Thinking Of A Career As A Fibre Optic Network Installation Technician?

Experience the transformative power of fibre optic technology with a career as a fibre network installer technician. This role offers the chance to work with cutting-edge technology and allows you to play a vital part in enhancing connectivity for communities and businesses. Join a dynamic and rewarding field where your skills can make a real difference and embrace opportunities for growth and advancement in an ever-evolving industry. Be the backbone of modern communication and contribute to a brighter, more connected future.

As a fibre optic network installer, it can be challenging, especially when working with large fibre counts, where potentially thousands of fibre strands must be prepared. Fibre optic strands are smaller than the width of human hair and are measured in microns. The core size of a single-mode fibre is typically between 8-10 microns, which are protected by the cladding layer of 125 microns. The additional protective coating is added up to 200-900 microns. This is where technicians and engineers prepare the fibre for splicing (jointing). The technician must identify the fibre type so the correct settings can be applied to the fusion splicer to allow them to correctly splice the fibres together, in specification with industry standards.

Optical fibres are sometimes bundled together into tubes called tight buffered tubes. Fibres inside the tube can be 200-250 Micron and contain four to twenty-four strands in a single tube. Around these fibre strands is a gel called a water-blocking agent, and multiple tubes, often called loose tube cables, are either pulled or blown into a fibre optic network.

Fibre Optic Network Installation Technicians/Engineers

Fibre Optic Network Technicians play a vital role in fibre network delivery in every aspect of deployments. However, only if they are correctly trained and proficient in their job. They cover all aspects of the network infrastructure.

From installing underground cabling, overhead cabling can be challenging and requires skill and experience. Installing Optical distribution frames that house hundreds to thousands of individual fibres needs to be prepared and spliced into cassettes. These are typically found in Exchanges, Head Ends, Data Centres, Point of Presence (POP).

Underground cable joining is paramount to the role. This would mean working on public highways, preparing cables from the Exchanges, Head Ends, etc., into aggregation nodes normally found in the footways. It can sometimes require working outside normal working hours before pushing them through to the distribution or access network ready for end customer connectivity.

End-customer connections entail splicing fibres through to the end client. These could be a simple customer splice box or a patch panel. If it is a business and would require cables to be installed inside buildings, the external grade cable would need to transition to a low-smoke internal cable to comply with building regulations and local fire codes. These cables must be sealed as they enter a building but also through any walls.

Technicians and engineers would be responsible for testing the network to ensure the fibre optic circuit runs error-free and complies with industry standards regarding link loss budgets. This is prominently done with special equipment called a light source and power (LSPM) meter, optical time domain reflectometer (OTDR), and a fibre inspection probe for inspecting end face connectors. Higher capacity fibre circuits running 10 Gigabit and above require chromatic dispersion and polarisation mode dispersion testing (CD/PMD). The latter should be tested by a specialist fibre characterisation trained person who carries out the testing following the ITU-T G650.3. The seven following tests are required to characterise the fibre correctly:

1. Connector Inspection

2. Insertion Loss

3. OTDR

4. Return Loss

5. Spectral Attenuation

6. Chromatic Dispersion

7. Polarisation Mode Dispersion

1-3 is also known as Tier 1 testing

4-7 is known as Tier 2 testing

Both look at fibre’s health and can determine which applications can run on the fibre circuit and the bandwidth it will perform to.

So, being qualified as a Fibre Network Installation Technician, you can progress your career onto more specialised topics like fibre characterisation, dark fibre, designing fibre networks, and testing sub-sea cables in the oceans around the globe.

What is a Fibre Optic Network

There are many different types of fibre networks currently being deployed globally; in telecoms, we usually have the following:

Core network

Often referred to as the spine network, connecting from the exchange to the distribution network, these tend to be large fibre counts, many kilometres long and can be between cities. They carry high-capacity data circuits, normally terabits of information being transmitted, so fibre network installers must be correctly trained.

Transmission equipment, such as Synchronous Digital Hierarchy (SDH) carrier ethernet or Wavelength Division Multiplexors (WDM), could have various uses. The thin strand in single-mode fibre has many variations, and there are still fibres in the network from the late 1970s and early 1980s.

• ITU G652

• ITU G653

• ITU G654

• ITU G655

• ITU G656

• ITU G657

Distribution Network

The distribution network is primarily fed from the core network to aggregation nodes or points of presence (POP). It then allows large fibre counts to be split into smaller cables to distribute the fibre optic network according to the network planners’ design before it goes into the access network for the end subscriber connections.

The distribution network will consist of underground enclosures and large streetside cabinets. Fibre Optic Network installers are responsible for identifying the correct cables, stands, and tubes; the planner usually provides these, sometimes called FNCs (fibre network configuration) splicing diagrams or schematics.

The fibre optic installer must be trained to open a jointing enclosure and locate the correct fibre strand they will be splicing together. If not, they could damage mission-critical live fibre circuits, causing downtime and a loss of revenue or, worse, the primary internet connection for the region.

Training engineers and technicians are crucial, especially for Core and Distribution networks, and validating their skills and expertise is a requirement. Trade tests can help distinguish those who have been correctly trained and hold vocational training awards from those who don’t. Those who have completed vocational training understand how light travels through the fibre, and they know how to join and terminate fibres within a network correctly.

Access Networks

Access networks, also known as the last mile, have become more critical than ever, especially now that Fibre to the Home or cabinet is widely deployed (FTTx). Individual homes can be connected directly to a fibre network from a streetside cabinet, underground chambers, or overhead telegraph poles. Many different connection methods are currently being deployed globally, some being pre-terminated blocks called connector block terminals (CBTs). These can be configured as 4, 8 or 12 subscribers, and many different manufacturers have their flavour.

Also being deployed are Ariel Subscriber Nodes (ASN), usually found on telegraph poles, or Underground Subscriber Nodes (USN), offering a higher connection count. The connection method varies for each service provider; these could include blown fibre, underground cable drop, or overhead drop cables. Some providers offer direct point-to-point or passive optical networks. Point-to-Point Network

Point-to-point networks do not share an internet connection, which means that they are directly connected from a premises to a cabinet or POP/exchange, which means shared bandwidth.

Passive Optical Network (PON)

Passive infrastructure is commonly used in today’s modern networks; deploying with a smaller fibre count is more cost-effective. However, with the innovation of optical splitters and technology, higher bandwidth is shared with other subscribers. Most modern networks will offer up to 1Gbs, using GPON Gigabit Passive Optical Network and some up to 10Gbs using symmetrical services like XGS PON where the speed is symmetrical for upload and download speeds.

Blown Fibre

Blown fibre would usually be done by a fibre cable technician who would blow a fibre down a blown fibre tube to the customer’s premises, and the distance can vary depending on the nearest cabinet or underground node situated. These tubes will usually be left on the boundary of the customer’s premises in an underground pod called a Toby box, ready for service when the end user signs up for a service from the fibre network provider. Sometimes, this involves digging across the garden or driveway or routing up the wall to a customer connection box.

Underground Drop Cable

Underground drop cables are generally routed via a ducted network at the customer’s premises; in the UK, many operators use shared infrastructure from Openreach called Physical Infrastructure Access (PIA). This involves a cable pulled in by a cabling team or the fibre optic network installation technician, again terminated at the customer’s premises.

Overhead Drop Cable

Many operators have access to telegraph poles or, in the UK, to the Openreach PIA network. They pay fees to Openreach for access to ducts and poles but sometimes use their poles. Depending on how they built the network, they would typically connect to a CBT or an ASN. It is one of the quickest methods for deployments but also has risks.

Conclusion

So, to conclude, a fibre optic network installation technician fits all the above roles, and the job role can vary daily; they must be trained correctly and hold the correct vocational award, not just an accreditation. Installation technicians who are proficiently trained add value and expertise to all organisations as they can install, troubleshoot and rectify faults, whether this be Core, Distribution or Access network. Employers should train staff correctly and avoid costly in-house training. Research has shown that 85% of network builds have been done incorrectly and now cost millions of pounds to rectify these issues.