Basic Communication Components Help

[desertpilot]

Hi all,

I'm new to the forums and very new to communications...at least outside of normal serial and TCP/IP communications, etc. I was asked to help with a project that I'm fairly clueless about, and was hoping I could enlist your help.

We are working on a project at multiple sites that requires multiple types of communication to get the job done. One of the fellows working at a partner company sent me a diagram of what he feels should be installed. I changed the diagram to remove the things I was very familiar with, and left mostly only components that are foreign to me or are necessary for the diagram to make sense.

Here is the diagram:

Obviously by my following questions, you can tell that our company will not be doing the work on this...it will be contracted out. But I would really like to be able to speak intelligently about it. There are a lot of questions, and don't feel like answers to all are necessary...at this point I would appreciate ANY help. So here they are:

--What exactly is a Fiber End Equipment MUX? Is MUX just another name for multiplexer?
--What determines the type of Fiber Splice Box I would need? Is it only determined by the number of connections/terminations needed?
--What is the added functionality of a T1 multiplexer/channelbank over just a T1 multiplexer? Or is there no such creature as a T1 multiplexer without the channelbank?
--The diagram shows the PLC and the Fiber MUX feeding directly to the T1 Multiplexer/Channelbank. What type of connections (Ethernet, serial, ???) and protocols are common for this sort of connectivity, and do I need a special T1 Multiplexer/Channelbank to accept the possibly two different types of connections from these different components?
--What is the size/average cost of some of this equipment?
--Last but most importantly, can someone recommend a vendor with a good technical department that could help me design out this system?

Thank you SO much for any help.

 

[a31ford]

What you are looking at in your diagram above, is a optic link for remote testing of a "one of N" configuration drop ("one" being the local equipment, "N" being the microwave uplink) Yank the voltage stuff from the picture, (it is generally supplied as "common rail" for any package that wants a low noise floor).

If I didn't know any better, I would say this is for a VOIP comunications system.

Regards,
Greg,

Called "Mr. Fusion" by the Locals

 

[djs]

Hello;
The fiber End Equipment is simpily a copper to fiber modem. It translates your copper network signal to optical signals transmitted over fiber. The devil is in the details as there are literally hundreds of thousands of these units available. Which one(s) depends on not only the copper network type, but also the type of fiber and the fiber distances. BTW in general both ends must be the same make and model. Can't have Cisco on one end and Hirschmann on the other.
The Fiber Splice box is also called a patch panel. It is simpily a convient way to terminate your long haul fiber and provide a means via a patch jumper cable to connect it to the fiber mux/modems. Only thing to watch here is the type of FO connectors. We use mostly tye ST connectors.
The T1 unit is probably just a unit to interface between the T1 line and what ever copper network you will be using. If the copper network is Ethernet, then this might be just an Ethernet switch. The type of connections really are dependent on the PLC. Ethernet is becomming the network of choice for high level communications on modern control networks. It is certainly a good choice for this application.
Fiber modems can range from $200 to $5000 depending on networks, capacities etc. Patch panels usually cost no more than $100. Ethernet switches range from $300 to several thousand dollars. I might mention that some switches include an optice port. A two for one. PLC's go from $50 to $10,000 or more.
For vender assistance, I would contact the PLC supplier. Otherwise you might possibly contact a good systems integrator. We design and build these systems all the time.

 

[tomatge]

It seems to me that the scheme proposed is a method of providing communications to a remote I/O station, with redundant communications paths (ie. fibre and microwave). At first sight, I would suggest the scheme design will be expensive.

Firstly, I would establish what type of data communications is required (speed, volumes of data, criticality etc.). Then you will need to understand the geography of the two sites (distance, terrain, existing communications links etc.).

At that point, you should be in a better position to design the scheme, using equipment suited for the application.

However, since a colleague has already produced this scheme, it might be reasonable to assume he has done this exercise and can justify the design. Certainly, the comment about a "long haul microwave" suggests distances are large. Does the handle "DesertPilot" equally suggest that terrain may be difficult?

The PLC at the right of the diagram will have various interfaces available to communicate with remote I/O. It may, for example, be simple serial communciations using RS232 or RS485, if so then long distances preclude a straight copper connection. However, a telecommunications MUX (multiplexer, as you observed) will be able to take this data and transmit over long distances. It could also be equally capable of carrying other signals (voice telephony, corporate computer networks etc.). The MUX will also be able to provide communications path redundancy, with the microwave as back-up to the fibre. In this respect, the direct link between the PLC and microwave connection may not be appropriate.

This does look like an interesting application, and one where there may be the potential to spend vastly excessive amounts of money. Can you provide further information to my questions above ??