Mid-span Access Tool Designs and Their Impact on Fiber Reliability

摘要

Mid-span accessing of buffer tubes is frequently done to extract a subset of the fibers inside. The buffer tube access tools used for mid-span access have three requirements: 1) they must open the buffer tube to allow access to the optical fibers inside, 2) they must not interrupt traffic on active fibers, and 3) they must not damage the optical fibers. However, many mid-span access tools cannot meet all three of these requirements. This paper presents a detailed study of the potential for fiber damage resulting from the use of various mid-span access tools currently used in the field.