NEW OPTICAL FIBRE DESIGNATIONS FOR 2019

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This paper provides information on the forthcoming changes to the way the optical fibres within the cables we regularly purchase and install are to be designated and highlights some concerns surrounding those changes.

For multimode optical fibre systems, the cabling standards of the ISO/IEC 11801 and EN 50173 series have a Category system OM3, OM4 and OM5 which relate to cabled optical fibre. The same approach is applied to cabled singlemode optical fibres of Category OS1a and OS2. Each of these cabled optical fibres are built from optical fibres in accordance with BS EN [IEC] 60793-2-10 (for multimode) and BS EN [IEC] 60793-2-50 (for singlemode).

The designation of the optical fibres in these standards are being changed with the objective of more closely linking the optical fibre to the wider market place.