Design Guidelines

The following outline will help determine the design of your fiber optic application. Please feel free to call our design engineers at 1-888-999-9437 for further assistance.

  • Signal type
    1. How many signals of each type are present?
    2. Is the equipment addressable?
    3. Do our inputs and outputs match the application requirements?
      1. Video
        1. Baseband 1 V pk-to-pk required (as opposed to broadband)
      2. Audio
        1. Line-level 2.2 V pk-to-pk, max. required
      3. Data
        1. What type of data must be passed via fiber?
          1. RS232 -- Are control signals (RTS,CTS, etc.) required?
          2. RS422
          3. RS485 -- Is it half duplex (2-wire) or full duplex (4-wire)?
          4. T1
        2. Is the data one-way or bi-directional?
        3. Is clock required?
          1. If so, can it be encoded in the data or does it need to be passed separately?
        4. What is the encoded data rate?
      4. Contact closure
        1. 50 V, 0.5 A, max. through the contacts.
        2. Are the contact closures one-way or bi-directional?
  • Topology
    1. What types of topologies are involved?
      1. Point-to-point
      2. Daisy-chain (drop-and-insert)
      3. Self-healing ring
      4. Star
        1. Fan-out (data from a central point to many remote locations where processing or regeneration of signals is not required)
        2. Active star (data from a central point passing via a network where other intelligent hubs regenerate the data and provide added functionality and network management.
    2. What are the distances between nodes?
    3. What are the copper distances?
    4. What are the fiber distances?
    5. How many patch panels will be included along each fiber run?
    6. How many splices will be included along each fiber run?
      1. How many mechanical splices?
      2. How many fusion splices?
    7. What is the overall system layout (as a simple block diagram, if possible) including fiber and copper paths if they are known?
  • Fiber and connectors
    1. Fiber existing
      1. What is the number of fibers available?
        1. How many fibers are singlemode?
        2. How many fiber are multimode?
          1. What type of multimode -- 50µ core, 62.5µ core, other?
      2. Do different fiber types mix on the same run? (e.g., multimode and singlemode or 50 µ multimode and 62.5 µ multimode)
      3. What is each fiber's end-to-end optical attenuation measured at 850 nm and at 1300 nm?
    2. Fiber not existing
      1. Outdoor fiber = loose tube cable.
        1. Will the fiber be directly burried?
          1. Is armor required?
        2. Will the fiber be strung aerially?
          1. Does it need to be self-supporting or will it be supported by another structure?
        3. Will the fiber be laid in conduit?
        4. Is breakout cable requested?
        5. Are special components or ratings requested such as water-blocking tape, UV ratings, etc.
      2. Indoor fiber = tight buffer cable.
        1. Are there any UL or local fire department codes to be met?
          1. Riser-rated?
          2. Premise-rated?
          3. Plenum-rated?
          4. Other?
    3. Connectors existing
      1. What type of connectors?
        1. ST connectors?
        2. Other? (Specify type such as SC, SMA, FC/PC, etc.)
    4. Connectors not existing
      1. What is the fiber buffer diameter?
      2. What is the cable outer jacket diameter?
      3. What is the number of fibers per tube?
      4. Is a breakout kit required?
        1. Will the breakout locations be indoor or outdoor?


    • International Fiber Systems, Inc., 16 Commerce Road, Newtown, CT 06470 USA
    Tel: 203-426-1180 | E-Mail: sales@ifs.com | Fax: 203-426-3326
    Design Center: 888-999-9ifs
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