File 3

Micro-duct Installation of
Air Blown Wrapping Tube Cable

Deployment in the Middle East Asia
Fujikura Document No.: B-22SW0040

White Paper Optical Fiber Cable
Solution Engineering Issued: 7 April 2022
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With the ever-increasing demand for bandwidth by increasing internet consumers, existing telecom
networks are struggling to meet the demand. In order to meet the demand for bandwidth, telecom
operators are deploying optical fiber cables. The need for optical fiber cables has increased after
introduction of the 5G services. More and more telecom operators are investing in 5G and FTTH
together in order to save network build cost.
Various estimations show that a common build for 5G and FTTH can save from 65 to 96%. This cost
savings prompt network builders to use high fiber count cables in their network at the time of initial
deployment itself. But there are challenges in using high fiber count cables such long hours of
deployment, splicing, termination, and end-preparation.
Fujikura has come up with a revolutionary cabling technology to overcome these challenges.
Fujikura’s Spider Web Ribbons (SWR) provide mass fusion splicing and the wrapping tube cable
(WTC) structure results in to smaller cables with reduced weight compared to the conventional
cables. The air blown cables further contributes to the quicker installation of the cable.
We discuss a recent deployment case of 192C Air blown Wrapping Tube Cable in the Middle East
Asia. Climatic conditions in the Middle East region are quite different from other parts of the world.
Most often, adverse conditions for air blown deployment. Therefore, it was necessary to showcase
the deployment characteristics of our micro ribbon cables to the customers in the region. The end-
users are particularly concerned about the blowing ability of micro duct cables at relatively higher
atmospheric temperature that is prevalent in the region. Temperature adversely affect the blowing
distance and the thin sheath thickness of conventional loose tube type microduct cables show poor
blowing performance at high temperature.
The cable structure is shown below;
Cable
Spider Web Ribbons

Water blocking tape
Swellable Yarns
Peripheral Strength members
Outer sheath
192F Air Blown WTC
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The cable has a diameter of 7.3 mm and a weight of 36 kg/km. Strength members are embedded in
the sheath. 12F SWRs are grouped in Blue, Orange, Green and Brown colored bundles for easy
identification.
Site Survey
We conducted detailed site survey to ensure the suitability of micro ducts since the duct network
owner had installed the ducts a few year ago. A two kilometers continuous stretch of micro duct
network infrastructure was inspected for suitability. The manhole at the starting point was an inter-
junction and a handhole was available after1 kilometers from the starting point.
Microduct installation methods allow longer spans for the hand-holes/manholes compared to the
conventional pulling methods. The cables are installed into the micro ducts using a blowing machine.
Hence manual pulling and intermediate pulling are not required. This contributes to the substantial
saving in duct infrastructure construction cost and time.
The geographical and climatic conditions are challenging for air blowing installation compared to
other regions such as Europe and North America. A Site survey was conducted to verify the
suitability of the duct for air blowing installation. Heavy sandstorm welcomed us as we got out of our
car. The field was along the length of a national express way.
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Air Blowing Setup
Cable drum
Blowing Machine
Hydraulic supply
Air supply
Duct connector
Microduct
Cable drum was set up on jacks after conducting the initial attenuation tests. All the fibers were
tested for optical continuity and attenuation at 1310nm and 1550nm before loading on to the jacks.
The microduct selected for deploying the 192F Air blown WTC was 16/12 (OD/ID) microduct from a
7-way HDPE Duct assembly. Plumettaz IntelliJet-P02 was used to deploy the cable.
Air Blowing Process

A short piece of temporary microduct was used to connect the blowing machine to the microduct
route. After conducting necessary tests to verify the integrity and suitability of the microduct for
blowing, we started the blowing process in the noon. The cable was fed to the blowing machine
directly from the wooden drum. This direct feeding avoided a great amount of time, which otherwise
would have been necessary for making figure-8 coils. In contrast, figure-8 coiling is required for safe
pulling installation.
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The blowing process was smooth and without interruption. The maximum recorded pushing force
was around 170N, which was significantly low compared to the allowable pulling strength of the
cable.
The cable did not show any resistance to flow through the microduct and a continuous blowing
length of two kilometers was achieved in less than 32 minutes. The blowing operation was stopped
at 12:28 PM when the cable came out of the duct opening at the end of 2 kilometers.
Testing
All the fibers in the cable were tested for attenuation at 1310nm and 1550nm. Attenuation results
after air blowing was compared with the initial attenuation. The maximum change in attenuation
observed at 1550nm was 0.025 dB/km.
Conclusion
The blowing performance of the cable did not show any deterioration when deployed in the region
where higher environmental temperature are recorded. Air blown wrapping tube cables have robust
design to withstand harsh blowing and environment conditions. Continuous deployment length of
more than two kilometers offers great benefits to end users.
Network owners can save significant amount of time and money by adopting microduct technology.
The technology offers quicker, hassle-free installation of cables in to microducts. Fujikura’s
microduct cables are highly compact and robust to reach blowing lengths of more than two
kilometers. Longer deployment lengths can be achieved by adopting a Mid-point blowing installation
method. Spider Web Ribbon-Air blown Wrapping Tube Cables further contribute to the quicker
splicing/fiber preparation, which is estimated to be around 9 times faster compared to the loose tube
cables.
Fujikura Ltd
Head Office
1-5-1 Kiba, Koto-Ku, Tokyo, 135 8512, JAPAN
Tel: +81(3)5606-1217 Fax: +81(3)5606-1536
E-mail: opticalcable@jp.fujikura.com
Website: https://swrwtc.fujikura.jp/wrapping-tube-cable
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Micro-duct Installation of

Air Blown Wrapping Tube Cable

Fujikura Document No.: B-22SW0040

The cable structure is shown below;

Spider Web Ribbons

192F Air Blown WTC

Air Blowing Process

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