What is Fiber optic cable splicing and termination?
There are three methods to terminate fiber optic cables: Pigtail splicing Pre-connectorized cable Direct field termination A pigtail is an optical fiber cable, usually 900 um, that is factory terminated at one end and is unterminated at the other end. The unterminated end is spliced (mechanically or using fusion) to the installed cable. The splice is stored in a splice tray. A pigtail is easy and quick to install, because it requires no terminations to be done in the field. But, splicing equipment is costly; splices also introduce additional losses. As the name suggests, a pre-connectorized cable (pre-terminated cable would have been a better name) is factory terminated on both ends. This is useful for patch cords, multi-fiber cables for horizontal (fiber cables shorter than 90 meters) and backbone (fiber cables longer than 90 meters) installations. Multi-fiber cables are available with custom fiber counts and length. But, additional care should be taken to protect the fiber terminatio
