Designing fibre optic systems for homes and smart buildings

Fibre optic is an ideal, future-proof technology for connecting smart homes and smart buildings. Here’s everything you need to know about designing FTTH systems, including the advantages, regulations, cabling configurations of the horizontal and vertical network, and the main components for fibre optic signal distribution.

An optical fibre consists of a core of extremely fine, pure glass filaments containing high percentages of silica, covered by a lower purity glass cladding that guides the transmitted light to the focal point. On the outside, a plastic sheath protects the fibre from external agents.

The light signals that are transmitted contain data, and are converted into electrical signals on entry and, again, on transmission. Travelling at the speed of light, the signal covers vast distances with exceptional speed and without degradation.

A fibre optic system for the smart home includes cabling the whole system with optical fibre to the home or in the home, providing undeniable advantages in terms of network speed and durability.

Today, fibre optic cables are used for telephone lines, internet lines and much more. Compared to copper cabling, this technology is less affected by wear, transmits more data in less time, and covers greater distances, maintaining a constant performance under any conditions with data transmission speeds of up to 2.5 Gigabit per second.

The extremely flexible cables can be bent to a radius specified by the manufacturer without the risk of breakage or damage and are of low environmental impact.

Apart from being less affected by signal dispersion, fibre optic is a future-proof technology capable of supporting the growing demand for rapid and accurate data transmission in the most complex and sophisticated home automation systems.

All new building constructions with plans submitted for authorisation after 1st July 2015 must have a passive multi-service physical infrastructure (FTTH) up to the network terminal points.

Even for existing buildings, with some rare exceptions, there are no legal hindrances, including opposition from the apartment complex. Therefore, no particular authorisations are required for installation of optical fibre at your residence.

If fibre optic has already been cabled to the building, a switchboard is installed within the common spaces of the residential block from which cables branch off to the individual apartments, adopting FTTH (Fibre To The Home) architecture, along the existing telephone infrastructure.

For independent properties, the installer provides an external control unit that connects to the telephone infrastructure to reach the home, again using FTTH architecture.

As mentioned, FTTH ensures the highest levels of performance as it maintains the characteristics of the optical fibre up to the user’s home. Once in the building, the fibre is connected to systems based on GPON (Gigabit-capable Passive Optical Network) technologies.

These are fitted in concealed points of the house, such as cellars or attics, to permit the transport of all the signals needed for the smart home communication systems on a single fibre optic cable, for vertical distribution that is less invasive and less expensive.

The horizontal distribution of signals occurs via a dedicated home hub or Wi-Fi router, connected by cable to the FTTH system, and wirelessly to the smart devices.

The intelligence controlling the ecosystem is of equal importance, as it is responsible for managing the control signals, monitoring consumption, and enabling dialogue between the smart devices.

Structured cabling is an alternative to horizontal wireless connection, starting from the FTTH (Fibre To the Home) fibre optic, it connects the available hub or Wi-Fi router and the various smart devices via copper cabling.

When it comes to wiring a network for an entire building, the system requires various elements for connecting the high-capacity vertical distribution network to the horizontal network of the individual apartments.

Within the building, the system consists of vertical elements shared by the entire building and horizontal elements dedicated to the residential units. From the top of the building to the bottom, the main components are:

• The building fibre termination box (STOM), which converges the cables coming from above, such as video surveillance, satellite and digital TV and satellite internet,
• and is connected to the building optical services cabinet (CSOE), which converges all the incoming data from the building fibre termination box (STOM) and the telecommunication service providers via the multi-dwelling unit (ROE);
• the multimedia distribution box (QDSA), which sorts and distributes the signals from the building optical services cabinet (CSOE) and that are connected to the
• apartment termination box (STOA), the point of connection within each apartment and unit that allows the user to access the services (data, TV and satellite).