At TCG Structured Communications, we provide the best cable installers to connect all types of buildings to larger fiber optic networks like those found in population centers across the world. Whether you’re a business owner, landlord, school administrator, or other professional in the Philadelphia area, Delaware, or New Jersey, we can assist you with fiber optic cable installation, reconfiguration, splicing, and more. Our cable installers use the latest in equipment to splice local fiber optic networks into the rest of the world. Here’s more about one of those pieces of equipment, the fiber optic fusion splicer.
How do Fiber Optic Cables Work?
To understand how a fiber optic fusion splicer works, you must first understand how fiber optic cables work. Inside a fiber optic cable, you’ll find bundles of optical fibers, which are strands of glass drawn out until they’re the diameter of a human hair. When bundled together with a wider glass core, these strands can transmit light signals great distances. When those signals are received, they are decoded as data. While fiber optic cables are used today to transmit data, they are also used in a variety of other applications like the endoscopes doctors use to perform minimally-invasive surgery.
Fiber Optic Splicing
In order for a fiber optic cable to successfully transmit data, each optical fiber must create an uninterrupted path from transmission to receipt. Anything that blocks light signals from getting through the cable – like a defect or break – will degrade that signal, potentially stopping data in its tracks. Because a typical fiber optic cable can contain anywhere from 2 to 200 fiber strands, splicing them together without creating any breaks in the transmission path can be a difficult proposition. That’s why professional fiber optic splicers use a specialized tool that ensures a solid connection and a clear path for data transmission.
Before a successful splice can be made, the outer jacket of each fiber optic cable is stripped away. Next, the exposed ends are placed in the fiber optic fusion splicer, where each fiber is carefully aligned. With the fibers properly aligned, the technician can ensure that the signal will be as strong as possible once the splice is completed. The tech will also make sure that there is no dirt, debris, or moisture anywhere on the cable’s surface that could potentially weaken signal strength. Some fiber optic fusion splicers will even emit a spark to burn off moisture and impurities!
When the two cables are clean and aligned, they are fused end to end with a powerful spark. This spark is hot enough to melt the faces of each cable so they can be joined together. Although signal attenuation in a spliced cable is naturally higher than that of a continuous cable, there will be very little loss of signal if the splice is performed properly.
At TCG Structured Communications, our state-of-the-art equipment like fiber optic fusion splicers allow us to be the best fiber optic splicing contractor. If you have a building like a business, apartment complex, dormitory, or data center in Delaware, Pennsylvania, or New Jersey, we can help you repair, install, or upgrade high speed fiber optic networks. Give us a call at (610) 639-0401 or fill out the online form on our contact page to find out more about our services or to get a free estimate on your project!