As new fiber networks are rolled out to meet the capacity and speeds required by access technologies and high-value services, ensuring quality installation is crucial. In challenging field testing environments, test process automation is one of the most valuable tools available to reduce human error and improve compliance with network operators’ standards.
Telecom providers know what performance and capacity they need to get out of their networks, whether the fiber use centers around fiber-to- the-antenna (FTTA) or distributed antenna systems (DAS) for wireless fronthaul or fiber-to- the-home (FTTH) residential or enterprise installations. Most operators have detailed documentation on how to construct and validate fiber links to their own specific requirements and network design strategies. These methods and procedures documents, or M&Ps, are often updated and changed to reflect evolving best practices, making it difficult to ensure that all technicians and project teams are working from the most current version. They are also lengthy: typically more than 50 pages. This makes them unwieldy to use on-site and difficult to reference in the field, and it is all too easy for required processes to be missed or only partially completed.
M&Ps also establish labeling regimes and testing thresholds that are unique to each operator and can differ across installation types. For FTTA deployments, fiber identification information often remain the same, but site ID and other parameters change from job to job. DAS and FTTH deployments, on the other hand, are highly variable and require technicians to accurately enter even more data. Technicians try to avoid mistakes, but repetitive data entry is a difficult task in the field: tests may need to be performed with multiple test sets that have multiple user interfaces, M&Ps cross-checked, and so on. A significant percentage of test results have data-entry errors, from results not being saved or being lost, to tests being skipped, performed to the wrong threshold or associated with the wrong fiber, cable or location.
EXFO’s TestFlow turns an inefficient and highly manual field testing approach into one that is consistent and simplified, and makes the best use of valuable time with the following functionality:
1. Managers create M&P-based digitized job definitions with predefined test-point IDs (e.g. for fiber/bulkhead connectors), required tests (e.g. fiber-connector inspection) and applicable test configurations with design pass/fail thresholds for techs to successfully complete on-site work.
2. Managers distribute jobs to techs’ test units and mobile devices.
3. Technicians run consistent job-specific test sequences using an all-in- one intuitive test-unit / mobile-device application with a single user interface and support for multiple tests and measurements without the need of other applications or manuals – automated step-by- step tasks and job closeout with dynamic test-sequence reporting and test/task-sensitive instructions.
4. Technicians automatically upload test results with predefined filenames to TestFlow’s centralized server for results-to- metrics processing and immediate closeout-package audit for completeness.
5. Managers analyze user-defined testing metrics from the centralized TestFlow database using web-based analytics dashboards to verify compliance and review work.
Field test process automation with TestFlow means more productive use of both techs’ and managers’ time, improved compliance with operator standards and more accurate and timely data from the frontline, leading to better, faster network deployments.
Learn more about TestFlow by visiting: http://www.exfo.com/testflow
