The United States and Canada have a long tradition of attaching fiber to buildings or suspending them from existing masts. However, many fiber optic supply companies are now seeing the advantages of installing pipes underground while fiber optic networks expand. Framco just visited some construction sites around Toronto. A common feature of all sites is that the various feed pipes are buried alongside roads and next to individual dwellings, as opposed to the wooden and iron masts seen earlier.
In Toronto alone, with 500,000 to 600,000 immigrants per year, the need for new homes is very clear. The main reason for Framko's visit was a particular reference case. It's not in Toronto, but 150 kilometers outside of Niagara Falls. A fairly new residential area is being greatly expanded. The existing part of the residential complex is equipped with coaxial fiber in pre-installed ducts. They should try to bury fiber optic cables for existing and new areas through existing and new ducts.
With the arrival of spring, fiber-to-the-home projects are popping up at many large construction sites across Toronto. When designing duct layouts in existing areas, they do not consider future expansion. This means that the layout of the new power fiber is very challenging. Nearly 1200 meters of fiber go through two 180° and nine 90° turns. The first 550 meters through the pre-installed 4×10 mm multi-pipe. The next 150 meters pass through a new 10mm micro-conduit in a 1½" conduit with an existing 20mm coaxial fiber. The final 450 meters are traversed through a 1¼" conduit with a new 10mm micro-conduit.
On the shortest intermediate stretch, neither the 20mm coaxial fiber nor the 10mm microcatheter had enough room. They ended up with a smaller coaxial fiber solution that was pulled through the large catheter along with the 10mm microcatheter. They then connected all the microcatheters and buried the fiber all the way to the bottom using a MiniFlow RAPID (bit.ly/21Hjc4s). The MiniFlow RAPID machine has shown that it can bury 1,200 meters of microtubules underground.
Before the advent of Framco, two other suppliers had been involved in the extremely difficult work, but they were unable to come up with a solution. Frankly, Flemco's machines and know-how made this work to the full satisfaction of all parties involved.
Many theoretical solutions have been discussed before the actual working process. The end user was very satisfied, and it turned out that using the physical infrastructure it was possible to provide fiber to individual houses, even without affecting the solution of installing the ducts in the ground, which leaves only visible lights. Columns and some street cabinets with spliced connections.
Telcos can now go ahead and further develop their approach and focus on building large-scale fibre networks in similar residential areas.
ZR Optical Communications is a resource to help answer technical questions. We are excited to partner with Framco and extend our technical expertise into fiber optic burial solutions.
