Aerospace cable repair via field-portable fiber optic tip shaping and permanent mechanical splice technology

In this paper we have described the development of a novel fiber optic cable restoration technology based on field-portable fiber tip shaper and mechanical splicer devices. The cable restoration procedure accommodates aerospace simplex fiber optic cable, fiber with both strippable and un-strippable coatings, produces no hazardous waste (glass shards), requires little training and virtually no preventative maintenance to produce mechanical splices that meet or exceed MIL-PRF-24623/7 beginning of life insertion loss and twist specification requirements.