Furukawa Electric Develops Ultra-miniature Optical Fiber Fusion Splicer for FTTH

Furukawa Electric Co., Ltd., recently announced the development of the S121A Optical Fiber Fusion Splicer, which is ideal for connection installations where simplicity and low cost are a requirement. Typical applications for the new connector will include LANs (Local Area Networks) and FTTH (Fiber To The Home) services, implementation of which have already begun in earnest.

One of the most critical issues in the rapidly expanding field of FTTH services is achieving simple, low-cost optical fiber connections to the homes of a rapidly growing number of residential users, despite a wide range of installation environments. Fusion splicing offers reliability as well as high resistance to environmental factors, and as such has been widely used for some time as a method of achieving optical fiber connections. It has not been seen as the most suitable method for FTTH, however, due to the large size of the equipment and difficulty of operation, and because the high cost of the equipment has made its use uneconomical. The S121A Fusion Splicer resolves these problems, offering an entirely new concept in the field of fusion splicing for terminal connections in FTTH and a wide range of other optical fiber networks.

The S121A Fusion Splicer has been reduced in both size and weight to roughly 1/3 that of Furukawa Electric's previous model*¹). The unit itself weighs 980g, and a total of 1,150g even with the removable battery included.

The adoption of an original T-shaped body enables connections using a minimum excess fiber length when the fiber head is inserted into the enclosure, and at the same time allows the user to hold the fusion splicer in one hand when conducting operations in locations with insufficient working space. The S121A also comes with a standard soft carrying case and strap, so that it can be carried around the user's neck or attached to a belt, making it as portable as a camera.

The S121A Fusion Splicer handles only single-core optical fibers. As in the case of previous models, the fiber is set in the holder, and the unit executes all operations from pre-processing to connection, so anyone can operate the unit with ease. An enlarged image of the fiber is displayed using a CCD camera and a 2.5-inch color LCD monitor, to ensure stable, high-quality connections. This product offers fast, fully automatic connections in only 13 seconds - all the user needs to do is set the fiber in the holder and press a button. The optical fiber connection type can be switched easily between single fiber mode and multi-mode by selecting a pre-set connection program, and an operation guide is displayed on the screen for even greater ease of use.

The unit offers two power supplies; a removable, rechargeable battery, and an optional DC adaptor to allow AC power input. Furthermore, by attaching an optional sleeve heater or simple reinforcement tool to the back of the unit, connections can be strengthened using popular Japanese thermal protection sleeves or the ULTRAsleeve*²), which is used extensively in the United States.

The S121A thus offers all the functions required to increase reliability and ease of connection operations, and at the same time has excluded loss estimation functions and connection inspection using high-resolution image processing. It ensures very low connection loss in terminal connections (average 0.1 dB or less in the case of single mode fiber connections), and provides advanced cost performance in terms of operability, reliability, and economy.

*1) Previous model: Furukawa Electric Optical Fiber Fusion Splicer Model S199M4
*2) Registered trademark of The Seimon Company, USA