Robot designed for winding fiber around power lines

Facebook Connectivity together with ULC Robotics have developed a robot that can wind optical fiber on medium-voltage power lines, which reduces the cost of connection by 3-5 times.

Using an existing infrastructure for cable laying allows not only to automate the process, but also to allow one team to work on several sections at once.

On average, a robot is capable of winding 1.5-2 km of cable in one working day at a price of $2-3 per meter, taking into account all costs and wages of workers. Although he is capable of independently detecting andto overcome obstacles, but masters still need to set it up, recharge, raise, lower and switch on transitions.

In the development process, the team encountered a wholea number of problems. First of all, the device should be light enough not to damage the cable, but at the same time be able to lay a sufficient amount of fiber. To solve the issue of mass, engineers reduced the stock of transported fiber.

Another problem was that the linesPower transmission can operate under high voltage (up to 35 kV), heat up to a temperature at which a standard fiber optic sheath melts, and stretch under the influence of heat and wind. Therefore, the team decided to use a durable 200 micron fiber with a special sheath weighing 12.7 kg per 1 km of flight.

According to the developers, the device allows not only to accelerate the deployment of networks in developing countries, but also to reduce the cost of work by 3-5 times.

In addition to fiber optics automation, researchersimprove data transmission equipment. For example, a team of scientists recently introduced an optical chip that increases the speed of the Internet to 44.2 Tbps.

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