Balancing Speed, Cost, and Quality in Fiber Restoration

Balancing Speed, Cost, and Quality in Fiber Restoration

Article courtesy of DaWayne Hardy, Director of Fiber Solutions

Ribbonizing is the process of permanently or temporarily arranging loose fibers into a ribbon format, allowing a ribbon fusion splicer to splice a ribbon, typically 12 fibers, at one time instead of performing individual burns. Ribbonizing can help crews save valuable restoration time by splicing 12 fibers at once rather than individual fibers. To improve restoration efficiency, many companies choose to ribbonize loose tube fiber, especially in higher-count loose tube fiber cables where large numbers of fibers must be restored quickly.

When severe weather damages critical infrastructure, restoration speed becomes a top priority. Ribbonizing can help accelerate the restoration of communication lines that support smart grids, substations, FTTH (fiber-to-the-home), and power distribution systems, helping bring essential services back online faster.

By compressing the splicing process, crews spend less time at each repair location. This helps to reduce labor requirements and allows technicians to complete more repairs per day. This improved efficiency can also help utilities optimize crew deployment, minimize emergency overtime costs, and maximize restoration efforts during storm response operations.

Some of the primary benefits of ribbonizing include:

• Faster Restoration Times
  • Instead of burning one individual fiber, 12 fibers can be spliced at one time.
    • For a 144 loose tube, there would be 144 single splices and 144 splice sleeves that take time to heat and shrink, and if ribbonized there would be 12 mass fusion splices and 12 mass fusion sleeves.

• Reduced Outage Duration
  • When a long-haul, backbone, or feeder cable is broken, restoration time is a concern.
    • When an outage is subject to a Service Level Agreement (SLA), the clock is ticking. Ribbonizing may help meet or exceed the applicable SLA restoration time requirements.
    • Services are restored faster and lower customer impact.
    • Helps minimize revenue lost.

• Lower Restoration Labor Cost
  • Fiber Splicing Crews can be expensive, especially in emergency response situations.
    • Reduced labor hours and overtime hours.
    • Depending on the location, traffic control could be a necessity so lower traffic control cost and shorter lane closures.

There are several reasons why companies may not be ribbonizing loose tube fiber, such as:

• Fiber counts are low.
  • 12 to 48 fibers
• Complex splicing requirements at the damaged location.
  • Mixed fiber assignments in the cables with the damage.
• Small number of fibers damaged.
• Company may require single burns with core alignment fusion splicers.
• Company may not have access to a ribbon fusion splicer.

Gresco welcomes the opportunity to partner with your team and support your ribbonizing needs. For more information about ribbonizing and whether it's the right fit for your fiber restoration strategy, contact your Gresco representative or visit Gresco.com to learn more!