Delivery: Online
College Credit: 2 credit hours
Estimated Length: 20 seat hours
Price: $815
Course Assessment/Equivalency Exam: $120
HFC course
The NCTI Fiber Testing and Maintenance course provides the fiber-optic cable technician with information regarding post activation fiber-optic theory and application. The course concentrates on the test equipment and procedures necessary to perform testing and maintenance for new fiber-optic cable links, troubleshooting service outages and restoring fiber-optic links to their original performance specifications. The course also describes the process of fiber-optic cable restoration planning and implementation of preventive maintenance regimens in an HFC network.
Completion Time:
The estimated completion time for this course is 20 hours. The maximum allotted time is four months from enrollment.
Benefits:
- earn two hours of college credit
- use this course to help prepare for SCTE’s Broadband Transportation Specialist certification
- receive credit toward NCTI Master Technician certification
- receive credit toward NCTI Telecom Specialist certification
- earn an industry-recognized NCTI certificate of graduation
- receive “Honor Graduate” designation with a score of 90% or higher on the first final exam attempt
Upon completing this course, students will be able to:
- Identify the common industry standards used in fiber‐optic transmission systems.
- Describe the types of optical network failures, the importance of an organized process for fiber-optic troubleshooting, and the documentation and inventory management requirements.
- Describe the optical test equipment and light sources for measuring and detecting optical power and signal loss in optical fiber networks.
- Describe the optical time domain reflectometer types and their features.
- Explain how to prepare, program, and perform tests with the optical time domain reflectometer.
- Explain what goes into maintaining a robust and reliable fiber-optic network.
- Discuss how to test with the optical time domain reflectometer and interpret the results.
- Explain the various tests and measurements for validating an optical link’s performance, quality, and compliance.
- Describe the required resources to troubleshoot a fiber outage effectively and the systematic process of diagnosing and resolving issues.
- Explain what is included in the fiber-optic restoration plan, the underlying reasons for optical failures, and what is required for restoring services after a failure.
- Describe how to implement a fiber-optic restoration plan after a failure, including safety requirements, investigating and repairing service interruptions, and documentation requirements.
- Discuss how to minimize fiber-optic failures with plant inspections, a preventative maintenance program, and performing continuous performance monitoring, including the equipment used.
Outline:
Optical Network Maintenance
Optical network awareness, optical network failure identification, fiber-optic troubleshooting, and post repair
Optical Test Equipment
Optical power meters, laser light sources, optical fiber identifiers, and additional optical test equipment
Optical Time Domain Reflectometer Basics
Optical time domain reflectometer overview, optical time domain reflectometer types, and optical time domain reflectometer features
Optical Time Domain Reflectometer Preparation
Preliminary OTDR procedures, OTDR programming, and OTDR tests
Optical Time Domain Reflectometer Measurements
OTDR signatures, OTDR testing, and OTDR span measurements
Broadband Optical Link Acceptance Testing
Optical power and reflectivity testing; optical transmitter and receiver testing; optical fiber documentation use
Fiber Outage Troubleshooting
Fiber outage troubleshooting key elements and fiber outage troubleshooting process
Fiber-Optic Restoration Planning
Fiber restoration plan, overview, optical failure origins, and effective fiber restorations
Optical Network Service Restoration
Fiber-optic restoration safety, fiber-optic restoration logistics, and fiber-optic restoration documentation
Optical Failure Prevention
Fiber-optic plant inspection, preventive maintenance, and network performance monitoring