Print Page 9/4/2012

GREENVILLE, S.C.—FiberSource manufactures and installs fiber-optic connectivity products to address the needs of the broadcasting, telephone, cable TV, and data communications communities. One of our recent projects involved retrofitting the Mississippi State University baseball stadium from copper to fiber-optic connectivity.

This project, completed earlier this year, presented several challenges. First, it was a retrofit that required the connection panels to be surface mounted and accessible for wiring from the back, bottom, top, or either side. These also had to be weatherproofed and easily accessible when needed for game coverage. Second, the school also wanted both SMPTE and ST fiber connector capability within the same cabinet.

We looked at several suppliers and found a Canare product that would meet their needs very nicely. Canare has a long history of supplying quality products to the broadcast industry and offers a full line of SMPTE-compliant products including 7, 9, 12 and 16 mm cable, connectors, and connector panels.

The Canare NEMA 4 fiber optic connector housing selected for the Mississippi State University project

WELL-DESIGNED ENCLOSURES
We used Canare’s polycarbonate NEMA 4-rated enclosure for the Mississippi State project, as it houses one COPS pre-terminated HFO SMPTE connector and four ST connectors. This enclosure has a draw latch that can easily be opened and deployed during events, and closed when not in use for protection against the elements. (Although we only needed SMPTE and ST connectors, Canare suppports a number of other connection types, including SC fiber. They also offer a tethered version which is ideal for a deployable application.)

We’ve found that these Canare enclosures are ideal for retrofit applications, as they can be easily drilled to accept conduit with fiber lines coming from five sides. Oftentimes, especially in a retrofit project, you don’t have the luxury of knowing just how you’ll be routing feeds until you’re actually on the job site, so this is a really handy feature. Also, the enclosure can be surface mounted using the provided flanges, or mounted to a Unistrut, or even to a pole with the optional pole mount kit.

NO-WORRY FIBER-OPTIC CABLES
We knew that we were going to need a lot of fiber for this project (about 10,000 feet was installed), and found that Canare could provide us with two versions of SMPTE HFO cable. One of these is designed for mobile/field-type applications and is strengthened with internal Kevlar fibers and includes cotton fibers for additional cushioning of the actual glass fiber strand. The jacket is made of abrasionresistant PVC material. The other version employs a more conventional design and is intended for permanent installations. The project required us to use both products.

As Canare is a participating member of several standards committees, we knew that their products will work with other makers’ products. This makes life a lot easier for everyone.

As most Canare items are in stock and readily available from their New Jersey warehouse, Canare can usually ship the same day that orders are received. This fast service helped us in our project and is important too when speedy replacement of critical camera cables and other items is needed.

Brian DiMarco has more than 30 years experience in designing and manufacturing fiber-optic connectivity products and is the holder of eight patents in fiber-optic connectivity. He may be contacted at bdimarco@fibersource.net.

For additional information, contact Canare Corporation of America at 973- 837-0070 or visit www.canare.com.

  Print Page