Managing an Outside Plant Fiber Optic Network with GIS

Bobby Ripy –Frankfort Plant Board, KYTom Taber – Telvent Miner & Miner

Frankfort Plant Board History

Electric & Water Service since 1943Cable service since 1952High Capacity Fiber since1997Largest municipally owned cable company in U.S.Services the State Capital of Kentucky

FPB Services

High-Speed Internet AccessTelephony ServiceCable TelevisionWaterElectricSecurity Services

FPB Fiber Optic Network

Expanding the Full Service NetworkProvides service to 20,000 customersFiber Optic Network supports:

Internet AccessDark FiberHigh Capacity InternetCable Television NodesTelephony Applications

Need for GIS Based Management

Massive Fiber System ExpansionNetwork Expert was retiringRecord Keeping was Inefficient and ComplexIntegration with Gas and Water GISCompany-wide Access to DataFiber Network Analysis and Reporting

Old Management SystemCAD File

ConnectionSpreadsheet

Fiber Optic Network in GIS

Uses of the GIS Data

Call Before You Dig ProgramOperations MapsAnnual and Ad Hoc ReportingSystem Planning and ExpansionSystem Visualization with Electric and WaterSystem Analysis

Connecting the Network

Splicing Fibers

Splicing Challenges

Poor Source Documents for ConnectivityDifficult to interpretInformation was out-of-date

Fiber Optic Expert had RetiredTracing tools helped discover the connectivitySome field checking was required

Splice Report

Splice Schematic

Connecting a Patch Panel

Tracing the Network

Lengths Illustrated

GIS Length – 1000 ft.

GIS Length + Slack Loop: 1000 + 200 = 1200 ft.

Slack Loop – 200 ft.

Field Notes (OTDR) Length: Measured at 1324 ft.

Footstamp Length: 6300 -5000 = 1300 ft.

Start Footstamp – 5000 ft. End Footstamp – 6300 ft.

Glass Length: 1300 X 1.01 = 1313 ft.

OTDR Outage

Conclusions

Enterprise GIS improved system managementData available company-wide for many usesGIS provides a rich way to capture, analyze and report on the network dataMany benefits despite partial data captureThe data will improve as the system is used

Questions?

Managing an Outside Plant Fiber Optic Network with GIS

Bobby Ripy - GIS CoordinatorFrankfort Plant Board, KY

BRipy@fewpb.com

Tom Taber – Product SpecialistTelvent Miner & Minertom.taber@miner.com