More and more Michigan co-ops are integrating fiber to the home (FTTH) to their portfolios for member-owners. While Wolverine isn’t specifically in the FTTH market, we’ve developed infrastructure to support the ever-growing fiber network.
A New Kind of Networking
“This project is like building a fiber network from scratch,” said VP of Engineering and Technical Services Jon Johnson. “From choosing the electronics and methods for lighting up the fiber, to the configuration and architecture of the network.”
The network is for transporting data, whatever data that is. It could be ‘internet traffic data’, that helps connect an internet source to support a member’s FTTH service, or a company’s internal network, not connected to the internet at all
“There are various types of services that can be offered with our system,” said Johnson. “We are still honing in on the best applications based on the demand.”
Understanding the Infrastructure
One of the initial steps involved the development of a contiguous fiber network, which established the essential fiber optic infrastructure spanning Wolverine’s existing looped transmission system. Across this fiber network, Wolverine strategically placed fiber cabinets equipped with powerful electronics to establish a commercial communications network. These fiber cabinet locations provide access points into the network. The fiber connections work by sending laser light signals over ultra-thin glass fibers to transfer data over long distances. The equipment Wolverine is using is capable of communications of up to 90 miles transporting multiple 400 Gigabyte channels.
At the heart of each cabinet is a Remote Telemetry Unit (RTU) that is used to provide vital information regarding the status of the equipment and other environmental conditions that are important for the site to maintain the service it was designed to provide. There will be 22 cabinets throughout the system by the end of the two-phase project.
Putting It Together. Together.
“We hired an outside source to provide turn-key fiber huts, including all the design and field install,” said Johnson “However, our techs are building and installing the RTU cabinets for each site. In general, we’ve ended up being much more ‘hands on’ with the field work through the entire install process.”
Of course, it takes so much more than one person or team to create such a complex network. That’s why a cross-functional group including engineering, IT, cyber security, electricians, and I&T technicians was convened – to take the knowledge and experience of each group and integrate it into the task.
“There has been a lot of involvement from many departments,” said project manager and Principal Engineer Tyler Bruning. “Everyone was eager to get involved and help to make this project happen.”
Bruning noted that Wolverine’s construction team has been overseeing extensive work by contractor Hydaker-Wheatlake over the past year to configure the physical fiber network across the system, as well as constructing the infrastructure necessary to set and power the fiber cabinets. Once the cabinets arrived, Wolverine’s IC technicians and electricians worked together to develop standards and execute the physical installation of conduits, cabling, and communications equipment to provide data back to ECC and the IT department. The IT department has been heavily involved in the equipment selection and the details of the network design and how Wolverine will manage and monitor the network when it is put into operation.
Working collaboratively and creatively, the teams applied their varied skills and expertise to make this a successful project. This investment in fiber networking is an important step to improving access to high-speed internet in rural Michigan.
