Fiber Optics Technician

Written by Colby C. Young    Sunday, 08 March 2009

Fiber optics is the communications technology that works by sending signals from one location to another in the form of light guided through hair-thin fibers of glass or plastic. These signals can be analog or digital-voice, data, or video information. And even though it's glass fiber, it has more strength and greater tolerance to abuse than copper wire. It can transport more information longer distances in less time than any copper wire, and it is becoming more cost effective to use. The technology began about 30 years ago in the R&D labs in telecommunications companies. By the mid 1980s, fiber was replacing copper, microwave, and satellite links. In the 1990s, cable television companies began using fiber to enhance the reliability of their networks. Soon they began to offer phone and Internet service on that same fiber. Computers and LANs started using fiber, about the same time as the telecommunications companies. There are two major kinds of fiber optics cabling: outside plant fiber optics cabling and premises fiber optics cabling. Telephone companies, cable TV companies, and the Internet all use outside fiber optics cabling. These long lines of cable can contain more than 200 glass fibers and may be hung from poles, buried underground, pulled through conduit, even submerged underwater, and may stretch from a few thousand feet to hundreds of miles. In contrast, premises cabling is installed inside a building or links buildings on college campuses and involves lengths of cable rarely longer than a few hundred feet. It contains 2 to 48 fibers per cable. Few installers do both outside plant and premises cabling. Description Technicians install cables following precise schematics planned and designed by engineers. They also locate and repair defects in existing systems--placing, rearranging, and removing cables when necessary. When working on computer networks, technicians run the cable through the office building to connect the computers. Duties may include • Installing terminal boxes and stringing lead-in-wires • Repairing cable systems, defective lines, and auxiliary equipment • Climbing poles or entering tunnels and sewers to string lines and install terminal boxes, auxiliary equipment, and appliances according to diagrams • Pulling lines through ducts • Measuring signal strength using electronic test equipment

Last Updated ( Sunday, 08 March 2009 )