Recent Advances in Ribbon Cable Technology

Since the initial introduction of central loose-tube ribbon cable in the late 1970s, there has been a steady growth in fiber counts. The need for high fiber count (HFC) cables is expanding with the continuous growth in higher bandwidth applications and with the move of fiber closer to the end user. With the introduction of UV ribbon technology in central loose-tube ribbon cable in 1989, the fiber counts in HFC cables have increased geometrically. This growth has been fueled by an increasing demand for bandwidth from nontraditional service providers who have limited access to physical route space and a limited market window of opportunity. HFC cables have penetrated long distance applications, metropolitan ring networks and the first branches in the feeder loop. An increase in fiber count per ribbon and low-loss mass fusion splicing through more precise fiber geometry are the two most important technology enablers that have sustained the fiber-count growth in HFC cables. The growth in fiber counts per ribbon has been achieved through the design of a thin modular ribbon with up to 24 fibers. In this paper we present the design strategies for extending the fiber counts of HFC central loose-tube ribbon cables to 864 fibers and beyond.