Archived — Cable Management

Optical fiber cable installation is usually just as simple as installing coaxial or UTP cable in horizontal cabling. But the most critical factor in fiber optic cable installation is to keep the fiber cables’ minimum bend radius. If you bend the fiber cable tighter than its minimum bend radius, you risk big loss and even broken fibers. Hence fiber optic cable manufacturers always specify the minimum bend radius under tension and for long-term installation. The following table will give you a reference when deploying fiber optic cables. Application Fiber Count Minimum Bend Radius Loaded Unloaded cm inch cm inch Interbuilding

In order to accurately calculate fiber optic link budget, you should know two concepts: installation loss and AC losses. What are installation losses? Installation loss is also called DC loss. It refers to optical losses caused by fiber optic cabling plant. This includes fiber transmission loss, attenuation versus wavelength and connector and splicing loss. Transmission Loss Transmission loss is the most important property of an optical fiber. Transmission loss is caused by material obsorption and linear and nonlinear scattering of light from impurities in the fiber. Macrobending and microbending are two more mechanisms for attenuation increase. Typical losses for single

Media converters are passive devices which provides networking flexibility with a minimum cost. Media converters make it easy to integrate new equipment into your structured fiber optic cabling network. The applications of media converters include: Extend the life of existing copper based equipment and network Extend the distance of an existing network Integrate data and telecommunication networks over fiber   Media Converter Applications   Extending the distance between a network switch and a file server or between two switches Media converters can be used to extend the distance between a network switch and a file server up to 2000 meters.

Cabling professionals should purchase a full copy of the TIA/EIA-568–B Standard; you can do so at the Global Engineering Documents web site: http://global.ihs.com Now here is a little tip on interpreting the Standards and Specifications once you get one copy. Standards and Specification documents are worded with precise language designed to spell out exactly what is expected of an implementation using that specification. If you read carefully, you may notice that slightly different words are used when stating requirements. If you see the word shall or must used when stating a requirement, if signifies a mandatory requirement. Words such as

If you have been in the business of data communication cabling for a while, you should have learned these two structured cabling standards: TIA/EIA-568–B and ISO/IEC 11801 2nd Edition. Now the question is: which standard should you follow? Though these two standards are quite silimar (ISO/IEC 11801 was based on ANSI/TIA/EIA-568–A), the ISO/IEC 11801 Standard was developed with cable commonly used in Europe and consequently contains some references more specific to European applications. Also, some terminology in the two documents is different. If you are designing a cabling system to be used in the United States or Canada, you should