ANSI/TIA/EIA-568-B.3-2000
Approved: March 30, 2000
TIA/EIA
STANDARD
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Optical Fiber Cabling Components
Standard
TIA/EIA-568-B.3
(Revision of TIA/EIA-568-A)
APRIL 2000
TELECOMMUNICATIONS INDUSTRY ASSOCIATION
Representing the telecommunications industry in
association with the Electronic Industries Alliance
NOTICE
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eliminating misunderstandings between manufacturers and purchasers, facilitating interchangeability and
improvement of products, and assisting the purchaser in selecting and obtaining with minimum delay the
proper product for his particular need. Existence of such Standards and Publications shall not in any
respect preclude any member or nonmember of TIA/EIA from manufacturing or selling products not
conforming to such Standards and Publications, nor shall the existence of such Standards and Publications
preclude their voluntary use by those other than TIA/EIA members, whether the standard is to be used
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Institute (ANSI) patent policy. By such action, TIA/EIA does not assume any liability to any patent owner,
nor does it assume any obligation whatever to parties adopting the Standard or Publication.
Note: The user’s attention is called to the possibility that compliance with this standard may
require use of an invention covered by patent rights.
By publication of this standard, no position is taken with respect to the validity of this claim or of
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publisher.
This Standard does not purport to address all safety problems associated with its use or all applicable
regulatory requirements. It is the responsibility of the user of this Standard to establish appropriate safety
and health practices and to determine the applicability of regulatory limitations before its use.
(From Standards Proposal Nos. 3894 and 3894-A, formulated under the cognizance of the TIA TR-42
Committee on User Premises Telecommunications Infrastructure.)
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OPTICAL FIBER CABLING COMPONENTS STANDARD
Table of Contents
TIA/EIA-568-B.3
1.
INTRODUCTION ..........................................................................................................................1
Purpose................................................................................................................................1
1.1
1.2
Specification of criteria ...........................................................................................................1
1.3 Metric equivalents of US customary units.................................................................................1
Life of the Standard ................................................................................................................1
1.4
2. SCOPE .......................................................................................................................................2
2.1
2.2
Applicability...........................................................................................................................2
Normative references ..............................................................................................................2
3. DEFINITIONS, ABBREVIATIONS AND ACRONYMS, UNITS OF MEASURE ....................................3
3.1
General.................................................................................................................................3
Definitions ......................................................................................................................3
Abbreviations and acronyms.............................................................................................6
Units of measure.............................................................................................................6
3.1.1
3.1.2
3.1.3
4. OPTICAL FIBER CABLES............................................................................................................7
4.1
4.2
4.3
General.................................................................................................................................7
Cable transmission performance..............................................................................................7
Physical cable specifications ..................................................................................................7
Inside plant cable specifications .......................................................................................7
Outside plant cable specifications.....................................................................................8
4.3.2.1 Drop cable...................................................................................................................8
4.3.1
4.3.2
5. CONNECTING HARDWARE..........................................................................................................9
5.1
5.2
5.2.1
5.2.2
5.2.3
5.2.4
General.................................................................................................................................9
Connector and adapter ...........................................................................................................9
Physical design ..............................................................................................................9
Performance...................................................................................................................9
Multimode and singlemode identification............................................................................9
Keying and labeling .........................................................................................................9
5.2.4.1 568SC Connector.........................................................................................................9
5.2.4.2 Other duplex connectors............................................................................................. 10
Telecommunications outlet box ............................................................................................. 10
Patch panels ....................................................................................................................... 10
Mounting ...................................................................................................................... 10
Mechanical termination density ...................................................................................... 10
Design ......................................................................................................................... 11
Connecting hardware for centralized cabling ........................................................................... 11
Optical fiber splice ............................................................................................................... 12
5.3
5.4
5.5
5.6
5.4.1
5.4.2
5.4.3
6. PATCH CORDS ......................................................................................................................... 13
6.1
6.2
6.3
6.4
General............................................................................................................................... 13
Patch cord cable.................................................................................................................. 13
Patch cord connectors ......................................................................................................... 13
Termination configuration ...................................................................................................... 13
7.
FIELD TEST INSTRUMENTS...................................................................................................... 14
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TIA/EIA-568-B.3
7.1 Multimode ........................................................................................................................... 14
Singlemode ......................................................................................................................... 14
7.2
ANNEX A (NORMATIVE) OPTICAL FIBER CONNECTOR PERFORMANCE SPECIFICATIONS .............. 15
A.1
A.2
A.3
Introduction ......................................................................................................................... 15
Intermateability requirements ................................................................................................ 15
Performance requirements .................................................................................................... 15
Visual and mechanical inspections: FOTP-13 .................................................................. 15
A.3.1
Attenuation: FOTP-171 Methods A1 or D1, or FOTP-34 Method A2 for multimode............... 15
A.3.2
FOTP-171 Methods A3 or D3, or FOTP-34 Method B for singlemode............................................... 15
Return loss: FOTP-107 or FOTP-8 .................................................................................. 15
A.3.3
Low temperature: FOTP-188........................................................................................... 16
A.3.4
Temperature life: FOTP-4 ............................................................................................... 16
A.3.5
A.3.6
Humidity: FOTP-5 ......................................................................................................... 16
Impact: FOTP-2 ............................................................................................................ 17
A.3.7
Strength of coupling mechanism: FOTP-185 .................................................................... 17
A.3.8
A.3.9
Durability: FOTP-21....................................................................................................... 17
A.3.10 Cable retention: FOTP-6 ................................................................................................ 18
A.3.11 Flex: FOTP-1................................................................................................................ 19
A.3.12 Twist: FOTP-36............................................................................................................. 19
ANNEX B (INFORMATIVE) BIBLIOGRAPHY AND REFERENCES ........................................................ 20
Table 1 – Optical fiber cable transmission performance parameters..........................................................7
List of Tables
Figure 1 – Position A and B configuration of a 568SC........................................................................... 10
Figure 2 – Optical fiber patch cord ...................................................................................................... 13
List of Figures
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TIA/EIA-568-B.3
FOREWORD
(This foreword is not a part of this Standard.)
This Standard was developed by TIA/EIA Subcommittee TR-42.8.
Approval of Standard
This Standard was approved by TIA/EIA Subcommittee TR-42.8, TIA/EIA Engineering Committee TR-42, and
the American National Standards Institute (ANSI).
ANSI/TIA/EIA reviews standards every 5 years. At that time, standards are reaffirmed, rescinded, or revised
according to the submitted updates. Updates to be included in the next revision should be sent to the
committee chair or to ANSI/TIA/EIA.
Contributing Organizations
More than 30 organizations within the telecommunications industry contributed their expertise to the
development of this Standard (including manufacturers, consultants, end users, and other organizations).
Documents Superseded
This Standard replaces, in part, ANSI/EIA/TIA-568-A, published October, 1995 and TIA TSB-72, published
October, 1995.
Significant technical changes from the previous edition
— This foreword has been changed per the requirements of the TIA style manual.
— All definitions have been harmonized across all of TIA’s telecommunications infrastructure
standards.
— Provides performance specifications for 50/125 m m optical fiber cables.
— Provides a minimum bend radius and maximum pulling tensions for horizontal cable, inside plant
cable, and outside plant optical fiber cable.
— Allows for the use of alternate connector designs in addition to the 568SC.
— Provides complete generic performance specifications for optical fiber connectors.
— Specifies requirements for connecting hardware in support of centralized cabling.
Relationship to other TIA standards and documents
- Commercial Building Telecommunications Cabling Standard, Part 1, General Requirements
(ANSI/TIA/EIA-568-B.1);
- Commercial Building Standard for Telecommunications Pathways and Spaces (ANSI/TIA/EIA-569-A);
- Residential Telecommunications Cabling Standard (ANSI/TIA/EIA-570-A);
- Administration Standard
for
the Telecommunications
Infrastructure of Commercial Buildings
(ANSI/TIA/EIA-606);
- Commercial Building Grounding
and Bonding Requirements
for Telecommunications
(ANSI/TIA/EIA-607).
- Customer-Owned Outside Plant Telecommunications Cabling Standard (ANSI/TIA/EIA-758).
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TIA/EIA-568-B.3
The following documents may be useful to the reader:
a) National Electrical Safety Code (NESC )
(IEEE C 2)
b) National Electrical Code (NEC )
(NFPA 70)
Useful supplements to this Standard are the Building Industry Consulting Service International (BICSI)
Telecommunications Distribution Methods Manual, the Customer-owned Outside Plant Methods Manual, and
the Cabling Installation Manual. These manuals provide practices and methods by which many of the
requirements of this standard are implemented.
Other references are listed in annex B.
Annexes
Annex A is normative and is considered a requirement of this Standard. Annex B is informative and not
considered a requirement of this Standard.
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