ANSI/TIA-568.3-E: Optical Fiber Cabling and Components Standard

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ANSI/TIA‑568.3‑E “Optical Fiber Cabling and Components Standard” was developed by the TIA TR‑42.11 Optical Fiber Systems Subcommittee and published in September, 2022.

Scope: This Standard specifies performance, transmission, and test and measurement requirements for premises optical fiber cable, connectors, connecting hardware, and patch cords. Transition methods used to maintain optical fiber polarity and ensure connectivity between transmitters and receivers using simplex, duplex, and array connectivity are also described.

Significant changes from the previous edition include:

  • Type‑A optical fiber transition definition and two new optical fiber transition variants (Type‑U1 and Type‑U2) added
  • New polarity Methods U1 and U2 added
  • ANSI/TIA-492AAAF specifications for multimode optical fibers cancels and replaces ANSI/TIA‑492AAAA, ANSI/TIA‑492AAAB, ANSI/TIA‑492AAAC, ANSI/TIA‑492AAAD, and ANSI/TIA‑492AAAE
  • ANSI/TIA‑492CAAC specifications for single‑mode optical fibers cancels and replaces ANSI/TIA‑492CAAA and ANSI/TIA‑492CAAB
  • B‑652.D or B‑657 of ANSI/TIA‑492CAAC and IEC 60793‑2‑50 specified as acceptable fiber for single‑mode indoor/outdoor, inside plant, and outside plant cables
  • References to optical fiber designations A1‑OM5, A1‑OM4, and A1‑OM3 added to harmonize with IEC 60793‑2
  • Description and reference for testing cable plants terminated with array connectors added
  • Content of TIA‑568.3-D‑1 ( General Updates ) incorporated
–     OM5 fiber cabling color designation added
–     OM1 and OM2 fiber cabling color designations removed
–     Multimode reference‑grade to standard‑grade loss allowance changed to 0.5 dB
–     OS1, OM1, and OM2 connector and adapter color identification moved to Annex of grandfathered specifications
–     ISO/IEC cabled fiber type designation OS1a added to harmonize with and ISO/IEC 11801‑1

ANSI/TIA-568.3-E Content:

  • Optical Fiber Cable
  • Connecting Hardware
  • Cords, Array Cables, and Transitions
  • Optical Fiber Transmission Performance and Test Requirements
  • Annexes addressing Optical Fiber Connector Performance Specifications, Grandfathered Fiber and Cable Types and Connecting Hardware Identification, Maintaining Optical Fiber Polarity, Optical Branching Component Performance Specifications, and Guidelines for Field‑Testing Length, Loss, and Polarity of Optical Fiber Cabling

ANSI/TIA-568.3-E Duplex Polarity:

Consecutive‑fiber positioning and reverse-pair positioning are the two methods specified to maintain polarity for duplex (e.g., LC‑to‑LC) systems.

Consecutive‑fiber positioning is implemented by installing the fiber adapters in opposite orientations on each end of the link (i.e., A‑B, A‑B… on one end and B‑A, B‑A… on the other) and then attaching fibers to the adapters in consecutive order (i.e., 1,2,3,4…) on both ends of the link.

Reverse‑pair positioning is implemented by installing the fiber adapters in the same orientation on each end of the link (i.e., A‑B, A‑B… or B‑A, B‑A…) and then attaching fibers to the adapters in consecutive order (i.e., 1, 2, 3, 4…) on one end of the link and in reverse‑pair order (i.e., 2, 1, 4, 3…) on the other end of the link.

ANSI/TIA-568.3-E Array Polarity:

Different methods may be employed to achieve array polarity, however these methods may not be interoperable. It is recommended that one polarity method be selected in advance and maintained consistently throughout an installation. Five sample polarity methods, referred to as Methods A, B, C, U1, and U2, are described in this Standard. All Methods support multiple duplex (e.g., MPO‑to‑LC) signal polarity, but only Methods A, B, and C support array (e.g., MTP/MPO‑to‑MTP/MPO) signal polarity. Optical fiber transitions are used to provide connectivity between array interfaces and multiple duplex connectors.

Method A uses Type-A (straight-through) trunk cables.

Multiple duplex implementations: Type‑A transitions with Type‑A (key up to key down) array adapters are used with a standard A‑to‑B duplex jumper at one end of the link and an A-to-A duplex jumper at the other end
Array implementations: Type‑A (key up to key down) array adapters are used with a Type‑A array patch cord at one end of the link and a Type‑B array patch cord on the other end

Method B uses Type-B (reverse sequence) trunk cables.

Multiple duplex implementations: Type‑A transitions with Type‑B (key up to key up) array adapters are used with standard A‑to‑B duplex jumpers on both ends of the link
Array implementations: Type‑B (key up to key up) array adapters are used with Type‑B array patch cords on both ends of the link.

Method C uses Type-C (pair-wise flipped) trunk cables.

Multiple duplex implementations: Type‑A transitions with Type‑A (key up to key down) array adapters are used with standard A‑to‑B duplex jumpers on both ends of the link
Array implementations: Type‑A (key up to key down) array adapters are used with a Type‑B array patch cord on one end of the link and a Type‑C array patch cord on the other end

Method U1 uses Type-B (reverse sequence) trunk cables.

Multiple duplex implementations only: Type‑U1 fiber transitions with Type‑A (key up to key down) array adapters are used with standard A‑to‑B duplex jumpers on both ends of the link

Method U2 uses Type-B (reverse sequence) trunk cables.

Multiple duplex implementations only: Type‑U2 fiber transitions with Type‑B (key up to key up) array adapters are used with standard A‑to‑B duplex jumpers on both ends of the link

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