Separable Optical Fiber Ribbons and Cables for Advanced Mid-span Branching

With the growing popularity of fiber-to-the-home (FTTH), installation work of opti- cal fiber cables to each household is increasing in number. But in the mid-span branching of conventional aerial cables, improvement of low efficiency in fiber utilization has posed a problem to be solved. Accordingly, the authors have developed, with the aim of improving the fiber utilization efficiency in mid-span branching, both two-fiber and eight- fiber ribbons that enable ease of separating into specified number of fibers at the point of mid- span branching. This paper reports on the characteristics of the optical fiber ribbon of separable type and the optical cable based on the ribbon, along with a special tool for mid-span branching work that has been developed together. ABSTRACT