Fiber Rehab Project
As part of the plant automation contracts earlier this decade, a system of fiber optic connections was installed in the underground plant tunnels to allow high speed data communications between all areas of the Southerly plant. Today, this fiber optic backbone provides critical infrastructure for both the control network and business network for plant control and data/voice communications. We are experiencing intermittent connection errors and have identified connector problems as the cause.
Due to the environmental conditions in the tunnels and the methods of terminating and connecting fiber, all connections need to be tested. We anticipate that a significant portion of the connectors that interconnect the fiber cabling may need to be replaced and recertified. There is also a need to install new fiber cabling to provide expandability and reliability of the fiber optic backbone for current and near future control and business network needs.
The objectives of this project include the following:
Restore the Southerly fiber backbone to a state of reliability and usability.
Prepare the fiber infrastructure to support 1Gb to 10Gb transmission speeds
Complete the project with minimum network downtime
Increase the number of connections available in the Southerly fiber backbone
Increase reliability of the Southerly fiber backbone through fused/spliced connections
Update and verify documentation
Utilize an SBE firm for 8% of the total contract cost
