SCTE Adopts Fusion Splicing Standard

The Society of Cable Telecommunications Engineers (SCTE) has approved SCTE 134 2012, Fusion Splicing Equipment and Applications for the Cable/Broadband Industry. 

The standard defines the equipment, methods, and practices used within the cable/broadband industry to obtain consistent low loss fusion splice connections between optical fibers. 

The document is available at http://www.scte.org/standards/Standards_Available.aspx

Fiber Optic Fusion Splicer Lawsuits

June 1, 2011 - AFL, a leading manufacturer of fiber optic products, filed two separate lawsuits yesterday—one against Fiberoptic Hardware, LLC, and one against SurplusEQ.com Inc. Both suits were filed with the Federal District Court of Arizona.

The complaints are similar in nature in that AFL is taking an aggressive position in defense of its fusion splicer product line. The individual complaints against Fiberoptic Hardware and SurplusEQ.com each provide evidence that the two companies independently committed various acts of unfair competition including false advertising in their unauthorized sale of "gray market" Fujikura fusion splicers. In addition, AFL asserts that Fiberoptic Hardware and SurplusEQ.com violated the Lanham (Trademark) Act, infringing upon Fujikura's trademark, and the Copyright Act.

The case number against Fiberoptic Hardware is CV 11-01081-PHX-MEA, and the case number against SurplusEQ.com Inc. is CV 11-01086-PHX-FJM.

AFL is wholly-owned by Fujikura Ltd. AFL is responsible for protecting Fujikura's trademarks in North America. AFL and Fujikura have successfully addressed issues with other companies that have infringed on the Fujikura trademark, and AFL will continue to vigorously defend all of Fujikura's and AFL's Intellectual Property inclusive of patents, trademarks and copyrights. 

Fujikura is headquartered in Tokyo, Japan and manufactures products for the telecommunications, electronics, automotive and energy sectors. 

Founded in 1984, AFL is proud to offer engineering expertise, exceptional products and reliable service that help our customers improve their critical and electrical infrastructure. AFL has operations in the U.S., Mexico, Europe and Asia. The company is headquartered in Spartanburg, SC, and is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Fujikura Ltd. of Japan. For more information, visit www.AFLglobal.com.

Explosion-Proof Fiber Optic Fusion Splicer

June 15, 2011  -  Under a contract from the US Navy, Aurora Optics has created an automatic fusion splicer using the best method for splicing optical fibers – high voltage electric arc – yet it presents no spark hazard in a vapor-laden environment.  In tests according to MIL-STD-810G, method 511, Aurora’s prototype explosion-proof fusion splicers repeatedly arc-spliced optical fibers without ever igniting the most flammable possible atmosphere. 

All fusion splicers until now have been banned from hazardous environments because of the risk of explosive discharge.  The high voltage arc typically used to weld fibers, at over 1000 C, could easily ignite flammable vapors in the air.  For this reason fusion splicers have not been allowed into areas where aviation fuel is likely to used, such as fueled aircraft, aircraft carrier flight decks, and air base flight lines.  Other forbidden zones include telecom applications such as underground utility tunnels, where explosive methane vapor can accumulate.  This has severely inhibited the maintenance and repair of fiber optic cables, since fusion splicing generally delivers by far the lowest and most stable losses.  The alternatives, mechanical splicing and connectorization, are difficult to perform well in adverse environments, the losses are typically an order of magnitude higher than with fusion splices, and the splices have difficulty surviving environmental stresses afterward.

Aurora’s new explosion-proof splicer for the first time delivers all the benefits of fusion splicing to the most adverse environments, particularly those involving flammable or explosive vapors.  Unlike typical miniature fusion splicers it performs fully automatic three-axis alignments of the fibers for the lowest and most consistent insertion losses on both single mode and multi-mode fibers.  It aligns, splices, and loss-estimates fiber cables from 5.8/125 up to 100/140 um, with typical single mode insertion losses of 0.02 dB.  And the fusion splicer is smaller than any other on the market, automatic or passive v-groove – as small as a digital camera!

Aurora Optics has been creating innovative fiber optic solutions to the most difficult problems since 1986.

For further information contact Aurora Optics, Inc., 7 East Skippack Pike, Broad Axe, PA  19002, tel. 215-646-0690, FAX 215-646-4721, email info@aurora-optics.com. Visit them on the web at http://www.aurora-optics.com .