What is BS EN 60794-3-11 - Optical fibre cables about?
BS EN 60794 is a series on optical fibre cables. Optical fibre cables are flexible, transparent fibres made by drawing glass (silica) or plastic to a diameter slightly thicker than that of human hair. BS EN 60794-3-11 sets forth technical requirements and characteristics of single-mode optical fibre cables for duct and direct-buried installation.
BS EN 60794-3-11 includes functional mechanical, environmental, and optical requirements recommended features and test methods for assessing the product against the stated requirements. The specified test methods, where applicable, are those referenced in IEC 60794-1-1 and described in detail in IEC 60794-1-2. The requirements of BS EN 60794-3-11 supplement those of IEC 60794-3 and IEC 60794-3-10.
Note: Multimode fibre requirements are not addressed in BS EN 60794-3-11.
Who is BS EN 60794-3-11 - Optical fibre cables for?
BS EN 60794-3-11 on optical fibre cables is useful for:
- Telecommunication component manufacturers
- Telecommunication equipment manufacturers
- Design engineers
- Quality control personnel
Why should you use BS EN 60794-3-11 - Optical fibre cables?
Optical fibres are used most often as a means to transmit light[a] between the two ends of the fibre and find wide usage in fibre-optic communications, where they permit transmission over longer distances and at higher bandwidths (data transfer rates) than electrical cables. BS EN 60794-3-11 describes Single-mode optical fibres are widely used for telecommunication purposes and are cabled to satisfy the functional requirements of the installation environment. Further, cables placed into ducts and sub-ducts may be installed using solely, or a combination of, pushing, pulling, and air-assisted installation techniques. For duct installation, the environment and infrastructure can be varied and may also involve the use of single and multiple sub-ducts. Directly buried cables may be installed by a variety of methods such as ploughing and trenching with different environments and infrastructure. This may require specific cable design solutions based on multiple layers of armours and sheaths. It is recognised that certain designs of cable for direct buried applications involving such solutions may also be suitable for duct installation. The functional requirements and test methods featured in this specification are based upon adherence to established and recognised installation techniques such as those included.
Single-mode optical fibres are classified according to their operational wavelength and dispersion characteristics. The fibres covered by BS EN 60794-3-11 are categorised as type B and are described in IEC 60793-2-50. The fibre types featured in this specification are dispersion unshifted, bending loss insensitive, dispersion-shifted, cut-off shifted, and non-zero dispersion - While cut-off shifted B1.2 fibre can be used in terrestrial applications, it is mainly used in submarine applications and wide-band non-zero dispersion-shifted. For all test procedures, the atmospheric conditions shall be (23 °C } 5 °C, and 20 % to 70 % relative humidity), unless otherwise specified. All measured and computed values are to be rounded to the number of decimal places given in the corresponding acceptance criteria for each requirement. The number of fibres to be tested shall be agreed upon between the customer and supplier. An optical fibre cable element is an assembly of optical fibres arranged in such a way to maintain its structure both inside the cable and once the sheath is removed. The design intent of a fibre optic cable element is to organise fibres so as to facilitate fibre identification and improve handling. Using BS EN 60794-3-11 you can specify technical requirements and characteristics of single-mode optical fibre cables for duct and direct-buried installation.