andy Edwards, CommsLearning, with one of his classes at Telecom Fiji
Sessions included classroom lessons and hands-on labs, like all FOA certification courses
But then, all work and no play makes things too dull!
Warriors For Wireless Training At Aiken Technical College
Aiken Technical College in Graniteville, SC hosted a fiber optic training class for Warriors4Wireless
taught by Donna and Tom Collins, FOA Master Instructor. The Fiber Optic
Association, along with Corning, NATE, T-Mobile, and others in the
industry support W4W programs to train veterans for careers in wireless
including fiber optics.
Tom Collins (in yellow shirt) uses innovative
training methods like using mobile devices to interface to fiber optic
instruments to enhance learning. When he teaches splicing fibers, he
brings plenty of fiber to splice and then test with OTDRs. Corning
Pioneer Gerry Harvey, a retired Corning OSP expert, and Steve Colby,
from Corning stopped by the class to meet the students and provide
career advice. Most students left the course with job offers already.
Welcome School #5 in Ohio
This month FOA welcomes Washington County Career Center as our 5th
school in Ohio. Last year, the Governor's office held a formal ceremony
to announce the opening of a FOA school at Tri-County Career Center (FOA Newsletter September 2021.)
Washington County Career Center is the latest addition to the network
and several more are coming shortly. Soon Ohio will catch up with Kentucky
with 9 KCTCS schools in the FOA network.
Technical
Fiber optic
technology, standards, equipment, installation,
etc.
The FOA
Update Pagecovers the new technology
and applications we covered in this newsletter
recently. Now you can review all that new tech at
once.
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
FOA Videos
We have also rearranged the 100+ FOA videos in similar categories on the
Contents Page of the Online Guide, making the videos, especially the
lectures, much it much easier to find a video on a particular
topic. FOA Videos Guide.
Want to know more about fiber optics? Study
for FOA certifications? Free
Self-Study Programs are on Fiber
U®
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Our goal is to guide, support and recognized our client’s requirements.
How Many Fibers Can You Get In One Connector? 144!
The Sumitomo SWK connector can terminate 48, 96 or 144 fibers. It uses 4
MPO ferrules in a circular connector body to handle all those fibers.
The product line includes breakout modules for LCs or MPOs.
For more information, go to the Sumitomo SWK web page.
Protection For Buried Utilities Like Fiber Optics
Plate-Guard is a major innovation for the protection
of all buried pipeline assets – for oil and gas lines, high-voltage
electricity grids, telephone and fiber optic cables or water and sewage
networks. Plate-Guard is the optimal solution for the safety and
protection of these underground assets.
More than 50% of third party damage to a pipeline is done accidentally
by the excavator bucket of a mechanical digger. Tests show that the
polyethylene plate cover resists the impact of a mechanical digger and
prevents damage to the pipeline.
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:
You might remember an article in the FOA Newsletter in April 2022 or the FOA Guide page on Project Management about the timing of a fiber optic project where we showed the progression of steps in a project like this:
The Gantt Chart above is simply this list converted to a Gantt Chart
using a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet. You can download a copy of the FOA Gantt Chart spreadsheet (xlsx file - 16kB)
and use it to create your own Gantt Chart for any project. All you have
to do is to input your own data and change the activity names as
necessary. You can also follow the directions from Microsoft to create your own version.
Fiber Patch Panels - Routing Guidelines For Cables
The US National Electrical Code states “You
must install equipment and cabling in a neat and workmanlike manner. "
We've all seen patch panels that obviously violate that rule! Eric Pearson of Pearson Technologies,
a frequent contributor to this Newsletter, shares with us some
guidelines he has developed to ensure "a neat and workmanlike manner."
More Help On Color Codes (Now Copper Cabling And Fiber Optics)
The FOA has created a pocket guide to fiber
optic color codes that we are sending to new and renewed CFOTs. 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.
Here's a do-it-yourself FOA Guide To Fiber Optic Color Codes card.
Just download the PDF file, print it on a color printer and fold it up
as shown. Then you have your own pocket guide to color codes. Make a
bunch for your co-workers too.
Then we realized that many of your also do structured cabling
work, so it was a natural to add a Color Code Guide for UTP copper
cabling in printable (below) and electronic (above) versions.
But we did not stop there. We know how many of you use your mobile devices on the job, so we created a version of the Color Code Guide you could download
and use on your smartphone or tablet. It's a PDF file, so you just
download it and save it on your device and it will be with you always.
FOA received an inquiry about whether techs
working on restoring OSP links should be concerned about eye safety if
the link used fiber amplifiers. To answer this question, we had to do some research on fiber amplifiers.
The short answer is YES, you should be concerned. The long answer is
more technical and includes details that every OSP tech needs to know.
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've
created a online Loss Budget Calculator that does
the work for you. Just input your cable plant data
and it calculates the loss budget. It works on any
device, especially smartphones and tablets for field
use and even allows printing the results.
The First Transcontinental Telephone Line
began operation on July 29th in 1915 - 3400 miles between New
York and San Francisco - required over 100,000 telephone poles! Wonders
of World Engineering
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 - by Jim Hayes, FOA President.
Worth Reading - Magazines, Websites and Newsletters
Todo Fibra Optica is
a new digital magazine in Spanish for fiber optics
in Latin America and South America. Jose Enriquez, editor of Todo
Fibra Opticmagazine has many years
experience in the fiber optic industry so he knows
the industry well. FOA will be working with him to
share our extensive technical materials in Spanish.
As
part of celebrating 25 years of serving the fiber
optic industry as its primary source of technical
information and independent certifying body, FOA
thought it appropriate to create a short history of
the organization and how it has developed to
help the fiber optic industry. We also wanted to
recognize the contributions many people have made to
the organization over the years that made FOA what
it is today.
The FOA history is now archived on the FOA
website where you can read it anytime or link to
it.Updated
info - dB, total internal reflection and science
projects,
Worth Reading - News
Summary - Past Links Worth Repeating
How
To Build Rural Broadband, Learning From History
In the August 2021
FOA Newsletter, we published a lengthy article on
rural broadband and compared it to rural
electrification in America in the last century.
Much of the comparison was based on an article
written in 1940 by a USDA economist, Robert Beall,
called "Rural Electrification."
If
you are interested in or involved in rural
broadband, we recommend you read the article "How
To Build Rural Broadband, Learning From History"
in the August 2021 FOA Newsletter and
read the Beall article also.
"Who Lost Lucent?: The
Decline of America's Telecom Equipment Industry"
This is a MUST READ for managers in telecom or any
industry! This long and
well-researched and annotated article in American
Affairs Journal should be mandatory reading
for every high level manager in a telecom company -
or any other company for that matter. To summarize
the article, today, America has no major telecom
equipment company and fears the major suppliers of
equipment who are all foreign, especially the Huawei
from China. This article explains how America got
into this deplorable state.
IEC 60050 - International
Electrotechnical Vocabulary - An
extensive dictionary for fiber optics in English and
French. Highly technical - this is one definition:
"mode - one solution of Maxwell's equations,
representing an electromagnetic field in a certain
space domain and belonging to a family of
independent solutions defined by specified boundary
conditions"
DIRT
Report On Damage To Utilities Common Ground
Alliance (CGA) annual DIRT report provides a
summary and analysis of the events submitted into
CGA’s Damage Information Reporting Tool (DIRT) for
the year 2018. The complete report is available
for download here. In addition,
there is an interactive dashboard that
allows users to filter the data more by
factors contributing to damages.
The Internet Master
Plan for New York City.
The New York City Internet Master Plan is a
comprehensive framework for the infrastructure
and services that provide connectivity to New
York City residents and businesses. This
Master Plan will guide City actions and
public-private partnerships to transform New
Yorkers’ access to this essential
infrastructure for generations to come. Fiber Trivia From
Corning. 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)
Besides
the FOA reference materials, two JDSU/VIAVI
textbooks, Reference Guide to Fiber Optic Testing,
Volumes 1 and 2, were used as references for
some of the FOA courses and are recommended for
instructors and students. The books are available
from VIAVI as eBooks and the everyone should
download them and recommend them to others.Download
yours now. Volume 1. Volume 2. Viavi Books
Guidebook To MPO
Testing OptoTest
offers this complete guide to MTP®/MPO testing. In
this guide, you will learn all there is to know
about the different test methods, equipment
options, troubleshooting, and best maintenance
practices to ensure that you have the best testing
experience. Go here to download the book.
50th Anniversary of The
Development of Low Loss Fibers A history
of the development of low loss fiber, a fascinating
story by Jeff Hecht on the OSA (Optical Society of
America) website. How OFS Makes Fiber
Interesting YouTube video on how fiber is made.
Perhaps a little too much "show biz" but
fascinating. If you have ever seen fiber
manufacture, look at this video. You will be amazed
at how big preforms have become!
Clearfield-FOA Certification
TrainingClearfield is now offering
their customers an FOA
CERTIFICATION course. This course
provides a basic understanding of fiber optic
technology, as well as Clearfield product
knowledge and how Clearfield’s integrated product
systems work together in a fiber network.
FOA
President and editor of this newsletter Jim Hayes
has also been writing a column in Electrical
Contractor Magazine for almost 20 years now.
Electrical contractors do lots of fiber work and
this column has covered some topics they are
interested in including installation processes,
network design, fiber applications and a lengthy
series on dark fiber - what it is, how's its used
and how it benefits the growth of communication. A
recent web site redesign makes it easier to browse
all these articles - just go to http://www.ecmag.com/contributing-authors/jim-hayes
and you can see all of them.
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
Also see the two important questions above in the Technical section.
December 2022
Seeing Splices On OTDR Traces Q: The reason why I am reaching out is because the CEI is
having trouble understanding that not all trace files will show splices.
As we both know that means that there is low loss and the network will
work more efficiently. I was wondering if you could possibly help give a
more in depth explanation so everyone can understand why they are not
seeing splices. A: Nothing in fiber optics is more confusing that an OTDR trace!
First it is necessary to understand how the OTDR measures loss, so start
on this page in the FOA Guide:
https://foa.org/tech/ref/testing/OTDR/OTDR.html When you get about 3/4
down the page, there is a section called “OTDR Measwurement
Uncertainty” that explains the way a splice loss is measured and
the uncertainty of the measurement caused by the difference in
backscatter coefficient in the two fibers being spliced.
Next consider how a splice is made - fusing or welding two fibers
together. The typical loss of the splice is under 0.1 dB. The difference
in fiber backscatter can cause directional loss variations higher that
the loss of the splice. If the difference in backscatter is 0.1 dB and
the splice loss is 0.1 dB, in one direction it will show 0 dB loss and
in the other directin it will show 0.2 dB loss, so the average is about
right, 0.1 dB. This is of course how we get “gainers” when the
backscatter difference is much higher than the splice loss.
But also consider this. The OTDR digitizes the signals in both axes. If
the dB range shown is 40dB and the digitization is 10 bits, each bit
represents 0.04 dB. A good fusion splice can be so small, the OTDR
cannot detect it because it is less than 1 bit of the measurement
resolution.
This is the reason we tell people that documentation is so important. If
you know where the splice is, you can look for it and pat yourself on
the back if you can’t find it because you are so good at splicing!
What is the application for 10G to the home?
Q: What is the application for 10G to the
home? Streaming 4K requires 25M, even a family of 8, each watching
their own program would only require 200M. A: The use of 10G is not just for bragging rights. With 10G,
you can serve up to 256 (or sometimes more) users, making it a viable
alternative for very dense populations. Of course, it can also serve
fewer business users who want higher bandwidth than regular GPON.
Utility damages slightly increased since 2019, per DIRT Report
The Common Ground Alliance (CGA) recently announced the findings from
its 2021 Damage Information Reporting Tool (DIRT) Report, and the datas
indicates that damages have increased since 2019.
November 2022
Fiber Characterization
Q: After installing a long haul backbone
fibre, what tests are required on the fibre plant to ensure optimum
performance of DWDM. (I understand the need for having OTDR traces.) Are
there any FOA Guides that explore such tests?
A: FOA has a page in the FOA Guide covering this kind of testing - it’s called “fiber characterization.” The page is Fiber Characterization and Testing long haul networks (CD, PMD, Spectral Attenuation)
Mating Cycles
Q: I’m a NASA contractor and recently we came across a interesting
and yet perplexing question. Does a connector lose a mate cycle
every time we put it under the scope for a cleanliness inspection?
We want to catalogue each time we lose a mating cycle and wondered if
that counted as well.
A: No you would not lose a mating cycle. The connector is well
separated from the lens of the microscope. If they touched, it would
disturb any dirt on the end of the connector you were trying to inspect
and get the microscope lens dirty. A mating cycle is only when mated to
another connector - PC and APC connectors have contact between the
polished fiber ends and that is what causes wear. Microscopes should not
cause mating, not should most power meters for testing, but test
sources and meters with fiber pigtails for connections would count as a
mating cycle.
Removing Data Center Cables
Q: I’m wrecking out fiber optic cables at the data center.
They get very tangled if the connectors are intact. Co-workers are
cutting the connectors off to make pulling the fiber optic cables
through the fiber troughs easier. I was concerned about fiber shards
when connectors are cut off.
A: Cutting off connectors should not produce fiber shards. The
plastic coatings on the fiber should keep that from happening. It is OK
to cut off connectors or cut the cables into shorter lengths to ease the
removal of tangled cables.
Connecting OS1/OS2 SM Fiber
Q: Can OS1 and OS2 fibers be cross-connected? Application is
for low bandwidth devices with a maximum of 1GB Ethernet connections.
A: OS1 and. OS2 (G.652) fibers are essentially the same
geometrically; the only difference is the manufacturing of OS2 removes
the water molecules that cause the water peak at 1244 and 1383 nm.
FTTH Software
Q: Do you have any recommendations on FTTH software? A search shows a
dozen or more offerings but I don’t know anyone using them. Are you
familiar with any?
A: We asked several people who are knowledgeable on software and here is what they said:
It would depend on the application or what you need the software for…
For GIS based mapping: Esri
For fiber network management systems (FNMS [design/planning and operations]): OSPinsight or Vetro
For automated HL design: OSPInsight as well as Biarri
For Tier 1 type telecom operator FNMS with
BSS/OSS integration: Ericsson NE (Networks) which was based on old
Tirks. Another is NetCracker.
For GIS enabled construction / project Management: Vitruvi
If I had to start a small to mid sized FTTH system, I would consider ESRI and OSPInsight.
October 2022
How Light travels In An Optical Fiber
Q: Is there a generalised ratio between
the length of an optic fibre and the length of the path actually taken
by a light pulse inside that fibre? If yes, do OTDRs factor in such
differences in any way? or they such sown the length of the actual path
of the light pulses?
A: Each optical fiber has an effective
independent of refraction. The index of refraction is the ratio of the
speed of light to the speed of light in the material: n=c/v where
n=index of refraction, c=speed of light in a vacuum and v=speed of light
in the fiber.
For an optical fiber, the manufacturer measures the index of refraction
which is usually in the range of 1.47. Corning SMF-28 singlemdoe fiber
for example is specified at 1.4670 @ 1310 nm and 1.4677 @ 1550 nm.
So if you use the equation above, the speed of light in SMF-28 fiber for
a 1310nm pulse is c/n or 300,000 km/s divided by 1.4670 = 204,500 km/s.
When an OTDR measures length, it actually measures the time its test
pulse takes to go to the end of the fiber and return, so the distance is
2X the actual fiber length. The distance is speed x time.
If a fiber is 1 km long and the speed is 204,500 km/s, the time
forlight to travel the 1km is 1/204500 = 0.00000489 seconds or about 5
milliseconds.
OTDR will measure that fiber as 10 ms becasue its pulse has to go both
ways, and it would calculate the length as i km, using that effective
index of refraction of 1.4670.
Back to your original question, the index of refraction is the generalized number based on how light travels in the fiber. Excess Cable In Ducts Q: Do you have any established characterization on the
ratio of the length of optic fibre to the length of its duct (to account
for twisting of the fibre inside the duct). A: The cable after pulling into the duct and no longer under
tension will be about 1-2% longer. And remember the fiber is about 1%
longer than the cable.
Slack/Service Loops In Manholes Q: What is the recommended percentage of slack left in manholes for longhaul transmission links? A: Not so much a percentage as actual length. If it includes a
splice, the fiber which will be stored in service loops need to be long
enough to conveniently do the splicing outside the manhole - typically
10-15m for each cable. If there is no splice but just provision to pull
the cable back down conduit to repair a dig-up during restoration, the
distances should be about the same or maybe a bit longer - say 20m of
cable..
Do APC Connectors Show Reflectance On An OTDR Trace?
Q: I was testing a 500meter cable with
1000m launch. In the first event the otdr sensed a splice loss instead
of a connector and reflectance. The connector is APC . Is it possible to
have no reflectance at all. Pulse at 10ns and duration of 15secs. A: A good APC connector can show no reflectance. One of our
instructors who wrote the OTDR training course when he was at AT&T
did some tests for FOA a few years ago. Here are two traces that show
the reflectance is so low it is in the noise of the trace.
September 2022
Splicing Pigtails On A Cable
Q: I seem to be having an issue finding fiber protection sleeves
that can slide over the 3mm patch cable. I bought a sleeve that said it
with made for “single fiber fusion” but the thru hole which I would
side the cable thru prior to fusion is too small for the patch cable.
When I try and look on-line for specifications for the thru-hole size,
prior to fusion final melting of the glue in the sleeve, all I find are
post-melting diameters, none which are even close to being able to
handle the 3mm patch cable. A: Splicing pigtails involves splicing the fibers only and the
cables are secured separately. The usual method of splicing on pigtails
is to splice the fibers and use the heat shrink tube to seal the splice
and the fibers from the outside air and protect it from stress. The
splice is placed in a splice tray. On either side, there is 2-3 feet of
fiber exposed from the cables being spliced. The splice tray has clamps
for all of the cables being spliced on the edges of the tray and the
fiber to the splice is coiled neatly on the splice tray. The jacket of
the pigtail is clamped at the edge of the splice tray but ends there,
so only fiber is coiled in the tray. If you try to coil fiber, the bulk
of the cable can get to be a problem where it’s coiled with the bare
fiber.You can get heat shrink protectors for fibers of 250 to 900 micron diameter buffers, but not for jacketed cables.
Important Questions From The Past
Managing And Maintaining a Fiber Optic Cable Plant During Its Lifetime. Q: Are there guides / recommendations for optic fibre cable
life cycle management? (outside plant) including rehabilitation /
replacement timelines together with factors that may alter those
timelines ( such as seismic activity, extreme weather, human
activity-induced fibre cuts etc) also including typical performance
deterioration over the life cycle, and the performance levels at which
replacement / rehabilitation happens. Or does it happen (and is it
normally expected) that operators replace entire sections of fibre (say
400 km) as part of routine maintenance?
A: There is a saying here in the US that in fiber optics “the most common cause of failure is “backhoe fade” in underground cables
and “target practice” for aerial cables.” In other words, damage
caused by humans. We know of many fiber optic cable plants that have
survived natural disasters like earthquakes - in fact there is a lot of
work today using regular cables used in communications to monitor for
seismic activity. Fire can be a problem in remote areas, but often it’s
because the poles are burned causing the cables to fall.
Over the years we have questioned cable manufacturers about the lifetime
of fiber optic cable. They don’t like to make definitive statements but
we have been told that based on the cables installed in the past that
40 years is a probable lifetime for most cables. There are certainly
cables in use today that are over 30 years old already. The glass fiber
is not a problem, it’s the protection from the cables that will
eventually fail. Installation techniques can have an effect on the
longevity. For example splice closures should be sealed properly to
prevent ingress of moisture or dirt. Cables should not be installed with
bends below the rated bend radius or with excess tension.
FOA has always told users that fiber optic cables do not need maintenance (https://foa.org/tech/ref/user/maintain.html),
a response to some people advocating periodic inspection and cleaning
of connections, for example. That’s just more likely to cause damage.
When an accidental break in a cable occurs, we have guidelines for restoration (https://foa.org/tech/ref/restoration/rest.html), and planning for restoration when building the cable plant is very important.
Someday you will certainly want to replace cables, often well before the
lifetime of the cable, but generally because you need more fiber or the
older fiber will not support the network speeds you want for upgrades.
Planning for more fiber by installing more cables can be eased by
installing spare underground ducts when first installing cables - here
in the US, we call this “Dig Once” (https://foa.org/tech/ref/OSP_Construction/Underground_Construction.html). Testing fibers for higher speeds is called "fiber Characterization” (https://foa.org/tech/ref/testing/test/CD_PMD.html) and is routinely done when speeds above 10G or certainly 100G are considered for older fibers.
Knowing that the lifetime of fiber optic cable plants are ~40
years, it makes sense to plan ahead for future applications, installing
lots of fibers, leaving lots of open duct space and choosing network
architectures that will not obstruct upgrades. See the article on
Netly's network above.
Fiber Optic Color Codes Reference Chart
Q: Has anyone made a fiber optic pocket reference chart that has cable
color orders, frequencies, or other commonly used info on it? A: The FOA has a page on its Online Guide that covers color codes
(https://foa.org/tech/ColCodes.htm). It is the most popular page in the
FOA Guide! It works great with a smartphone.
Another
question we get often is "Is there a standard for
fiber optic installation." The answer is yes, but
not from the usual standards groups you might
expect. Over 20 years ago, the National Electrical
Contractors Association (NECA) asked FOA to help
create a standard for installation. That standard,
ANSI/NECA/FOA-301 has been updated three times
already and is about ready for another update.
Unlike most of those groups who charge you a fortune
for standards, FOA covers the cost so ANSI/NECA/FOA-301
is available free from FOA.
Free online
self-study programs on many fiber optics and
cabling topics are available at Fiber U, FOA's
online web-based training website. Free online training at
Fiber U
FOA's roster of approved schools is growing as more organizations
recognize our expertise in workforce development and our comprehensive
support for getting new schools started. FOA has over 25 years
experience and nearly 90,000 certified fiber techs (with ~120,000
certifications). As a non-profit organization founded by the industry
specifically to develop a competent workforce, FOA provides the
consultation, curriculum and contacts to get schools started as a free
service to new schools.
Welcome #5 in Ohio
This month FOA welcomes Washington County Career Center as our 5th
school in Ohio. Last year, the Governor's office held a formal ceremony
to announce the opening of a FOA school at Tri-County Career Center (FOA Newsletter September 2021.)
Washington County Career Center is the latest addition to the network
and two more are coming shortly. Soon Ohio will catch up with Kentucky
with 9 KCTCS schools in the FOA network.
Telecom Fiji
Andy Edwards of CommsLearning Limited emailed us as he was preparing to
head home to New Zealand that he had just spent time training personnel
at Telecom Fiji - 55 CFOT’s trained, 6 Designers and 4 instructors who
can deliver CFOT
internally with certifications going via
CommsLearning. Details above.
FOA Network Of
Approved Schools Continues To Grow
The
need for more fiber optic networks to support
fiber broadband and wireless/5G networks has led to a
strong demand for more trained and FOA-certified
techs, and that has led to a demand for more
training organizations. FOA has been adding new
schools and certifying new instructors to meet the
demand.
Schools added
recently: School 403: Washington County Career Center School 774: Arrow For Engineering, Amman, Jordan
School #401: Western Wyoming Community CollegeSchool 399: Team Fishel, Virginia School 398, Telecom Tech, Colorado
School 396 Optconn, Boston, MA School 395 Fiber Wizards
(Knowledge on Demand LLC) School 393,
Carolina's Solution Group
School 394,
Tri-County Career Center, Nelsonville, Ohio
School
388: Global Com of Sterling, Virginia, USA
School 389. CWA-JATC Telecom Training Center, San
Jose, CA
School 390 Northern Allied Communications,
Nespelem, WA
School 391 Lewis-Clark State College,
Lewiston, ID
School 392 Wallace Community College, Dothan,
AL Complete listing of FOA Approved Training Organizations
Need A Fiber Optic Course Onsite? Invite an FOA School To Come To You
FOA often gets inquiries from an organization that
has personnel that needs training in fiber optics. Recent inquiries have
included contractors, a manufacturer of high-reliability products using
fiber optics and a cable manufacturer. In many cases, where there are
several people needing training, FOA can recommend a FOA Approved School
and Certified Instructor who will come to their location to teach a
class. The advantage is of course the savings in travel costs if
the class comes to you, but it also offers the opportunity to customize
the course to fit your needs, even use your equipment or work on your
components, so the training is more relevant to those taking the class.
Contact FOA to discuss the idea of a custom, on-site class to see if it will better meet your needs.
FOA/Fiber U
On-The-Job Training (OJT) Program
The
FOA Fiber U OJT program for novices combines online study at
Fiber U with OJT with mentoring by experienced
co-workers and their supervisor to help new employees
develop into FOA-certified technicians in only
one year.
The FOA Fiber U “OJT-To-Cert”
program includes both fiber optics
and premises cabling (copper, fiber & wireless),
so it covers techs working in both outside plant and
premises jobs.
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.
Experience Plus
Online Study At Fiber U = FOA Certification
Experienced fiber optic technicians can become FOA Certified using
their experience in fiber optics and study for the
FOA certification exams online at Fiber U.Thousands of
industry professionals have applied to the FOA
directly for certification without the need for
classroom training, based on their knowledge and
skills developed working the field. Since FOA
certifications are based on KSAs (knowledge, skills
and abilities), current techs can show the
skills and abilities required through their field
experience. FOA provides free online self-study courses at Fiber U for the knowledge
part to prepare you for FOA certification exams
which you can also take online.
If you are an experienced field tech interested in
certification, and FOA is the internationally
recognized certifying body for fiber optics, you can
find out more about the FOA "Work to Cert" programhere.
If you are already a CFOT, FOA also offers many
specialist certifications you can obtain based on
your experience as a field tech. See what's
available at Fiber
U.
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.
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.
FOA
has introduced a new type of Fiber U
course, the MiniCourse, a free online course you
could take in a short time, perhaps as you ate lunch
at your desk or took a coffee break. The
topics of these courses should explain what they are
about, and these are all very important topics to
fiber optic techs.
The courses have two components, video lectures and
readings, that are complementary. As usual there is
a self-test to allow you to check your
comprehension. As with other Fiber U courses if you
desire, you can take a short test for a Fiber U
Certificate of Completion that costs
only $10. All these free courses and many more
are available at Fiber U.
What Fiber Techs
Don't Know -
What We Learn From
FOA Certification Tests
As
FOA moves more testing over to our digital online
testing system at ClassMarker, we have access to
more data about our testing, including what
questions and topics on the tests are answered
incorrectly most often. Having this data gives us an
opportunity to evaluate the questions and how they
are stated, but more importantly it allow us to help
our instructors teach the subjects and us to change
our curriculum and online courses to emphasize these
particular topics. These are some of the topics that
we have noticed are answered incorrectly more often
in FOA and Fiber U tests.
Most of the questions missed are on testing.
1. OTDRs - particularly what information is in the
OTDR trace.
2. The difference between dB and dBm
3. Loss budgets - both the concepts and doing the
math
4. Insertion loss testing - single-ended or double
ended for testing patchcords or cable plants, how to
set 0dB references
5. Units of measure - fiber is measured in microns,
wavelengths in nanometers, etc.
At FOA, we're working to add Fiber
U MiniCourses on these topics and working with
our schools to emphasize these topics in their
classes.
If you are going to be taking a FOA certification
course or test in the near future, these topics
should be on your final exam study list.
What We Learn From Hands On Labs
We learn about students performance in hands-on labs
from the feedback of our instructors and our own
experiences too. One big problem is the use of hand
tools. Growing up today, you learn how to use
keyboards, mouses and touch screens, but decades
ago, you also learned how to use basic hand tools.
This is big enough of a problem that we're
considering adding some video lessons on basic hand
tools to prepare students for cable prep,
termination and splicing that require the use of
hand tools.
FOA Guide "Basics Of
Fiber Optics" Now Available Online in Portuguese
(6/2020)
FOA
has now translated the Basics of Fiber Optics
textbook in our Online Guide into Portuguese,
joining Spanish and French translations. For those
speaking Portuguese, we have the technical
information and for schools we also have curriculum
available.
Some
schools have been closed during the pandemic, so FOA
has been working with them to create new online
learning experiences that can in some cases lead to
certification online. FOA certifications are still
based on the KSAs - knowledge from the classroom,
skills from the labs and abilities judged by
instructors or proven by actual experience.
ZOOMing
Much of what we're doing benefits from the
capabilities of "Zoom." Others have created
videoconferencing apps, but none work so well,
especially with limited bandwidth. We've seen remote
labs that have an instructor showing students how to
use the tools they were sent then watching them
duplicate their actions. We have worked out methods
to use Zoom to proctor FOA's online certification
exams. Blended
Learning
While most FOA schools have suspended in-person
training during this period, some are offering a
"blended learning" option. That means that
students sign up for a FOA certification course,
take the classroom sessions on Fiber U with the
assistance of a FOA certified instructor. Now
online instruction can include reviewing the
labs using the Fiber U Basic
Skills Labs, then when it's possible to attend
classes at the school, complete the hands-on
labs and take the FOA certification exam.
Online Remote Labs
Alternatively, some schools are experimenting
with "remote labs," where the students get
sent tool kits and components and labs are
conducted by videoconferencing. Before the
labs, the students may watch demos by their
instructor on videoconferencing and/or review
the relevant "virtual hands-on" lessons in the
Fiber U Fiber Optics Basic Skills Labs
so they will already know the steps in the
exercises. And Fiber U has
the new Fiber U
DIY Basic Skills Lab lesson
with directions on how to
purchase inexpensive tools
online and use them to learn
basic fiber optic skills. Videoconferencing
allows the instructor to remotely monitor
their work and provide help as needed. Contact
the FOA for more information.
FOA Zoom Exam Proctoring
Online
Certification Testing FOA has all its certification tests
available online, both for use by our
schools and by our direct "Work
to Cert" applicants. All FOA
certification tests require a proctor to
oversee the applicant taking the exam. In
this time of social distancing, getting a
proctor can be difficult, so FOA now has
procedures for online proctors
administering the exam. Contact
the FOA for more information.
OJT - On-The-Job-Training
Many novices get a job and learn on the job.
They usually have an experienced tech who helps
them gain the knowledge and learn the
skills they need to perform their job. Thinking
about this in relation to the FOA KSAs,
the knowledge, skills and abilities needed by a
fiber optic tech, the tech will learn
skills but not the basic knowledge that helps
them understand the processes involved. FOA can
offer help here with our FOA's
OJT-to-Cert Program,
using our Fiber
U online self-study programs. While the
tech learns on the job, they become a Fiber
U trainee, getting the knowledge they
need, while working under their "mentor" at
work. This is particularly good for
contracting companies who need techs but do
not have the usual training courses
available. Interested in OJT programs? Click
on the link below or contact FOA for
more information.
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 "Work-to-Cert" 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.
FOA School Offers
Toolkit With Online Training
Slayton Solutions
(FOA Approved School #156) is offering a simple
fiber optic tool kit that includes a 29-piece set
of fiber optic tools and a power meter along with
training videos and online instruction for only
$499. 29 Piece Kit includes all tools and devices
a technician needs to install fiber optic
connectors and test optical power. Information on the kit is
available on YouTube. You can contact them for
more information at slaytonsolutions@sbcglobal.net
or https://www.fiberopticsinstitute.com
Publications /
Resources
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.
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.
Latest FOA Book: Fiber Broadband (Paperback and Kindle)
In less than half a century,
fiber optics has revolutionized communications and to a large extent,
society in general. Broadband, what many today call high speed Internet
access, has become a necessity for everyone, not a luxury. The
technology that makes broadband possible is fiber optics, connecting the
continents, cities, and just about everybody. Even fiber to the home
(FTTH) brings broadband to hundreds of millions worldwide.
How did we get from an era when communications was making a telephone
call or sending a telegram to today’s world where every piece of
information – and misinformation – is available at the click of a mouse
or touch on a screen? How did we get from a time when a phone was
connected on copper wires to being able to connect practically anywhere
on a handheld device with more computing power than was available to
scientists and engineers only decades ago?
How does broadband work? Without fiber optics it would not work.
This book is not the typical FOA technical textbook - it is written for
anyone who wants to understand fiber broadband or fiber optics or the
Internet. It's also aimed at STEM teachers who want to include
communications technology in their classes. This book will try to
explain not only how fiber broadband works, but how
it was developed. It is intended to be an introduction to
communications technology
appropriate for a communications course at almost any level (junior
high, high school or
college,) for managers involved with broadband projects, or for anyone
who just wonders how all this stuff works.
Paperback ($12.95) and Kindle ($9.95) versions available from Amazon or most booksellers. Kindle version is in color!
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.
Here is a listing of all the FOA textbook Translations
Spanish Editions:
Guía de Referencia de la Asociación de Fibra Óptica (FOA) Sobre Fibra
Óptica: Guía de estudio para la certificación de la FOA Amazon
La Referencia de Cableado para Predios de la FOA: Guía para Certificación de la FOA Amazon
La Asociación de Fibra Óptica Manual de Fibra Hasta el Hogar : Para
Planificadores, Gestores, Diseñadores, Instaladores y Operadores De
FTTH Amazon
Guía de Referencia de la FOA sobre Diseño de la red de fibra óptica: Guía de Estudio para la Certificación de la FOA Amazon
And the FOA Reference Guide To Fiber Optics: French Edition: Le
Guide de référence de la FOA pour la fibre optique et et
guide d'étude pour la certification FOA: Guide d'étude pour
la certification FOA Amazon Portuguese Edition: Guia de Referência sobre Fibra Óptica da FOA : Guia de Estudo para a Certificação da FOA Amazon The subject matter of these books is also translated in the FOA Guide online.
Like all our YouTube lectures, they are
all short and easy to understand.
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.
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 .
Recent updates:
FTTH
Updates: Added a section on FTTH Network Design,
updated Architecture and PONs (10G)
FOA's FTTH Handbook: We've
gathered all our information on FTTH from the FOA
Guide and past issues of the FOA Newsletter and
edited it into a 112 page "FTTH Handbook." We even
added a section on planning and managing FTTH
Projects. The Fiber Optic Association
Fiber To The Home Handbook is
available from Amazon in print and Kindle
editions.
Sitio web y manual de FTTH ahora en español
Sitio web y manual de FTTH ahora en español - FTTH Website And Handbook Now In Spanish
El Manual FOA FTTH se ha convertido en el libro FOA
más vendido y tiene una calificación de 4.7/5 por parte de los
compradores en Amazon.
FOA ha notado mucho interés en FTTH en otras áreas del mundo,
especialmente en América Central y del Sur, por lo que tradujimos el
sitio web de FTTH y el Manual de FTTH al español.
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.
Resources For
Teachers In K-12 And Technical Schools
Teachers in all grades can introduce their
students to fiber optic technology with some
simple demonstrations. FOA has created a page for
STEM or STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts
and math) teachers with materials appropriate to
their classes. Fiber Optic Resources For
Teachers.
Safety
On Safety
The FOA is concerned about safety! FOA
considers safety an integral part of all our
programs, curriculum materials and technical
materials. We start all our textbooks and their
online versions with a section on safety in the
first chapter, like this: Before
we get started - Safety First!
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
Safety Leader
Magazine
Safety Leader, a new quarterly magazine, informs and
educates electrical contractors on safety from
various angles—electrical, workplace, PPE,
regulations, leadership, line work, NFPA 70E, and
more. Safety Leader is bundled with ELECTRICAL
CONTRACTOR in February, May, August and November. To
receive Safety Leader subscribe to ELECTRICAL CONTRACTOR
magazine here or subscribe to the ELECTRICAL
CONTRACTOR newsletter here. 2023 Conference On
Damage Prevention In Tampa
The magazine, dp-Pro, sponsor of the conference,
has also published it's latest issue with an
article by FOA on "New Construction Techniques
in Fiber Optics" and a overview of the FOA. You can read the magazine here.
When You Bury Marker
Tape, Bury One That Will Work (July 2021)
Signaltape® provides a visual
warning by ensuring tape is brought to the surface,
alerting the operator to the presence of a buried
utility. It includes a 3,000-lb. tensile strength
aramid fiber membrane, which ensures the tape is
pulled to the surface to alert the excavation crew.
Signaltape
comes in two sizes: 12″ x 1000′ or 6″ x
1000′.
The FOA is a, international non-profit
educational association chartered to promote
professionalism in fiber optics through education,
certification and standards.
Founded in 1995 by a dozen prominent fiber optics
trainers and leaders from education,industry and governmentas a professional society for fiber
optics and a source of independent certification,
the FOA has grown to now being involved in numerous
activities to educate the world about fiber optics
and certify the workers who design, build and
operate the world's fiber optic networks.
Want to know more about fiber optics? Study
for FOA certifications? Free
Self-Study Programs are on "Fiber U®."
Looking for specific information? Here's the largest
technical reference on the web: The
FOA Online Fiber Optic Reference Guide.
Free online self-study programs
on many fiber optics and cabling topics are
available at Fiber U,
FOA's online web-based training website.
The
FOA has created a store on Zazzle.com offering lots
of new logo merchandise. It has lots of versions of
shirts and other merchandise with "FOA," "Fiber U,"
"Lennie Lightwave" designs and more so you should
find something just for you! See FOA on Zazzle.
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!
Contact
FOA at info@thefoa.org to get logos in file format
for your use.
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.
How does broadband work? Without fiber optics it would not work.
This book is not the typical FOA technical textbook - it is written for
anyone who wants to understand fiber broadband or fiber optics or the
Internet. It's also aimed at STEM teachers who want to include
communications technology in their classes. This book will try to
explain not only how fiber broadband works, but how
it was developed. It is intended to be an introduction to
communications technology
appropriate for a communications course at almost any level (junior
high, high school or
college,) for managers involved with broadband projects, or for anyone
who just wonders how all this stuff works..jpg)
Managing
a fiber optic project can be the easiest part of the installation if
the design and planning have been done thoroughly and properly, or, if
not, it can be the the hardest. It's certainly important to understand
what managing a project entails.
This new Fiber U MiniCourse starts by defining a fiber optic project
then explains what's involved in managing it from concept to operation.
OptConn
is a value-add re-seller of optical connectivity products, services and
solutions. With over 30 years of experience in the fiber optics
industry we are here to serve your requirements from fiber optic
training with FOA certification to products, materials and supplies. 
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