Training Manual

OPTICAL FIBER COMMUNICATION SYSTEM

KULDEEP KUMAR GAUTAM – L&T

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TABLE OF CONTENTS
1 ___ OVERVIEW______________________________________________________________________ 3
1.1 INTRODUCTION TO OPTICAL FIBER COMMUNICATION ..................................................................... 3
1.1.1 Introduction to Optical Fiber Communication: 3
1.1.2 Advantages of OFC 3
2 ___ TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS ________________________________________________________ 4
2.1 HOW OPTICAL DATA TRAVELS THROUGH OFC .............................................................................. 4
2.1.1 Fundamentals of Light Propagation & Total Internal Reflection 4
2.1.2 Structure of OFC 5
2.2 TYPES OF OFC......................................................................................................................... 6
2.2.1 Wavelengths in OFC (1310nm and 1550nm) 6
2.2.2 Single-Mode Fiber (SMF) vs. Multi-Mode Fiber (MMF) 7
2.2.3 Applications and Characteristics of Different Types 8
3 ___ INSTALLATION PRACTICES __________________________________________________________ 9
3.1 LAYING PRACTICES FOR OFC ..................................................................................................... 9
3.1.1 Laying of HDPE ducts for protection 9
3.1.2 Fiber Optic Splicers and Splicing Techniques 10
3.1.3 Joint Enclosures and Their Significance 11
3.1.4 Optical Distribution Frames (ODF) and Their Role 12
3.1.5 Patch Cords, SFPs (Small Form-Factor Pluggable), and Connectors 12
3.2 TESTING OFC NETWORKS ........................................................................................................ 14
3.2.1 Optical time-domain reflectometer (OTDR) 14
3.2.2 Optical power meter and sensor 15
4 ___ DESIGNING AN OFC NETWORK____________________________________________________ 16
4.1 TOPOLOGY ........................................................................................................................... 16
4.2 NETWORK ARCHITECTURE......................................................................................................... 17
4.3 SELECTION OF FIBER TYPE AND SFPS .......................................................................................... 17
4.4 DESIGNING CABLE CORE PLAN AND CABLE ROUTE PLAN............................................................... 18
5 ___ PRACTICES IN RAILWAYS _________________________________________________________ 20
5.1 INDIAN RAILWAYS .................................................................................................................. 20
5.2 DEDICATED FREIGHT CORRIDOR CORPORATION (DFCC) PROJECTS ................................................. 21
5.3 METROS ............................................................................................................................... 22
ANNEXURE - 1________________________________________________________________________ 23

FIGURE 1 OFC AS A BACKBONE ____________________________________________________________________ 3

FIGURE 2 TOTAL INTERNAL REFLECTION (TIR) __________________________________________________________ 4
FIGURE 3 CRITICAL ANGLE ________________________________________________________________________ 5
FIGURE 4 BASIC CONSTRUCTION OF A FIBER OPTIC CABLE_______________________________________________ 5
FIGURE 5 CROSS-SECTION OF OFC _________________________________________________________________ 6
FIGURE 6 COLOUR CODING CCHEME _______________________________________________________________ 6
FIGURE 7 ATTENUATION AT DIFFERENT WAVELENGTHS _________________________________________________ 7
FIGURE 8 - CORE SIZE OF DIFFERENT TYPES OF OFC ____________________________________________________ 8
FIGURE 9 HDPE DUCTS ___________________________________________________________________________ 9
FIGURE 10 HDPE DUCTS LAID IN TRENCH _____________________________________________________________ 9
FIGURE 11 HORIZONTAL DIRECTIONAL DRILLING (HDD) ________________________________________________ 10
FIGURE 12 FUSION SPLICING _____________________________________________________________________ 10
FIGURE 13 HEAT SHRINKING THE PROTECTIVE SLEEVE __________________________________________________ 11
FIGURE 14 JOINT ENCLOSURES ___________________________________________________________________ 11
FIGURE 15 SPLICING TRAY _______________________________________________________________________ 12
FIGURE 16 OPTICAL DISTRIBUTION FRAME (ODF) ______________________________________________________ 12
FIGURE 17 PATCH CHORD________________________________________________________________________ 13
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FIGURE 18 TYPES OF CONNECTORS________________________________________________________________ 13

FIGURE 19 SIMPLE FORM-FACTOR PLUGGABLE (SFP)___________________________________________________ 13
FIGURE 20 OTDR TESTING ________________________________________________________________________ 14
FIGURE 21 OPTICAL POWER METER TESTING _________________________________________________________ 15
FIGURE 22 TYPES OF NETWORK TOPOLOGIES _______________________________________________________ 16
FIGURE 23 A SIMPLE NETWORK ARCHITECTURE _______________________________________________________ 17
FIGURE 24 LINK BUDGETING ______________________________________________________________________ 18
FIGURE 25 SAMPLE CABLE CORE PLAN ______________________________________________________________ 18
FIGURE 26 SAMPLE CABLE ROUTE PLAN _____________________________________________________________ 19
FIGURE 27 CABLE LAYING PRACTICE IN IR ___________________________________________________________ 20
FIGURE 28 TYPICAL INDIAN RAILWAYS OFC NETWORK ________________________________________________ 21
FIGURE 29 TYPICAL OFC NETWORK IN DFCC ________________________________________________________ 21
FIGURE 30 TYPICAL OFC NETWORK IN METROS ______________________________________________________ 22
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1 OVERVIEW

1.1 INTRODUCTION TO OPTICAL FIBER COMMUNICATION

1.1.1 Introduction to Optical Fiber Communication:
Optical fibers are thin strands of high-quality glass or plastic, to transmit digital information in the form
of light pulses. OFC has become the backbone of modern telecommunications and data networks,
enabling high-speed, secure, and reliable communication across the globe.

1.1.2 Advantages of OFC

The adoption of OFC has grown due to several significant advantages, including:

• High Bandwidth: OFC supports a vast amount of data, making it ideal for today's data-
consuming applications.
• Low Latency: Light travels nearly at the speed of light in OFC, resulting in minimal transmission
delays.
• Immunity to Electromagnetic Interference: Unlike copper cables, OFC is impervious to
electromagnetic interference, ensuring secure and clear data transmission.
• Security: Intercepting light signals in the fiber without detection is extremely challenging,
enhancing data security.
OFC is mostly used as a backbone medium for large networks. A backbone transmission network is
used to share large amounts of data between separate networks.

Figure 1 OFC as a backbone

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2 TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS

2.1 HOW OPTICAL DATA TRAVELS THROUGH OFC

2.1.1 Fundamentals of Light Propagation & Total Internal Reflection
Light rays are modulated into digital pulses with a laser or LED and move along the core without
penetrating the cladding. The light stays confined to the core because the cladding has a lower
refractive index, which is the measure of a material’s ability to bend light.

This results in the phenomenon of total internal reflection (TIR), which happens when a propagating
wave strikes a boundary between two mediums (in this case, the core and the cladding) at an angle
larger than the fiber’s critical angle. If the refractive index is lower on the other side of the boundary
(the cladding) and the incident angle is greater than the critical angle, the wave cannot pass through
and is entirely reflected.

Figure 2 Total Internal Reflection (TIR)

The critical angle θc is determined by Snell’s Law, which states that “the ratio of the sines of the angles
of incidence and refraction is equivalent to the reciprocal of the ratio of the indices of refraction”.

To find the critical angle, we calculate the value for θi when θt = 90°, which means that sin θt = 1 (90°
is the absolute maximum angle of transmission). Solving for θi, we arrive at the following equation:
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Figure 3 Critical Angle

2.1.2 Structure of OFC

A fiber optic cable consists of five main components: core, cladding, coating, strengthening fibers, and
cable jacket.

Figure 4 Basic Construction of a Fiber Optic Cable

• Core: This is the physical medium that transports optical signals from an attached light source
to a receiving device. The core is a single continuous strand of high-purity glass or plastic
whose diameter is measured in microns (less than the diameter of a human hair). The larger the
core, the more light the cable can carry, which correlates to a higher data transfer rate.
• Cladding: This is a thin layer that is extruded over the core and serves as the boundary that
contains the light waves (more on this later), enabling data to travel through the length of the
fiber.
• Coating: This is a plastic coating over the cladding to reinforce the fiber core, help absorb
shocks, and provide extra protection against excessive cable bends. It does not have any
effect on the optical waveguide properties, though.
• Strengthening fibers: These components help protect the core against crushing forces and
excessive tension during installation. The materials can range from Kevlar®, to wire strands, to
gel-filled sleeves. Sometimes light-absorbing (“dark”) glass is added between the fibers, to
prevent light that leaks out of one fiber from entering another. This reduces cross-talk between
the fibers.
• Cable jacket: This is the outer layer, or sheathing, of the cable. Its purpose is to protect the
cable from environmental hazards, such as construction work, fishing gear, and even sharks,
which are often attracted to the electrical fields created by signal conductors to repeaters.
In addition to the above, an outdoor optical fibre cable has to be armoured and have many cores/thin
strands of fibre. Commercially available cables normally come in core counts of 24, 48, 96, etc.
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Figure 5 Cross-section of OFC

The cores are colour coded by combination of the colour of the loose tube and the fibre core itself.

Figure 6 Colour coding ccheme

2.2 TYPES OF OFC

2.2.1 Wavelengths in OFC (1310nm and 1550nm)
Our eyes are sensitive to light whose wavelength is in the range of about 400 nm to 700 nm, from the
violet to the red. But the most common wavelengths actually used in fiber optics are 850 nm (1st
windows), 1300 nm (2nd window), and 1550 nm (3rd window) because the attenuation of the fiber
is much less at those wavelengths. Multimode fiber is designed to operate at 850 nm and 1300 nm,
while single-mode fiber is optimized for 1310 nm and 1550 nm.
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Figure 7 Attenuation at different wavelengths

2.2.2 Single-Mode Fiber (SMF) vs. Multi-Mode Fiber (MMF)

Single mode means the fiber enables one type of light mode to be propagated at a time. While multi-
mode means that fiber can transmit data in multiple modes. The primary distinction between single
mode and multi-mode fiber optic cable is the fiber core diameter, wavelength & light source,
bandwidth, color sheath, distance, and cost.

• Single mode fiber: one that has a small light-carrying core that is about 9 micrometers (µm) in
diameter. The core is surrounded by cladding, which increases the optical fiber's overall
diameter to 125 µm.
• Multi-mode fiber: a fiber core diameter of 50 µm or more, which improves "light gathering"
and makes connections easier. Similar to single mode, the core is encased in cladding,
increasing the optical fiber's overall diameter to 125 µm.

Single Mode Fiber Simplex Multi-mode Fiber

Attenuation at
Attenuation at 1310nm 0.36 dB/km 3.0 dB/km
850nm

Attenuation at
Attenuation at 1550nm 0.22 dB/km 1.0 dB/km
1300nm
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Figure 8 - Core size of different types of OFC

2.2.3 Applications and Characteristics of Different Types

It’s known that single mode fiber is suitable for long-distance applications, while multimode optical
fiber is designed for short distance runs. Then when it comes to single mode vs multimode fiber
distance.

Fiber Optic Fiber Distance

Cable Type
Fast 1Gb 1Gb 10Gb 25Gb 40Gb 100Gb
Ethernet Ethernet Ethernet Base Base Base Base
100BA 1000BASE- 1000BA SE-SR SR-S SR4 SR10
SE-FX SX SE-LX

Single OS2 200m 5,000m 5,000m 10km / / /

mode
fiber
Multimode OM1 200m 275m 550m / / / /
fiber
OM2 200m 550m / / / /
OM3 200m 550m 300m 70m 100m 100m
OM4 200m 550m 400m 100m 150m 150m
OM5 200m 550m 300m 100m 400m 400m

From the chart, we can see that single mode fiber distance is much longer than that of multimode fiber
cables at the data rate from 1G to 10G, but OM3/OM4/OM5 multimode fiber supports a higher
data rate. Because multimode optical fiber has a large core size and supports more than one light
mode, its fiber distance is limited by modal dispersion which is a common phenomenon in multimode
step-index fiber. While single mode fiber is not. That’s the essential difference between them. In
addition, OS2 single mode fiber could support longer distances in 40G and 100G links, which is not
listed in the table.
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3 INSTALLATION PRACTICES

3.1 LAYING PRACTICES FOR OFC

Optical fiber is generally used for longer distances. This requires several precautions and practices to
reduce losses. The general practices involved in laying OFC are as follows:

3.1.1 Laying of HDPE ducts for protection

OFC is generally laid inside HDPE (High Density Polyethylene) to provide protection to the cables from
atmospheric conditions. HDPE ducts are polyethylene ducts which are pre-lubricated for easier blowing
of OFC.

Figure 9 HDPE ducts

These ducts are either in trenches or via trenchless method, at a depth of around 1m from the ground
level as a general practice in Indian railways. However, the depth of laid ducts can vary depending on
the soil type and location of installation.

• Trench method: At first, an open trench is made throughout the stretch where OFC has to be
laid. The trench is made following a cable route plan, having minimum bends. Wherever
required, couplers are used to fix two HDPEs together, maintaining the continuity.

Figure 10 HDPE ducts laid in trench

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• Trenchless method: Instead of digging up open trenches, often manual boring or Horizontal
Directional Drilling (HDD) is used, to create ducts by drilling the earth.
Horizontal Directional Drilling (HDD) is a construction technique where a tunnel is drilled under
an already existing infrastructure like road, rail track etc. HDPE duct is pulled through the
drilled underground tunnel.

Figure 11 Horizontal Directional Drilling (HDD)

3.1.2 Fiber Optic Splicers and Splicing Techniques

Once the protective ducts are laid, OFC is blowed inside. Generally commercial OFC is supplied in
drum rolls of fixed lengths, which needs jointing the cables at several locations.
The jointing process is called splicing. To minimize losses and noise, it is critical to ensure that the OFC is
aligned properly and spliced without deformities. One of the most common methods used is the fusion
splicing.
Fusion Splicing technique provides a permanent (long-lasting) contact between the two fibers. Ttwo
fibers are thermally joined together. In this technique, an electrical instrument is necessarily used, that
acts as an electric arc to form a thermal connection between the two.

• First, the two fibers are aligned and butted in the way of their connection, this alignment is
done in a fiber holder. It is to be made sure that the cleaved fibres are clean and cut to have
shar edges.

Figure 12 Fusion Splicing

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• After this, the electric arc comes into action as when it gets switched on then it produces some
energy, that heats the butt joint. The heating effect melts the ends of the fiber and then the two
gets bonded together.

Figure 13 Heat shrinking the protective sleeve

• After the two forms a bond then their junction is covered with either polyethylene jacket or
plastic coating to protect the joint.

3.1.3 Joint Enclosures and Their Significance

After splicing all cores of fiber, these thin strands oof fiber are enclosed in a protective fiber
management device known as “Joint Enclosure”. It is a box that provides space and protection for the
fiber optic cable splicing and joint.

Figure 14 Joint Enclosures

Since these joints can be located at wayside locations and underground chambers, these are rigid
boxes to be able to withstand atmospheric conditions. Enclosures also have splicing trays to enclose all
spliced cores in an organised and protected manner.
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Figure 15 Splicing Tray

3.1.4 Optical Distribution Frames (ODF) and Their Role

An ODF is a fibre management and distribution box which houses the following elements:

• Splicing tray
• Distribution panel
• Connectors
The above components all together, ease the management of all cores of fibre and terminate at
numbered connectors for easy identification of cores and patching equipment. It acts as the terminating
point for OFC on both ends.

Figure 16 Optical Distribution Frame (ODF)

3.1.5 Patch Cords, SFPs (Small Form-Factor Pluggable), and Connectors

After OFC is laid from ODF to ODF, tests are conducted to check the successful OFC connection. The
losses are measured and checked to be within the range of transmitting power and receiving
sensitivity.
Upon successful testing the active equipment are connected via patch chords and SFPs.
Patch Chords: It is an optical chord having connectors at both ends. These chords are used to
interconnect optical ports between equipment and to access the OFC underground cable via
termination at the ODF.
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Figure 17 Patch chord

These patch chords come with a variety of connectors. One has to make sure that the connectors are
patchable to the desired equipment. Some common types of connectors are:

Figure 18 Types of connectors

Simple Form-factor pluggable (SFP): A small transceiver that plugs into a network interface for optical
communication. It converts the serial electrical signals to serial optical signals and vice versa.

Figure 19 Simple Form-factor Pluggable (SFP)

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It is to note that, OFC cannot be simply connected to any device unless it has any optical port or SFP.In
case the device does not have SFP/Optical port, then a switch/media converter/any other device will
be required to convert the electrical data into optical.

3.2 TESTING OFC NETWORKS

SFP modules have their own transmission power and receiving sensitivity. Once the signals are
transmitted into the fibre, signals are exposed to attenuation occurred due to bending, refraction,
splices, misalignments etc.
It is critical that the transmitted optical power does not reduce to less than the receiver sensitivity.
Therefore, several measures are taken to ensure a reliable connection.

• It is ensured that the fibre does not bend more than the minimum bending radius.
• Splicing is done properly with minimum dB loss.
• Connectors are cleaned with cleaning fluid before connecting.
Even after the above measures, it is critical to test the efficiency of the OFC system with proper tools.

3.2.1 Optical time-domain reflectometer (OTDR)

OTDR is used to test the performance of newly installed fiber links and detect problems that may exist
in them. OTDR works like radar—it sends pulse down the fiber and looks for a return signal, creating a
display a graph of optical power in dB versus the length of the fiber.
Its ability to locate and measure reflectance and loss makes OTDR the troubleshooting and fault
locating equipment of choice. The picture below shows working principle and features of OTDR trace.

Figure 20 OTDR Testing

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3.2.2 Optical power meter and sensor

Figure 21 Optical Power Meter testing

An optical power meter (OPM), also called optical power meter tester or OPM tester, is a testing
instrument working to accurately measure the power of fiber optic equipment, or the power of an
optical signal passed through the fiber cable.
It acts as the optical source, at one end, and senses the power at the far end. The optical power
difference is measured to calculate the losses.
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4 DESIGNING AN OFC NETWORK

Designing an OFC network must take many factors into consideration. The first step is to understand the
requirements such as bandwidth, topology, maximum distance between nodes, latency, reliability etc.
Out of the mentioned requirements, the following are necessary in designing any OFC network:

4.1 TOPOLOGY
Based on the requirements, and to produce an optimised solution, a topology is selected. Topologies
control the path that an information has to cover while transcending through a network.
There are several types of topologies. For example, physical topologies include the following:

Figure 22 Types of network topologies

• Bus network. In the bus network topology, every node is connected in series along a single
cable. This arrangement is found today primarily in Indian railways network, where OFC is
laid on single side of the track.
• Star network. In the star network topology, a central device connects to all other nodes
through a central hub. Switched local area networks based on Ethernet switches at stations are
generally connected in star topology.
• Ring network. In the ring network topology, the nodes are connected in a closed-loop
configuration. Some rings pass data in one direction only, while others are capable of
transmission in both directions. These bidirectional ring networks are more resilient than bus
networks since traffic can reach a node by moving in either direction.
• Mesh network. The mesh network topology links nodes with connections so that multiple paths
between at least some points of the network are available. A network is considered to be fully
meshed if all nodes are directly connected to all other nodes and partially meshed if only
some nodes have multiple connections to others. Meshing multiple paths increases resiliency but
also increases cost. However, more space is needed for dedicated links.
• Tree network. The tree network topology consists of one root node, and all other nodes are
connected in a hierarchy. The topology itself is connected in a star configuration. Many larger
Ethernet switch networks, including data center networks, are configured as trees.
• Hybrid network. The hybrid network topology is any combination of two or more topologies.
Hybrid topologies typically provide exceptional flexibility, as they can accommodate a
number of setups. For example, different departments in the same organization may opt for
personalized network topologies that are more adaptable to their network needs.
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4.2 NETWORK ARCHITECTURE

After the topology has been confirmed, the architecture is planned.
A network architecture illustrates the way network devices are interconnected and services are
structured to serve the connectivity needs of client devices.

Figure 23 A simple network architecture

As shown in the illustration above, the architecture depicts 5 nodes with end devices are connected in a
redundant ring architecture. The above architecture is designed to aggregate the data from RTU
camera on copper cable and then transmit the aggregated data through the fiber optic ring.

4.3 SELECTION OF FIBER TYPE AND SFPS

After architecture is designed, appropriate type of fiber is selected based on length of cables,
transmission bandwidth & core count.

Fiber Optic Fiber Distance

Cable Type
Fast 1Gb 1Gb 10Gb 25Gb 40Gb 100Gb
Ethernet Ethernet Ethernet Base Base Base Base
100BA 1000BASE- 1000BA SE-SR SR-S SR4 SR10
SE-FX SX SE-LX

Single OS2 200m 5,000m 5,000m 10km / / /

mode
fiber
Multimode OM1 200m 275m 550m / / / /
fiber
OM2 200m 550m / / / /
OM3 200m 550m 300m 70m 100m 100m
OM4 200m 550m 400m 100m 150m 150m
OM5 200m 550m 300m 100m 400m 400m

Once the type of fibre is selected, link budget is prepared to predict the losses in an optical link. A fiber
optic link budget, also known as a "loss budget," indicates the total acceptable amount of optical power
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loss (expressed in decibels) that a fiber optic link can have. These losses result from cables, connectors,
splices, couplers and equipment in the installed system. All the losses (in dB) are subtracted from the
transmission power and the result should be in the range of receiver sensitivity.

Figure 24 Link budgeting

Receiving Sensitivity < Transmission Power – Per KM dB loss – Connector Losses – Splice losses –
Any other losses
If the result of the power budget calculation satisfies the above equation, the signal will be carried
through, and a successful implementation is possible. If the result is negative, i.e., if the losses exceed the
transceiver power budget, the signal will not reach its end destination.
In a case where the link budget does not satisfy the acceptable range, we can go for different SFP with
higher transmission power for large distances.

4.4 DESIGNING CABLE CORE PLAN AND CABLE ROUTE PLAN

Cable Core Plan (CCP) illustrates the allotted cores for different services. To design a cable core plan:
1. Identify the cable for which CCP is to be made. Every OFC link is terminated in an ODF on both
sides of the cable keeping the core numbering aligned.
2. Make sure that the services assigned to the cores of both ODF are aligned correctly.
3. Mention the services that are being added or dropped at each ODF.
4. Mention the location of installation of each ODF.
Below is a screenshot of a CCP, refer annexure – A for complete design.

Figure 25 Sample Cable Core Plan

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Cable Route Plan (CRP) illustrates the route the cable follows across the stretch that it is laid. To design
a CRP:
1. A foot survey along the track should be done to determine the best route for the cable.
2. As far as possible low-lying areas, platform copings, drainages, hutments, rocky terrains, points
and crossings, shall be avoided. Proximity to Electrical Sub Stations/Switching stations shall be
avoided.
3. In case of Tunnel, provision of cable duct should form part of the Tunnel design.
4. Provision of suitable duct/pipe/other arrangements shall be incorporated in the bridge design
itself for laying of cables on bridges.
5. It is desired to take the cable route in such a path that won’t be regularly accessed by public or
maintenance personals. It is to avoid any future damage caused by future earthworks.
6. Any sharp turns/ bends are to be avoided.
Below is a screenshot of a CRP:

Figure 26 sample Cable Route Plan

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5 PRACTICES IN RAILWAYS

5.1 INDIAN RAILWAYS

Currently in Indian Railways, OFC is being used as the backbone system for all types of communication
needs of Indian railways such as;

• Control Communication with emergency communication

• Administrative voice and data communication.
• Mobile Train Radio Communication.
• Various IP networks carrying IT applications and internet/intranet services
• Modern signalling applications
To be able to cater the above services, OFC uses SDH/PDH network (STM, PD-MUX) for aggregation
data at stations. It also utilises Data Networking System (L3, L2 Switches). These devices aggregate
electrical data and transmit via optical fiber and connect to other stations and Divisional HQ.
The scope of laid OFC in Indian Railways, not limited to, but includes the following:
1. 24 core OFC is laid along the track in trench at a depth of 1.2 meter as shown in the diagram
below:

Figure 27 Cable laying practice in IR

2. Primary 24 core OFC is laid from station to station bypassing halt/D-class stations for SDH
network.
3. One OFC is laid as SPUR link from SP/SSP/TSS to the nearest station for SCADA connectivity.
4. If any IMD/ALH or any other location exists, signalling data and other services at those
locations are also catered through OFC. In such cases the primary OFC is also terminated at
these locations.
5. Redundant SPUR link is also used for connection to goomties along side stations.
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6. Another OFC is also used to form the IP-MPLS railnet network from station to station which
provides services to high data consuming applications such as Unreserved Ticketing System
(UTS)/ Passenger Reservation System (PRS), Freight Operation Information System (FOIS) etc.
A typical Indian Railways OFC network between two stations would look like:

Figure 28 Typical Indian railways OFC network

5.2 DEDICATED FREIGHT CORRIDOR CORPORATION (DFCC) PROJECTS

DFCC is a dedicated goods line which was started in recent past. This gives DFCC a chance to upgrade
from the conventional SDH/PDH network used in Indian Railways to a dedicated Data Networking
System (DNS) for data communications. However, due to interoperability with IR many of the critical
services such as control communications are still retained over the SDH/PDH network.
The scope of laid OFC in DFCC, not limited to, but includes the following:
1. One 24 core OFC is laid alongside both directions of the track from station to station. On one
side OFC is laid at a depth of minimum1.2 meter via HDD. On the other side of the track, OFC
is laid at a deeper depth. This provides redundant OFC from station to station with route
diversity. This network is known as the First Network.
2. One 24 core OFC is laid alongside both directions of the track from station to station but
terminating at GSM-R huts/IMD/IMSD/ALH/SP/SSP/TSS. On one side OFC is laid at a depth
of minimum1.2 meter via HDD. On the other side of the track, OFC is laid at a deeper depth.
This provides redundant OFC from station to station with route diversity. This network is known
as the Second Network.
3. One 12 core OFC is also used for SPUR links to SP/SSP/TSS/IR station or any other location
that fall in less than 2 KM range from stations.

Figure 29 Typical OFC network in DFCC

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One important thing to note is that the above arrangement is designed to satisfy the contractual
requirements and achieve the end goal of optimised, successful, reliable and high-speed connection.
These arrangements are varied across different projects to suit the project conditions.

5.3 METROS
Metros are generally IP based networks and almost all services are aggregated at Switches.
Generally, a lot of location that require aggregation of services are located in the station vicinity.
Hence, the need for SPUR links is almost eliminated.

Figure 30 Typical OFC network in metros

Metros follow internationally accepted standards and specifications that are open to plan for an
optimised solution as long as it says aligned with the contractual requirements.
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ANNEXURE - 1
Sample datasheet for products related to optical fiber cabling