What is the difference between unarmoured, armoured, ADSS, and OPGW cables?
A. The optical fiber cables are installed in various different ways in the Outside Plant (OSP). Based on the way, the cables are installed different cable constructions have been devised. The unarmoured cable or alternatively called metal free cables do not have any metallic components used in the cable construction. These cables are installed in ducts. The armoured cables have metallic components such as corrugated metal tape and metal strength members (generally used in central tube type cable). The presence of corrugated metal tape provides strength to the construction and has superior mechanical characteristics than unarmoured cable. These types of cables are directly buried. ADSS stands for All Dielectric Self-Supporting cable. These types of cables have superior tensile properties such that they can be installed directly over the supporting poles with necessary fixing hardware. These type of cables do not have any metallic components instead they use aramid yarns for extra tensil
