Appendix B

STRUCTURED CABLING DESIGN

EXERCISES

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System Training – Structured Cabling Design Exercises (Rev. 2011-11) Page 1 of 19
 BACKGROUND INFORMATION FOR THE STUDENT EXERCISES

The design exercises will be based on two buildings that are owned by a single organization. By doing
this, you will be familiar with the layout of the buildings. This should minimize the amount of time
you spend on things other than the design concepts that are important.

The building layout is described by the isometric drawing in figure 1. A second drawing labeled figure
2 is the overall campus plan of the facility. Additionally, floor plan designs for the three-story east
building are labeled East Building floor 1, East Building floor 2 and East Building floor 3
respectively. The two-story West building floor-plan designs are labeled West Building floor 1 and
West Building floor 2 respectively.

A distance of 250 meters separates the East and West Buildings. Connecting the two buildings at
present is a 100mm PVC conduit with a manhole at the midpoint.

The building owner has had many legacy-based data communications systems in the past and is
currently looking to update the entire systems for both buildings.

The owner has formed a network integration task force. Its mission is to develop unified cabling
systems that would provide an infrastructure for the integration of all the company’s information
carrying services. They decided that any system that was installed would conform to the latest
ISO/IEC 11801 (2nd Ed.) or ANSI/TIA/EIA 568-C standards.

The communications wiring update will coincide with the interior building remodeling that will allow
access to open ceilings and walls. Also, carpeting is being replaced in all areas. Each cluster of work
areas has at least one service pole that runs from floor to ceiling. For purposes of cable length
calculation, the structural ceiling height will be 4 meters and the suspended ceiling will be 3 meters
from the floor respectively.

Communications wiring may be run in ceiling plenum without metallic conduit provided that the
cable is plenum rated. Cables used in riser applications must be riser rated or better. Floor Distributors
will contain patch panels for reconfiguration of the system.

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System Training – Structured Cabling Design Exercises (Rev. 2011-11) Page 2 of 19
Tips & Hints

To select the type of media:

• Understand the maximum support distance of the media for each type of network platform.
• Take into considerations the current environment and future plans.

To select the type of cable:

• Understand the environment of the installation site.
• Take into considerations the route of the cable installations.

To select the type of connector and coupling adapter plate:

• Standard compliant
• Equipment connector
• Ease of termination
• Performance
• Cost

To select the type of fiber patch panel (enclosure):

• Density
• Space and size requirement
• Mounting method

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 CAMPUS PLAN

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 CAMPUS 3-D PLAN

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 Exercise 1: Backbone Cabling Design

In this exercise, you will be designing the campus backbone (inter-building backbone) that will
connect the two buildings together and the building backbone (intra-building backbone) that will
make up the riser system of the buildings.

The primary backbone should be designed along with an optional fault tolerant design. At the
corners of each building are spaces that are marked utility rooms. These rooms are intended to be
use as locations for file servers, print servers, fax servers and copiers. Core drilling may be done at
these locations to provide alternate backbone paths.

The network backbone for the organization’s current IT infrastructure is running on ATM 155
MBps and 100 MBps Fast Ethernet. The present network backbone equipments are using
transmitters with LEDs. Mr. Nathan, MIS manager, has indicated plans for migration to high speed
network backbone such as ATM 1.2 GBps and 10 Gigabit Ethernet in the near future.

The backbone design should conform to ISO/IEC 11801 (2nd Ed.) or ANSI/TIA/EIA 568-C
specifications, and related standards, for layout, connectors and distances. Following the
completion of the exercise you will receive more instruction on how the various LAN technologies
may be implemented on this backbone.

It is suggested that you follow the sequence presented below:

1) Determine the location of the campus distributor (CD). (Remember that the industry
standards specification assumes a hierarchical star backbone design with the principle
switching equipment at the CD).

2) Select the locations for building distributor (BD) and the floor distributor (FD). Remember
that each FD must be within 90 meters of a work area and provide service for up to 1000
square meter of usable floor space (100 work areas). You may not need a three level
hierarchy.

3) Select the media to be used and the quantity. The owner requires a minimum of 24 core
fibers between buildings and a minimum of 12 core fibers to each FD within the building.
Also, inside plant versus outside plant and aerial versus buried cabling installations should
be considered.

4) Develop a drawing showing the essential routes of the backbones; primary in one color and
secondary in another color.

5) Select the number, size and location of patch panels that will be used for cross connect
applications.

6) Select the connector and quantity used for cable end termination.

7) Build your bill of materials (Component descriptions & part numbers only).

8) Elect a spokesperson from your group to present your solution to the class.

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System Training – Structured Cabling Design Exercises (Rev. 2011-11) Page 6 of 19
 Backbone Cabling Design Exercise (East Building) BOM
Main Cross-connect (1st Floor)
Item No. Part No. Description Quantity
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
Entrance Facilities (1st Floor)
Item No. Part No. Description Quantity
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
Intermediate Cross-connect (2nd Floor)
Item No. Part No. Description Quantity
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
Intermediate Cross-connect (3rd Floor)
Item No. Part No. Description Quantity
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
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 Backbone Cabling Design Exercise (West Building) BOM
Main Cross-connect (1st Floor)
Item No. Part No. Description Quantity
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
Entrance Facilities (1st Floor)
Item No. Part No. Description Quantity
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
Intermediate Cross-connect (2nd Floor)
Item No. Part No. Description Quantity
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
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 Exercise 2: Horizontal Cabling Design

For this exercise you will be using the drawings labeled East Building floor 1, East Building floor 2
and East Building floor 3. The building owner, at the advice of the task force has decided to re-
cable the three floors of the east building according to ISO/IEC 11801 (2nd Ed.) or ANSI/TIA/EIA
568-C and with the following cabling systems:

1) East Building Floor 1

a) AMP Category 6 U/UTP cabling system for all communications applications.

2) East Building Floor 2

a) AMP optical fiber to the desk for data applications.
b) AMP Category 5e or higher U/UTP cabling system for voice services.

3) East Building Floor 3

a) AMP Category 6 F/UTP cabling system for all communications applications.

The cabling system should be star wired to a horizontal connecting hardware in the floor distributor
(FD) on each floor. The cabling system for both voice and data services will be using RJ45 patch
panel and wall jack. The T568A wiring configuration shall be used.

The three FDs will then be connected together via the backbone designed in the Backbone Design
Exercise. The network of choice in this application will be 1 GBE type with the ability to migrate to
a higher speed platform such as 10 Gigabit Ethernet.

We suggest that you follow the sequence presented below:

1) Determine the location of floor distributor (FD). Remember that, each FD must be within 90
meters of a work area and provide service for up to 1000 square meter of usable floor space
(100 work areas).

2) Determine total number of work area locations.

a) Floor 3 contains 73 work area locations, 8 secretary locations and 4 utility room
locations.

b) Floor 2 contains 74 work area locations, 4 utility room locations, 7 secretary

locations, and 5 additional locations data only on the South wall of the data
processing area.

c) Floor 1 contains 83 work area locations, 4 secretary locations, 2 lobby locations, 4

utility room locations and 1 conference room location.

The task force has also determined that two voice services and two data services will be needed in
the utility rooms and also the conference room in the main lobby.

1) Select patch panels and wall outlets and note quantity for voice and data applications.

2) Draw a horizontal link diagram, patch panels on the rack, and wall outlet on the
transparency provided.
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System Training – Structured Cabling Design Exercises (Rev. 2011-11) Page 9 of 19
 3) Determine location for cable pathways i.e. cable trays, catenary wires, J-hooks etc. and draw
them on the floor-plan.

4) Select cable and determine approximate length of cable required for voice and data
applications and draw representative cables on floor-plan.

5) Build your bill of materials (Component descriptions & part numbers only).

6) Elect a spokesperson from your group to present your solution to the class.

Horizontal Cabling Design Exercise (East Building) BOM

1st Floor
Item No. Part No. Description Quantity
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
2nd Floor
Item No. Part No. Description Quantity
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
3rd Floor
Item No. Part No. Description Quantity
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
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 East Building Floor 2
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 East Building Floor 3
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 Exercise 3: Zone Cabling Design

For this exercise you will be using the drawings labeled West Building floor 1. The building owner,
at the advice of the task force has decided to rewire the first floor of the West Building according to
ISO/IEC 11801 (2nd Ed.) or ANSI/TIA/EIA 568-C with the following cabling systems:

1) For administrative Staffs

a) AMP Enhanced Category 5 U/UTP cabling system for data applications.
b) AMP Category 5 U/UTP cabling system for telephone services.

2) Catering for the Engineering staffs

a) AMP 50/125µm MM Zipcord fiber optic cabling system for data applications.

b) AMP Enhanced Category 5 U/UTP cabling system for telephone services.

3) The cabling system should be star wired to a consolidation point (CP) located at a strategic
zonal distribution point linking back to the floor distributor (FD).

4) The copper data system should use a RJ45 6-port pack for the CP module/24-port patch
panel and RJ45, 8 position 110 IDC/SL modular jacks at the telecommunication outlet.
Either the T568A or T568B wiring configuration may be used.

5) The fiber data system should use the Lucent Connector (LC) panel jack for the CP module
and LC station jack at the telecommunication outlet.

The network of choice in this application will be 10BaseT and 100BaseFL type with the ability to
migrate to a higher speed platform such as 1000BaseT or 1000BaseSX, Gigabit Ethernet.

We suggest that you follow the sequence presented below:

1) Determine the location of floor distributors (FD). Remember that, each FD must be within
90 meters of a work area and provide service for up to 10,000 square feet of usable floor
space (100 work areas).

2) Determine total number of locations. Floor 1 of the West Building contains 68 work area
locations, 4 utility room locations, 1 conference room location and 4 secretary locations.

3) Select patch panels, CP enclosure, CP modules and wall outlets and note quantity for voice
and data applications.

4) Draw a horizontal link diagram, patch panels on the rack, CP locations and wall outlet on
the transparency provided.

5) Determine location for wire pathways i.e. cable trays, suspended raceway, bridal rings etc.
and draw them on the floor-plan transparency.

6) Select cable and determine approximate length of cable required for voice and data
applications and draw representative cables on floor-plan transparency drawing.

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System Training – Structured Cabling Design Exercises (Rev. 2011-11) Page 14 of 19
 7) Build your bill of materials on the transparency form provided.

8) Elect a spokesperson from your group to present your solution to the class.

Zone Cabling Design Exercise (West Building) 1st Floor BOM

Intermediate Cross-connect
Item No. Part No. Description Quantity
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
Consolidation Point
Item No. Part No. Description Quantity
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
Telecommunication Outlet
Item No. Part No. Description Quantity
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11

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 West Building Floor 1
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 Exercise 4: Centralized Network Architecture Design

For this exercise you will need the floor-plans for floor 2 of the West Building. You will be
designing a total fiber optic solution for these locations.

The system should be designed to conform to ISO/IEC 11801 (2nd Ed.) or ANSI/TIA/EIA 568-C
guidelines. The network platform that will be implemented over this cable plant will be
1000BaseSX and the 2nd floor in the West building should adopt the Centralized Network
Architecture. The West Buildings should be tied to the East Building via the campus backbone
designed in the backbone design exercise.

In this exercise you will be doing the fiber optic data application only. Use AMP Lucent Connector
(LC) fiber interconnecting hardware and 50/125 µm MM fiber cable with an option of OM2 fiber
cable to each location on the 2nd floors.

We suggest that you follow the sequence presented below:

1) Determine the location of the Building Distributor (BD) or Centralized Cross connects (CC).
Remember that the maximum length for pull-through cables shall be less than or equal to 90
meters. For the splice or interconnect implementation, the maximum combined length of horizontal
and vertical building backbone cabling between the work area outlet and the centralized cross-
connect is 300 meters. This length includes the patch cables.

2) Floor 2 of the West Building contains 63 work area locations, 2 utility room locations, 7
secretary locations, and 5 additional data only locations on the South wall of the engineering
location.

3) Select fiber enclosures, splicing accessories, and wall outlet and note quantity for data
applications.

4) Draw a horizontal link diagram, fiber enclosures in the rack, and wall outlet on the transparency
provided.

5) Determine location for wire pathways i.e. cable trays, suspended raceway, bridal rings, etc. and
draw them on the floor plan transparency.

6) Select cable and determine approximate length of cable required for data applications and draw
representative cables on floor-plan transparency drawing.

7) Build your bill of materials on the transparency form provided.

8) Elect a spokesperson from your group to present your solution to the class.

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System Training – Structured Cabling Design Exercises (Rev. 2011-11) Page 17 of 19
 100'

D13
Utility Room

Secretary
Secretary
Secretary

Communication
D02

Engineering
Secretary

Electrical
D01

200'
D14
Women
D04
Secretary

Men
D03

Secretary
Secretary

D09
Utility Room

West Building Floor 2

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 Centralized Network Architecture Design Exercise (West Building) 2nd Floor BOM
Intermediate Cross-connect
Item No. Part No. Description Quantity
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
Telecommunication Outlet
Item No. Part No. Description Quantity
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20

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