What Does The NBN Look Like?

What does the NBN look like?

The rollout of the NBN will represent a huge improvement in Australias online capacity whether
or not it goes to the home or only to the node A lot has !een said a!out the network !ut what
a!out the actual ca!le that is going to !e !ringing your downloads? We were lucky enough to
have the anatomy of the NBN ca!le e"plained to us !y #oss $inlay from Light Networking
The particular ca!le was produced !y %orning and is made up of a num!er of components that all
have their own &o!s This is not like the ca!le connecting your D'D player to the T'
NBN ca!le unsheathed with legend()*
The very outside of the ca!le is a green outer sheath +A, This hard nylon &acket provides light
armouring to protect the ca!le- primarily against termite attack
Within this sheath is a second !lack sheath made of polyethylene +B, This sheath fills in the low
spots to make the ca!le cross(section circular and holds the components underneath together
The properties of polyethylene also result in this sheath adding a small amount of crush
resistance to the ca!le
The ne"t layer is one of the most important protective elements of the ca!le !ut is often
overlooked A third sheath is made from woven fi!re that swells in water +%, By swelling when
wet this sheath stops water +and contamination, seeping down the length of the ca!le if the
sheath is cut +eg rodents, which could affect the long term function of the ca!le
.nside the sheaths you will find orange /rip cords on opposite sides of the ca!le +D, These rip
cords make it easier to remove the sheaths when &oining ca!les or when the ca!le has to !e
terminated
To keep the ca!le as circular as possi!le /filler tu!es are included These filler tu!es do not carry
information of any kind !ut help give the ca!le structure and in doing so protect the other
components on the ca!le from !reaking and shearing +0,
$inally- the actual ca!le +$, Within all this protective structure there are four loose tu!es- each
coloured to make them easily identifia!le- which each contain a stack of *1 ri!!ons 0ach ri!!on
carries *1 fi!res This means we have *22 fi!res per tu!e and therefore a grand total of 345
fi!res in the ca!le
.n the very middle there is a final structural element made of fi!reglass and epo"y resin which
gives the ca!le additional strength and rigidity +6,
7o what is this ca!le capa!le of? Well unlike copper wire ca!les like the one in cross(section
here- the NBN ca!les are fi!re optic and transmit a signal of light The light shone down the fi!re
is made !y a laser +or more accurately lasers, 0ach laser has a fre8uency of 9 1))T:; or
1))-)))-)))-)))-))) cycles per second As we are interested in the information load of the ca!le
this is converted to /!its of information or 1)) Terra!its per second
This alone is a large amount of information !ut the real advantage to using light in an optic fi!re is
that- unlike copper carrying electrical signals- optic fi!re can carry multiple different colours of
laser light at the same time .n fact the NBN ca!le can accommodate *<) lasers at once- per
fi!re
This means that if you take the fre8uency of the lasers +and in the industry they drop a ;ero from
the fre8uency to !e conservative- ie they work with a standard fre8uency of 1)T:; rather than the
!est case scenario 1))T:;,- multiply that !y the num!er of lasers that can !e used at a single
time- and multiply that !y the num!er of fi!res in the ca!le we can calculate the total amount of
information the ca!le can carry=
1) Terra!its per second " *<) " 345 > 1-)42 ?eta!its per second
7tandard information load of one fi!re " num!er of lasers that can !e used at a single point in
time " num!er of fi!res in a ca!le > Total information load of ca!le
What does 1-)42 ?eta!its per second actually mean? Well its e8uivalent to @12 million million
phone calls .t means a huge capacity for carrying dataA
Bnderstanding num!ers that high and a!stract- is hard work As a comparison- this ca!le will
have roughly the same capacity to transmit information as Tasman 1- the ca!le laid !etween
Australia and New Cealand in *DD1 ?ut another way- the demand for fast and relia!le internet-
alongside the rapid advancements in technology- has meant that a decade after Tasman 1 was
laid to provide state(of(the(art communications !etween two countries- the same information load
can !e sent to every home- or a node near every home
This almost seems e"cessive until you really think what the world was like in *DD1- compared to
the world we live in today The 8uestion is- will this still !e enough *) years from now?