Course Outline:

1. History and Development of Fiber Optics
• Tyndall’s guided light experiment
• Bell’s photophone
• Fiber innovators
• First US systems
• Development timeline
• Advantages of optical fiber media

2. Fiber Optic Transmission Theory
• Structure of the optical waveguide
• Total internal reflection
• Fiber types
• Basic fiber parameters

3. Fiber Optic Cable Design
• Terminology review
• Design objectives
• Classes of fiber protection
• Loose tube cable
• Tight-buffered cable

4. Fiber Cable Placement Overview
• Comparison of optical fiber and metallic media installation concerns
• Basic installation parameters
• Key points for “pre-pull”
• Key points for short indoor runs
• Key points for long outdoor runs
• Key points for “post-pull”

5. Fiber Termination
• Function of fiber connectors
• Fiber connector types
• Field installation advantages and disadvantages
• Factory termination advantages and disadvantages
• Techniques for installing factory terminated solutions
• Techniques for field installation
• Field installation critical steps

6. Field Testing
• Identify the basic fiber optic field tests
• Basic visual/continuity check
• Applications of the attenuation test set
• Use of the light source and power meter
• Applications of the Optical Time Domain Reflectometer (OTDR)
• Generating an OTDR baseline trace
• OTDR trace interpretation

7. Fiber Splicing
• Applications for splicing
• Selection of splice hardware
• Selection of splice solution
• Types of fusion splicers

8. Standards and Codes
• Fire code listings on optical fiber cables
• Introduction to standards and codes reference
material in course book

9. Attenuation Budgeting
• Standard attenuation metrics
• Class exercise: compute a link loss budget

10. Wrap-up and Review