| What does an enterprise fiber optic network consist | | | | The tools needed for fiber terminations are fiber optic |
| of? | | | | cable strippers, Kevlar cutters, fiber cleavers, ST, SC, |
| The basic philosophy of modern LAN wiring is the | | | | LC or MTRJ fiber optic connectors, fiber connector |
| concept of structured cabling. The entire networking | | | | hand polishing puck, fiber polishing films and fiber |
| system is broken up into chunks that allow workstation | | | | inspection microscope. |
| wires to be concentrated. | | | | Fiber optic cable termination steps |
| In a typical enterprise LAN system, the fiber optic | | | | 1. Strip the fiber |
| network consists of telecommunication rooms, | | | | Fiber cables come with 3mm jacket, Kevlar strength |
| backbone wiring, work areas and horizontal wiring. | | | | member and 0.9mm buffer coating. To get to the |
| Let's illustrate this with a 3 stories building. | | | | 0.125mm fiber cladding, you need to remove the 3mm |
| On each floor, there will be a telecommunication room | | | | jacket with a fiber jacket stripper, then cut the Kevlar |
| sitting on top of each other. These telecommunication | | | | fibers with a Kevlar cutter, finally strip the 0.9mm |
| rooms hold all network equipment such as routers, | | | | buffer down to 0.125mm cladding with a fiber optic |
| servers and switches. Telecommunication rooms are | | | | stripper. |
| linked together with fiber optic cables passing through | | | | 2. Cleave the fiber |
| vertical shafts which are called backbone wiring | | | | After stripping the fiber down to 0.125mm cladding, you |
| cabling or vertical wiring/cabling. | | | | insert the fiber into a SC, ST or LC connector, and |
| The backbone fiber optic cables typically run at | | | | then inject some fiber optic epoxy into the connector |
| 10Gbps Ethernet speed to provide enough bandwidth | | | | with a syringe. |
| for the whole enterprise. | | | | You will then lay the connector into a hot oven to cure |
| Work areas are work stations (PCs) divided into | | | | the fiber epoxy so it can hold the fiber tightly. |
| cubicles. These work areas are connected to each | | | | After the curing process, you cleave extra fibers from |
| floor's telecommunication room with horizontal cabling. | | | | the connector tip with a fiber optic cleaver. |
| These horizontal copper/fiber optic cables typically run | | | | 3. Hand polishing the fiber |
| at 1Gbps Ethernet speed. | | | | In the next step, you put the connector (already with |
| How to pull the fiber optic cable through vertical shaft | | | | fiber fixed inside) into a hand polishing puck, which |
| The backbone cabling used to be twisted pair copper | | | | serves as a fixture while you polish the end face of |
| cables. But now it is typically multimode fibers or even | | | | the connector to get a high quality mirror like finish. |
| single mode fibers. | | | | You then hold the polishing puck and polish the |
| There are many tools available to pull the vertical | | | | connector on a connector lapping film in a figure 8 |
| backbone fiber cables. These include Gopher poles, | | | | shape for 10~15 times. |
| cable caster pulling tools or fish tapes. And usually you | | | | Repeat the hand polishing steps stepping from 12um, |
| need to install a pulling eye to protect the fiber cables | | | | 3um to 0.5um lapping films. |
| and connectors while pulling the fiber cables. | | | | 4. Fiber termination quality inspection |
| How to terminate a backbone vertical fiber optic | | | | The final step is to inspect the quality of your work. |
| cable? | | | | You insert the finished connector into a fiber optic |
| The backbone fiber optic cables come in without | | | | inspection microscope which zooms to 200 to 400 |
| termination (connector). You usually need to terminate | | | | time level to show you all the scratches and pits that |
| these fibers with fiber optic connectors such as ST, | | | | may exist on the connector end face. If everything |
| SC or LC connectors. | | | | looks perfect, then you can connect your fiber into the |
| The termination steps are not extremely difficult but it | | | | network. |
| does require some extensive training before you can | | | | This only touches the surface of building a fiber optic |
| do a fairly good job. | | | | network. We have tons of information on our web site. |
| Fiber optic termination tools | | | | Follow the links below to discover even more! |