OPGW Cable- A technology for high rate data and voice transmission
OPGW Cable- Optical Ground Wire is technology by which high data rate transmission is possible through electrical transmission lines.
OPGW is a composite wire which serves as a conventional overhead ground wire, with the added benefit of providing high capacity and reliable Fiber Optic communication to serve current and future needs. OPGW has fibres inside the tube surrounded by several metallic strands. The number, size and material of strands depend on the mechanical and electrical requirement. OPGW cable is normally at the top of the overhead line support structure.
Every transmission lines having two types of conductors one that serves to transmit the electrical power viz. phase conductors. And another one is called earth wire or ground wire that is used to protect the transmission lines from lightning surges and also serves to protect people or animals from shock in case any insulator has failed and tower short circuited . It simply pass the current to earth.
Nowadays this earth wire is used by various transmission companies to serve communication needs with high reliable optical fibres housed by this OPGW cable.
This cable serves both the work earth wire as well as optical fibre communication. OPGW cable looks like this:
the outer aluminium strands used to serve as earth wire and inner side there are fibres that used for communication. There are many type of OPGW cable available as per requirement and design we can ordered as per our requirement and manufacturer bulild them. No. of Fibres are ranging like this 6,12,24,48 & 96.
Type of Optical Fibres
There are two types of fibres used for Fibre Optic cable.
- Multimode
- Single Mode
Multimode Fibre: Multimode fibre has light traveling in the core in many rays, called modes. It is made of glass fibers, with common diameters in the 50-to-100 micrometers range for the light carry component (the most common size is 62.5). Typical multimode fiber core diameters are 50, 62.5, and 100 micrometers. The main application for multimode fiber is for short-reach optical transmission systems such as Local Area Network (LAN) application. However, in long cable runs (greater than I km), multiple paths of light can cause signal distortion at the receiving end, resulting in an unclear and incomplete data transmission. The attenuation parameter for multimode fiber is typically 0.8 dB/km at 1310 nm. This fiber is optimized for use in the 1300-nm band. It can also operate in the 850-nm band. This type of fibre is suitable for short distance communication.
Single Mode Fibre : Single mode fibre has a much smaller core, only about 9 microns, so that the light travels in only one ray. Single-mode fiber gives a higher transmission rate and more distance than multimode. The small core and single light-wave virtually eliminate any distortion that could result from overlapping light pulses, providing the least signal attenuation and the highest transmission speeds of any fiber cable type. The attenuation parameter for single mode fiber is typically 0.35 dB/km at 1310 nm and 0.23 dB/km at 1550 nm. This fiber is optimized for use in the 1300-nm & 1550 nm band. This type of fibre is used for long distance communication requirement.
These OPGW cables can be used for telecommunication purpose by telecom companies. Can be used for video conferencing , High data rate internet connection, CCTV camera surveillance, can be used for data uses e.g. SCADA.
The benefits of OPGW cable are that there is no need of Right of Way, No fear of theft because these are over live electrical wires, Layman thieves even not know about this, It is secure from accidental cutting due to some construction work. No need of digging and refiling, no any outer housing pipe (cement or iron etc.) required.
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