EoW September 2011

technical article Flexible bend insensitive riser cable for fast FTTH deployments By Grzegorz Tosik, Paweł Kołodziej and Magdalena Mirynowska of Corning Cable Systems

Abstract Nowadays a Fibre to the Home (FTTH) network plays a crucial role in developing the information society. The increasing popularity of FTTH deployments observed over the last few years has resulted in millions of homes already passed, but in comparison the homes connected market penetration is still relatively small (2.9% of households in US, less than 4% in Europe, and approximately 25% in Asia [1] ). The next growth opportunity in FTTH that enables acceleration of market penetration is coming from Multi-Dwelling

Units (MDU) deployments. In typical MDUs the fibre is brought to the floor level and shared by several dwelling units. Network deployments in challenging MDU environments are different than in any single-family house and require an adequate technology. Additionally, as deployments increase, customers will have trouble finding enough skilled splicing technicians to realise large roll outs. To meet today’s market demand Corning designed a FTTH MDU solution (ASCEND™) which uses an advanced riser cable assembly named OptiRise™. Riser Cable Assembly solves major deployment issues and enables MDU installations to be faster, easier and more reliable. The fibre optic cable consists of network access points which are pre-installed at customer-specific locations distributed along the length of the cable. The system is manufactured and tested in the factory, then packaged and shipped to the customer for immediate deployment. 1 Riser cable assembly The recent emergence of single mode fibres for FTTH applications with improved bending performance has been driven by the increasing amount of optical cable being installed inside buildings with all the associated bend challenges. As mentioned before, the speed of deployment creates another main challenge in today’s installations and the pre-connectorised riser solution has been specifically designed to overcome this issue. As the FTTH scale of deployment increases, customers will have trouble finding enough skilled splicing technicians. Additionally, labour rates for highly skilled fibre craftsmen are already increasing. The proposed solution enables considerable advantages in the speed of deployment,

Pulling grip

Floor box

Tether

Tap point

Basement box

▼ ▼ Figure 1 : Riser cable assembly

Pulling grip

▲ ▲ Figure 2 : Typical MDU Architecture

Break out cable at floor level

while significantly decreasing the number of skilled installers needed to complete an installation successfully. Faster deploy- ment time will allow customers to generate revenue faster, thus increasing their ROI. The main element of the proposed solution is a pre-connectorised riser cable shown schematically in Figure 1 . This solution is based on bend insensitive fibre, which makes it ideal for deployments within the challenging MDU environment. The riser assembly provides single connectors (SC or LC type) on the basement side to be connected to a basement distribution terminal and individual fibre breakouts on each floor level to be connected to the individual customer apartments. All connectors and the breakouts on the floor level are factory assembled and therefore avoid the critical step of a typical mid span access of the cable. The cable is already 100% factory tested before being

Cable Extension (5m)

Floor 2

Tap point first floor

Floor 1

Basement Connectorised pigtails

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EuroWire – September 2011