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Prysmian installs world’s first ever 180µm fibre

Sirocco Extreme, the first commercially available 180µm optical fibre cable on the market, enables faster, more cost-effective and more environmentally friendly installations than conventional solutions, compliant to ITU-T G.657.A2 recommendation. It is fully compatible for splicing with any standard fibre. NETTec GmbH deployed the reduced diameter fibre cable, which will be used to support the delivery of high-performance FTTx and 5G services to a large number of homes and businesses.

The coating provides mechanical and stress protection to the fibre. Fibres with reduced coating diameter, have less protection to localized stress and therefore are more sensitive to microbending. In order to develop BendBrightXS 180 um fibre the R&D team had to optimize the coating system to provide enough protection to the fibre even if the coating layer is very thin. BBXS (G.657.A2) high bend resistance is also critical for securing good microbend performance. Sirocco Extreme cables have a very high fibre density, above 8 fibres/mm2, clearly this represents a challenge during cabling as there is less room inside the buffer tubes for the fibres to move and great level of process control is needed the maintain the tight geometry tolerances of the tube.

 

The Sirocco Extreme micro-cable used in micro-ducts for public utility supplier Stadtwerke Landau a.d. Isar has 288 fibres within an outer diameter of 6.5 millimeters. The density of 8.7 fibres per square millimetre means the cable can be installed in an 8-millimeter inner diameter micro duct. Compared with conventional solutions, Sirocco Extreme enables faster, more cost-effective and eco-friendly installations. The cables were installed by NETTec GmbH. Installation was done by air-blowing the cable into an 8 mm inner diameter microduct at speeds of over 70 meters per minute.

Pictures taken during the world-first installation of Sirocco Extreme cable with 180 µm optical fibres.
Pictures taken during the world-first installation of Sirocco Extreme cable with 180 µm optical fibres.

Using legacy 250 µm fibres and conventional buffer tubes, the maximum fibre count that can be installed in 8 mm microduct is less than 144, and 144 fibres when using 200 µm fibres. Sirocco Extreme doubles the fibre count.

In brownfield deployments, legacy optical fibre cables often no longer fit into the tightly packed ducting. This means new ducting needs to be laid, which is costly and time-consuming. Due to its reduced size and high fibre density Sirocco Extreme enables project managers to significantly reduce the overall cost of network expansion. Avoiding extensive groundwork also consumes fewer raw materials, making it eco-friendlier. In green field deployments, telecom operators have found opportunities to reduce the deployment cost and carbon emissions when using Sirocco Extreme in combination of smaller ducts.

Thanks to Sirocco Extreme’s reduced form factor, up to 50% smaller microducts can be used to deploy the same number of fibres. This represents 50% less polyethylene material used to fabricate the ducts which is an important goal towards greener and more sustainable networks. Moreover, smaller microducts are installed faster, as they retain less memory and laying them straight is easier than larger ducts.

The smaller microduct bundle lays straight more naturally than the larger bundle making installation faster and easier.
The smaller microduct bundle lays straight more naturally than the larger bundle making installation faster and easier.

“Increased digitalization means data volumes will continue to rise even after the pandemic,” says Toni Bosch, VP Telecom Solutions at Prysmian Group. “High-performance, reliable fibre networks will be able to reduce the risk of data bottlenecks in the future. The breaking point for many cities and communities when expanding their networks is cost. Existing ducting often doesn’t have much space left for more fibre, and extensive civil works mean an increase in costs and disruptions. To solve this problem, we offer the extremely compact and bendable Sirocco Extreme product range. Thanks to Prismian’s BendBrightXS 180µm fibre and Pico-Tube technology, Sirocco Extreme is up to 40 percent smaller than the previous Sirocco micro-cable. The space-saving design allows for efficient integration of the fibre cable into existing infrastructures. Plus, blowing in the cable is easy and fast, at a speed of 130 m/min.”

Toni Bosch

VP Telecom Solutions at Prysmian Group

Sirocco Extreme combines BendBrightXS bend-insensitive fibre technology with Pico-tube technology. The new product range boasts the smallest diameter currently available as well as the highest fibre density for micro-cables. Sirocco Extreme cables are available in fibre counts of 96 to 522 fibres, and with an external diameter of 4.5 to 7.5 millimetres. The products comply with international standards for optical and mechanical performance. The flexible BendBrightXS technology also allows manufacturers to design cabling solutions demanded by rapidly changing circumstances, but which were not previously possible.

The dimensional reduction of 180-µm fibre achieved by the new fibre corresponds to half of the cross-section area of legacy 250 µm single-mode fibre, while preserving a 125 µm glass diameter. BBXS-180µm is fully compliant with G.652 and G.657.A2 global standards, and it can be spliced with any legacy standard single-mode fibre. It uses the ColorLock-XS coating system for improved bending performance and mechanical reliability.