Ian Verhappen is an ISA Fellow, Certified Automation Professional and a recognized authority on industrial communications technologies with 25+ years' experience. You can contact him at [email protected], via his blog at community.controlglobal.com/kanduski, or check out his Google+ profile.
TIA Fiber Optics Tech Consortium's updated third-generation Network Architecture Model can help decide which architecture is best for an installation. The interactive cost model is a tool that helps compare the installed first costs of several standards-compliant architectures using fiber and copper cabling. The Network Architecture Model lets designers input their own data to most accurately compare different media choices. You need to provide a valid email address to obtain the link to the download, as well as to subscribe to news on updates to the model.
Another very useful site for anyone working with fiberoptics is The Fiber Optic Assn. Its technical topics page has links to a wide range of useful documents. One of the links on this page, www.thefoa.org/user, includes links to download a number of useful guides on design, installation and troubleshooting.
This article is a part of the Industrial Networking Quarter 4 feature story, "Fiberoptics in Manufacturing."
