Published on: 26th April 2018   |   Universal Networks

Sometimes our customers require a bespoke solution and we take pride in being able to offer advice and create custom assemblies to suit their specific needs. Here are a few of the more unique projects we’ve supported customers on:

Marine Ship

Marine fibre to replace failing copper

On a vessel used for Seismic survey operations, a copper link was used from the bridge to a small container all the way down at the bow of the ship which housed electronic equipment that relays the seismic data back to the bridge. The existing copper cabling kept failing so we replaced it with pre-terminated armoured fibre and industrial media converters installed into an IP rated box.

One fibre cable to replace many

This project also involved a bridge to container link, for a semi temporary connection requiring 24 fibres. We specified a Loose Tube external fibre and terminated into a single 24 way MTP connector, glanded for secure container entry.  We used MTP to LC panels each end to enable connection to devices. The 24 fibre MTP connector facilitated quick and easy connectivity.

Bandwidth upgrade using installed cables

A floating petroleum storage ship based in the Far East was pre installed with Multimode cables which supported 100Mb. They required an upgrade to Gigabit, but the cable lengths were above the maximum supported. The most economical solution was to install Mode Conditioning cables throughout and Singlemode SFP’s into existing network switches, thus increasing the useable distance to 550m, and avoiding the huge expense of replacing cabling.

RAF ProjectsRAF Shawbury high resilience network

A site wide intercom/speaker system was required, but there was insufficient fibre cabling infrastructure to support it. The Qsys system is highly resilient and requires redundant high speed switches to support it’s operation. Only a few are approved by Qsys and none were suitable for the design. There were many cabling ducts and some fibre optic cabling on site, but it was unclear on routes and how useable the cables were if they existed.

An audit of the existing fibre cabling included testing and creating new schematics. 11km of new 12 core OM3 Brand Rex fibre cables were installed to support the design. The switches selected were Allied x510 & x610 which support GbE and 10GbE and offer zero delay failover. Dual switches interconnected by resilient active routes were installed in all 37 buildings. Each system was supported by UPS’s.

Multi-fibre Military Application

The application was to consolidate hut to aircraft fibre communication cables. Multiple fibre cables were replaced by a single Neutrik IP rated 12-fibre MTP cable provided on a deployable reel, with IP rated connection boxes distributing to oher conections to save time on deployment and connectivity.

Peli Mounted Media Converter

This project involved a solution to enable the user to deploy fibre optic cables and convert each end to copper, in a outdoor environment.  We designed a weatherpoof box that could house a USB powered fibre to copper converter in a waterproof box.  All connectivity ports (USB, Cat6 & LC Fibre) were protected by spring-loaded IP rated shutters.  The converter is powered through the USB cable from a laptop one end and bespoke Lemo cable assembly on the other end.  All the cables were IP rated once connected.

Hopefully this gives a good taste for the type of work we do and the array of projects we work on. If you require a bespoke solution get in touch with us here or call on 01488 685800.

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