The Fiber Broadband Association (FBA) released the second half of its white paper on broadband engineering and construction. The lengthy title of the white paper’s second section is “Building Better Broadband: Accelerating Designs and Securing Permit Approvals — Chapter Two: Fielding and Base Mapping.”
The white paper was developed by FBA’s Engineering Working Group, which is part of its Deployment Specialists Committee.
“As fiber deployment accelerates nationwide, the margin for error continues to shrink,” said Alli Bone, project manager at Horrocks and chair of the Deployment Specialists Committee.
“Accurate field data and well-constructed base maps are essential to ensuring networks are not only designed efficiently, but are also feasible, constructible, and resilient. This chapter provides practical guidance teams can apply immediately to improve outcomes and stay on schedule.”
In the announcement of the white paper, the FBA highlighted answers to several common questions that the white paper addresses. Among them:
- In broadband network engineering, high-level design (HLD) and low-level design (LLD) serve distinct purposes: HLD defines the overall architectural vision, routing approach, and initial material estimates, whereas LLD converts those plans into detailed, construction-ready engineering drawings with exact specifications.
- Because pole owner requirements differ considerably from one owner to the next, survey teams should investigate each individual pole owner’s specific requirements prior to mobilizing in the field. Otherwise, they risk having to repeat data collection and causing project delays.
- The foundation for fiber broadband base maps can be built from a wide range of data sources: open-source and publicly available geospatial datasets, utility asset records, state DOT maps, railroad and waterway data, land parcels, street addresses, aerial and street-level imagery, LiDAR point clouds, and elevation data, all of which may be supplemented with targeted field measurements.
- Available technologies for fiber broadband site surveys span open-source satellite and drone-based aerial capture, mobile LiDAR scanning, 360-degree street-level imaging systems, handheld tech-enabled field crews, and conventional manual measurement. The FBA recommends that the choice of tools should be guided by project scope, construction method, budget, permitting authority requirements, site conditions, and the precision level needed.
- For OSP survey data file formats, the FBA white paper identifies Esri Shapefile (.shp) as the accepted standard for post-survey deliverables, while GeoJSON and AutoCAD DXF (drawing exchange format) or DWG are all recognized as compatible alternatives.
- To make survey data as reusable as possible across the full project lifecycle, it should be clearly attributed to its source, collection method, and confidence level, and organized as reusable project assets rather than deliverables built for a single purpose.
- When base map or site survey data is incomplete or inaccurate, the FBA recommends treating the site survey as a formal quality control checkpoint — with all findings, constraints, and unresolved risks thoroughly documented before the project moves forward into detailed engineering.
The white paper follows on the release of the FBA’s 20th annual fiber report late last year, which said that fiber broadband has “fundamentally changed daily life, work, health, and economic opportunity.”
