I have always been interested in how backbone fiber-optic communication lines (FOCL) are laid across our vast country, through which the traffic of the Internet and cellular networks goes. Is it possible to dig thousand-kilometer trenches and lay cables there? But besides the fact that it is expensive, there is always the danger that someone can drip with an excavator and break the cable, and this break will be almost impossible to find.
It turned out there was a simple, cheap and elegant solution. Many high-voltage power lines have been laid throughout the country. At the very top of each line there is a ground wire - a grounded wire that absorbs lightning strikes and protects the main current-carrying wires.
Now these ground wires are being replaced by such a combined cable containing up to 72 optical fibers.
Thus, it turns out to lay the main fiber-optic lines along the already existing power lines with automatic protection against vandals.
Note that there are even combined power transmission lines with built-in optical lines, as well as optical cables suspended from existing ground wires.
In addition to power lines, there is another infrastructure that permeates the entire country - railways. Catenary supports can also be used for fiber-optic communication.
© Alexey Nadyozhin
The main topic of my blog is technology in human life. I write reviews, share experiences, talk about all sorts of interesting things. My second project - lamptest.ru. I test LED bulbs and help figure out which ones are good and which are not so good.