ABSTRACT

HESTIKAH EIRENE PATODING Electric Field Effects on the Optical Fiber Telecommunication Cable as an adjunct to a 150 kV Transmission Line (supervised by H. Muh. Arief and H. Muh. Tola)

This research is investigating the electric field effects on the optical fiber telecommunication cable installed on the same tower in parallel with a 150 kV transmission line. The case of 4.05 km high voltage transmission line between Tello and Panakukang in Makassar, South Sulawesi, Indonesia, is taken into consideration. The high voltage wires are placed on the tower 21 m above the ground, and the optical fiber cable is an adjunct to the wires in the distance of 3.1 to 6.2 m.

An analysis using Gauss method and MATLAB programming has shown that the electric field strength on the optical fiber cable is 6.198 V/m. The electric field is affecting the cladding of the optical fiber cable (dry band arcing effect), degrading the cable and eventually reducing its lifetime. The electric field effect can also slightly change the refractive index of the optical fiber cable core (linear effect and quadratic effect), but since the change is in the order of less than 10-7, there will be no effect on the telecommunication system.   

The dry band arcing effect can be anticipated by designing a special cladding for the optical fiber cable using a certain kind of polyethylene that will stand electric field strength up to 5 kV/m.  Doping Indium (In) and Phosphate (P) into the GaAs material of the core will reduce the effect on the cable core.

The optical fiber cable manufacturers can refer to the results of this study to improve the quality of their products. The preference of appropriate types of optical fiber cable can be decided upon by referring to the results of this research as well.