home

Insight Prysmian Magazine

Making way for bandwidth expansion

bendbright

New technologies such as the Internet of Things (IoT), Artificial Intelligence and Virtual Reality have evolved into being vital applications for information and become commonplace in our everyday lives. Broadband networks must quickly adapt to meet growing demands for increased capacity, higher density, and lower latency. More bandwidth is paramount to power consumers’ connected lives.

The reliance on fibre networks to support the bandwidth demand continues to climb with high-speed fibre now the primary fixed broadband technology in 50% of OECD countries. Hundreds of millions of kilometres of fibre are being deployed each year, which is making networks more dynamic, crowded and limited for space. This heightens the possibility of fibre bends occurring in the network. Preventing this power leakage due to bending effects is therefore a crucial component behind the overall effectiveness of these high-performing optical networks.

Not only do operators need to offer faster, more cost-effective, and reliable deployment methods, but they also need to support the growth of next-generation Passive Optical Networks (PON) technologies being utilised by the industry to facilitate the exponential rise in data traffic.

Infrastructure faults limit bandwidth capabilities

According to the most recent FTTH Council’s Market Panorama report 2023, the total number of homes with Fibre-To-the-Home/Building (FTTH/B) connectivity in the EU39 reached 219 million homes in September 2022. This is significantly higher when compared to September 2021, when only 198 million homes or buildings were passed with fibre. This accelerated growth of FTTH/B deployments in recent years has brought end-users a greater Quality of Experience (QoE), offering bandwidth and connection quality that can support all current and near-future applications – such as 4K video streaming, gaming, and file sharing. As connectivity has transitioned to being a necessity rather than a luxury, operators must ensure that their subscribers’ QoE is not impeded by a lack of bandwidth.

Bandwidth is a fundamental measurement for determining the speed of a network. For example, a high bandwidth connection can enable end-user benefits including quick upload and download speeds. Fibre optic cables can provide outstanding levels of bandwidth, seamlessly serving homes and businesses alike. But its capabilities are often restricted by the hardware itself. Some of the key performance diminishers of fibre is its installation and maintenance.

As networks become more overloaded, operators must account for the rising number of connected devices, and as cables become more congested, it means that disruptions to the hardware are more likely to occur when connecting premises. Fibre optic cabling has a specific bend radius and pulling tension guideline when installing the main cabling runs. If the cable becomes stretched or bent too tightly then the quality of light down the cable is compromised, resulting in a poor or non-existent performance. This can be caused by a variety of reasons, including the handling of the cables, manufacturing and the laying of the cables, to environmental factors, such as temperature and humidity. This can cause a bandwidth bottleneck.

Alleviating the potential bottleneck

To continuously support the rising connectivity demands, fibre operators need to select the right hardware to secure the maximum return on investment and more importantly, avoid disruptions to their optical networks.

Bend-insensitive single mode fibres, such as Prysmian Group’s G.657.A2 BendBrightXS, enable the development of extreme fibre counts and reduced diameter cabling solutions that allow operators to meet today’s demand for the highest bandwidth capacity in duct installations. The bend-insensitive fibres are made up of optical materials, such as glass surrounding the core, which has a lower index of refraction and reflects transmitted light back into the core of the fibre and minimises loss.

Operators can have access to greater flexibility, resilience and performance. Bend-insensitive fibres allow the use of smaller loop guides upon installation and reduces the bend radius of splice trays, saving even more invaluable space. The expected network lifetime is also extended by improving the repair strength.

Prysmian Group was the first to introduce 200µm-coated fibre in 2009 and ten years later, introduced the world’s first and only 180µm-coated fibre - BendBrightXS 180µm.

BendBright fibres also support the full use of transmission bands, covering the entire wavelength spectrum from 1260nm to 1625nm for data transmission, and up to 1675nm for network monitoring. This is particularly important when future proofing higher capacity networks as PON evolves to support the bandwidth demand of end-users and high-capacity networks expand beyond the standard wavelength ranges.

When the entire spectrum becomes too crowded, bend-insensitive fibres, such as Prysmian’s BendBrightXS 180µm, can provide bend immunity that offers more density and reduced risk of interference. These cabling solutions make networks quicker and smarter, benefitting both the subscriber and the network operator.