New use for glass fibre

Press, 7 September 1981, Page 6

New use for glass fibre

Bundles of glass fibre are being installed for communication instead of insulation at the New Zealand Electricity Division’s Islington substation. “To my knowledge, this is the first time that this technology has been put to use in a communications link in New Zealand,” said the division’s district manager, Mr G. B. Collie. The new technology is “fibre optics”—the use of bundles.of glass fibre instead of strands of copper wire for the transmission of signals through a cable. A 500 metre glass fibre cable is being installed between the Islington substation and the division’s new South Island System Control. “It will carry information relating to power flow and

power system conditions by means of encoded light pulses instead of by conventional electrical signals,” Mr Collie said. “Because the optical fibre link is not subject to the same types of electrical interference as conventional electrical signalling, we can expect high-quality data transmission.

“I believe that fibre optics will be used extensively in future communications links in this country.” The equipment was bought from a Japanese manufacturer. Technicians from Japan are now at Islington to complete the installation. After testing, the link is expected to be ready for service early iii 1982.