Atlanta Fiber System Experiment: The Chicago Lightwave Communications Project

The Atlanta Fiber System Experiment1-2 utilizes cable ducts similar to those currently being installed in the telephone plant, but atypical of active Bell System ducts in that they were dry and uncrowded. In 1976, new cable-placing methods and equipment were developed and tested at Bell Laboratories' Chester, New Jersey location. With these methods and equipment, optical fiber cables like those used in Atlanta 3 but containing only two ribbons (24 fibers) were installed in downtown Chicago in February 1977. The location was selected for the range of services that could be provided on fibers, as well as for the demanding cable route, representative of those found in busy, long-established metropolitan areas. During the winter months, much of the Atlanta Experiment equipment was modified, replaced, or repackaged, and shipped to Chicago. On April 1, 1977 the first commercial traffic was carried on the new system, and on May 11 the Chicago Lightwave Communication System was fully cut over. Video encoders and other terminal equipment had been added so that the system could provide customer voice and data 1881