Prysmian Telecom Cables and Systems has announced the first deployment of its Sirocco air-blown optical fiber system in Italy. The installation has been carried out at the ELETTRA research facility in Basovizza near Trieste, in the northeast of the country.
ELETTRA is an advanced synchrotron light laboratory, run by Sincrotrone Trieste S.C.p.A. It specializes in fundamental studies of sub-atomic matter using its third-generation synchrotron particle accelerator. The fourth-generation light source "Fermi@Elettra" is currently under commissioning and will allow advanced research to be undertaken in several fields of matter structure.
The optical fiber network is part of the FERMI timing system developed at ELETTRA. The fiber network enables the various component parts of the system to operate synchronously with one another to enable ultra fast experiments, such as chemical reactions and transition of matter into different states, which truly happen at the “speed of light,” Prysmian asserts.
The Sirocco system consists of small units or bundles of optical fibers that are deployed into a network of pre-installed tubes by means of compressed air. Fibers installed in this fashion remain free of any mechanical stress, ensuring the long-term integrity of the fiber links, Prysmian says. Use of the Sirocco system also allows additional fibers to be installed on demand into the tube network without long interruptions to the on-going scientific work of the facility, the company adds.
To date a total of 10 km of Sirocco has been installed in the tunnel network of the accelerator, with “significant” further quantities planned as the Fermi@Elettra system continues to be developed.
While this is the first Sirocco deployment in Prysmian's home country of Italy and the first in such a specialized location, the Sirocco technology has now been installed in more than 20 countries around the world with more than 1 million km of fiber deployed to date, the company says.