Siemon recently announced that a number of its fiber-optic assembly products have passed performance testing, conducted by an independent testing laboratory, in accordance with the encircled-flux launch conditions recently adopted by the TIA.
TIA-526-14-B Optical Power Loss Measurements of Installed Multimode Fiber Cable Plant was "back-adopted" from part of an International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) standard. That specification is titled IEC 61280-4-1 edition 2, Fibre-Optic Communications Subsystems Test Procedure Part 4-1: Installed Cable Plant - Multimode Attenuation Measurement. The IEC spec is where encircled flux was initially defined and referenced for multimode fiber testing.
Siemon explained that its MTP-based OM3 and OM4 plug-and-play assemblies passed the standards' insertion-loss and endface-geometry requirements with margins up to 60 percent. The tests were conducted by Expeior Laboratories. The testing was performed across several channel configurations, Siemon says, including MTP-to-MTP cable assemblies in OM4 and OM3 fiber grades, MTP-to-LC plug-and-play modules, MTP-to-LC fiber jumpers; LC fiber jumpers and MTO-to-MTP adapter plates.
Charlie Maynard, Siemon's fiber-optic product manager, said the high performance margins achieved - up to 60 percent - are important in high-bandwidth, multi-fiber array systems. "Contamination introduced int eh field as well as testing inconsistencies due to varied test equipment and reference-cord quality can make it difficult to ensure that the consistent performance levels of factory-terminated fiber assemblies are maintained when installed in the field."
Related story: TIA adopts encircled flux in new fiber-test standard
