Telephone Cable Theft Monitoring
System Studies Incorporated fully understands the importance that Telephone Operating Companies (telcos) place on their valuable outside plant cables. After all, it’s our business to help them protect their pressurized air core cables. But today, the threat of “losing a cable” no longer pertains just to a service outage caused by moisture/water intrusion. Copper cables, both pressurized and non-pressurized, are being stolen with increasing frequency by thieves looking for a quick payoff from cash-in-hand black market vendors.

To help telcos apprehend the individuals who cut and steal lengths of copper cables, System Studies has devised a highly responsive monitoring system. It is comprised of a MAP Engine™ computer (Unix-based industrial grade PC) equipped with specialized alarming software (CableWATCH™), one or more uM260 Micro Monitors™, and the use of a designated conductor pair from each monitored cable (see illustration). The conductor pair, called a monitoring pair, needs to be equipped with a single or multiple electrical resistors. When read by the uM260, the monitoring pair’s electrical resistance value will indicate if pair continuity exists or if the cable has been cut. When multiple calibrated resistors are installed in series along the pair at spaced intervals, the MAP Engine software can determine the approximate location of the cable cut in feet or kilofeet from the central office.

What makes the uM260 Micro Monitor and CableWATCH monitoring software so valuable in deterring cable theft are its rapid reading and reporting cycles. The monitor provides continual electrical resistance readings for a maximum of 16 monitoring pairs. These pairs are read approximately three times a minute. If the uM260 Monitor detects a resistance value on one of the monitoring pairs that deviates from the normal resistance reading for that pair, it issues an alarm to the CableWATCH software.

The software compares the alarmed resistance reading with data from its table of resistance values for all of the resistors installed on the loop and determines the approximate location of the severed pair/cable. An instantaneous alarm is then issued to telephone company individuals, security personnel, and/or law enforcement officials via email, cell phone text message, etc. A rapid response by these individuals can lead to the apprehension of the thieves while they are still in the process or removing and/or transporting the stolen cable.

If you’ve already experienced a cable theft in your area or want to be proactive in preventing this type of expensive service outage, please contact us today. With a simple dedicated monitoring pair and some relatively inexpensive central office equipment and software, you can add the protection you need for your valuable outside plant cables.