Human Factors and Behavioral Science: Human Factors Comparison of Two Fiber-Optic Continuous-Groove Field-Repair Splicing Techniques

Human Factors Comparison of Two Fiber-Optic Continuous-Groove Field-Repair Splicing Techniques By L. M. PAUL* (Manuscript received December 23, 1981) Two Bell System fiber-optic splicing techniques that are under development were experimentally compared in a human factors study. In addition to splicing technique, the variables explored were the uniformity (evenness) of fiber spacing in the 12-fiber "ribbon," and the hand (preferred or nonpreferred) that was used to splice. Performance was measured by the time to insert fibers, the number of fibers broken, and the time taken to complete a series of insertions for each technique. The preference of the participants between the two techniques was also determined. All of the measures except participant preference showed the vacuum technique to be statistically superior to the hold-down bar technique, with participant preference suggesting the same conclusion, although it was not statistically significant. I. INTRODUCTION A h u m a n factors study compared two techniques under development for t h e r e p a i r splicing of d a m a g e d Bell S y s t e m fiber-optic cable in t h e f i e l d . T h e goal o f t h e s t u d y was t o d e t e r m i n e t h e p r e f e r r e d t e c h n i q u e from a h u m a n factors viewpoint. T h i s information combined with e c o n o m i c c o n s i d e r a t i o n s would t h e n allow t h e t e c h n i q u e ' s d e s i g n e r s * Bell Laboratories. °Copyright 1983, American Telephone & Telegraph Company.