The Fibreoptic Industry Association has produced a document on commercially viable splice loss specifications, which if followed will ensure the operation requirements of a system are not compromised.

“Fusion splicing is a long-established and well-proven technique for the provision of low insertion loss and high return loss joints in fibre optic cable,” the FIA says. “Unfortunately, unrealistic demands for splice loss performance, flawed in terms of what and/or how it is specified, are often included in project specifications, causing problems for both installers and clients.” The document, TSD-2000-4-1-1, places the most emphasis on the optical budget of the channel, with the loss level of in any individual splice only of interest if it is greater than 0.3dB, which will probably indicate faulty workmanship or subsequent cable damage.

A significant cause of splice losses is mode field diameter mismatches, compounded by the existence of five different types of fibre cable specified in IEC 60793-2-50 – and 13 sub-types within ITU-T specifications.

Contact 01763 273039 or visit www.fibreoptic.org.uk for details.