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FOA Standards
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Since the TIA and ISO/IEC standards were written by manufacturers for manufacturers, they often are not relevant for cable plant designers, contractors, installers or users, the people who are the majority of the FOA constituency. The FOA charter is "To promote professionalism in fiber optics through education, certification and standards," and has been involved in these standards committees for decades, but finally decided to write an own interpretation of these standards for our audience - cable plant designers, contractors, installers and users. FOA standards are written to be easily understood and applied, as well as relevant to the applications, and follow other industry standards for the components and communications systems which run over these cable plants.

The FOA is involved in several groups that write standards for fiber optic components, network design, installation and testing and some FOA personnel have been involved in writing standards for over 35 years, so we understand standards. Many FOA members are contractors, designers and installers who work in the field everyday and need to work to industry standards, but don't always know which standards are appropriate for their jobs, have copies of the applicable standards or can afford to purchase some of them which are often so expensive. The FOA has a solution: 1 Page Standards.

FOA's Standards are concise standards created by FOA with the participation of experts in the field for the most common issues affecting fiber optic network owners, contractors, designers and installers. Each standard summarizes what the reader needs to know in just 1 page. Each of the FOA's Standards will reference other industry standards that are similar in scope and which are used as the basis of the FOA standard, allowing FOA standards to be substituted for them. These FOA standards can be used for reference in project paperwork when the user and contractor need to be certain they agree what is being specified for the project.

You may wonder what is a standard anyway? Here is one definition by the world's biggest standards organization that precisely defines what the FOA is doing:

ISO/IEC Guide 2:1996, definition 3.2 defines a standard as:
'A document established by consensus and approved by a recognized body that provides for common and repeated use, rules, guidelines or characteristics for activities or their results, aimed at the achievement of the optimum degree of order in a given context'.

FOA standards are developed by FOA members whose expertise is in the technical areas covered by the standards and whose experience in the industry ensures FOA standards being accurate, relevant and current. Many of these people have been contributing to industry standards themselves for decades.

Guidelines for FOA standards are explained here for FOA members working on the standards and users who are interested in how standards are developed. Just to be complete, where appropriate, FOA 1 Page Standards will be backed up by information that explains issues like appropriateness of the test, measurement uncertainty, and provide references to other similar industry standards.

And best of all, FOA Standards are free!

FOA 1 Page Standards Downloads
All are 1 page PDFs. References in (...) are other similar industry standards. Click on "More" at the end of each description for additional information and links.


Fiber Optic Testing 

FOA Standard FOA-1: Testing Loss of Installed Fiber Optic Cable Plant, (Insertion Loss, TIA OFSTP-14, OFSTP-7, ISO/IEC 61280, ISO/IEC 14763, etc.) More

FOA Standard FOA-2: Testing Loss of Fiber Optic Cables, Single Ended,  (Insertion Loss, TIA FOTP-171, OFSTP-7, , ISO/IEC 14763)
More

FOA Standard FOA-3:  Measuring Optical Power (Transmitter and Receiver Power, FOTP-95, Numerous ISO/IEC standards) More

FOA Standard FOA-4: OTDR Testing of Fiber Optic Cable Plant (TIA FOTP-8/59/60/61/78, ISO/IEC 14763, etc.) More 

FOA Standard FOA-7: Mode Conditioning For Testing Multimode Fiber Optic Cables (Mandrel wrap, encircled flux)


Fiber Optic Subsystems And Systems

FOA Standard FOA-5 Fiber Optic Datalinks 

FOA Standard FOA-6 Fiber Optic Cable Plant   


Installation 

Free For FOA Members: NECA/FOA 301 Fiber Optic Installation Standard

NECA 301
Because of its importance to users, contractors and installers of fiber optic networks, The FOA and NECA have agreed to make the NECA/FOA 301 Fiber Optic Installation Standard available free to FOA members and our associates.
Standards usually cover components and systems and how to test them, but rarely get into installation issues. This standard is derived from FOA educational material put in standards form and approved by ANSI as an American National Standard. It's specifically written to be used in contracts to define "installation in a neat and workmanlike manner."   Go here for instructions on how to download your free copy.


When referring to FOA Standards in project paperwork, such as when including in a Statement of Work, RFQ, RFP or contract, it should read something like this: "Testing the installed fiber optic cable plant shall be done according to FOA Standard FOA-1: Testing Loss of Installed Fiber Optic Cable Plant."

While FOA standards are copyrighted, feel free to download the files to include in your own project documents or print copies for your associates, customers, students, etc. Do not post these documents on your own website, but you are free to link to this page.
Like all standards, FOA's Standards  are only guidelines for design, installation and testing of fiber optic networks. The owner, contractor, designer or installer are always responsible for the work involved. FOA assumes no responsibility or liability for the use of these standards nor for any projects using them.



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