Homeland Security Planning and Networking

Morgantown , North Carolina

CTC worked for the City of Morganton to provide a system level design for an 80-channel municipal cable system, using fiber optic technology for the system backbone. CTC developed the specifications for the system construction, and assisted the City in issuing a Request for Proposals for system implementation and operation. CTC also conducted acceptance tests for verification of performance and design standards once the system was constructed.

For the fiber optic ring CTC designed physical routing for fiber optic cable on City power utility poles, designed entry and exit into the power substations, determined power utility needs, recommended a fiber optic count, and developed a technology concept that enabled the City to provide communications for its internal purposes, sell or lease bandwidth in City fiber, sell or lease fiber optic capacity on the ring, co-locate equipment from other networks and providers in hub buildings near substation facilities, and provide interconnection with other networks and carriers.

As part of the E-Streets initiative, CTC designed with City staff a network of over thirty miles, maximizing the use of fiber negotiated from communications providers in the right of way and the use of roadways and canal ways where utility and road construction were expected in the near future. Relative to a network that was not coordinated with construction, the design is expected to save the City millions of dollars.

Construction of the conduit system began in 2001. About half the network has been completed. CTC designed a standardized conduit standard usage scheme that provides four conduit for the City and up to eight conduit for commercial or other future use. The City has been able to collect revenue to offset construction cost by selling conduit in key corridors. CTC also worked with the City to design a system of vaults and manholes that enables the non-City users to separately connect with their conduit without need to interact with the City conduit or the conduit of other carriers using the conduit bank.

CTC worked with the City and vendors to ensure that fiber could be “blown” or otherwise placed in sensitive areas where vaults and manholes could not be placed at close intervals developed with the City's civil engineers the detailed conduit manhole and vault design.

CTC also has begun work with the City to potentially expand the City's fiber optic and conduit infrastructure via point-to-point, “hotspot” or mesh wireless communications, potentially for intelligent transportation system applications such as cameras, and for public area free Internet access for citizens.


CTC provided initial planning, cost estimation, strand mapping, and aerial and underground construction specifications for a fiber-optic network in the Village of Northbrook, Illinois. Network construction is expected to be complete and the fiber-optic cable activated at the end of 2004.


In 1998 the Village of Northbrook negotiated a cable franchise agreement with 21st Century Communications to construct an overbuild cable TV system with dedicated fiber optics for educational and governmental use. CTC had provided the Village technical support for negotiations, including a government and educational technical requirements analysis and presence during many of the negotiation sessions. CTC had estimated the cost of construction using both a fully fiber-optic and a hybrid fiber coax network and provided a system level plan for network integration.

The Village had extensive data requirements that were not being reliably served by their existing coaxial cable network and leased telecommunications circuits. In addition the Village had an aging voice infrastructure and significant recurring charges for voice and data services. The schools and park district had similar limitaions in their networks. The Village did not have significant expertise in communications outside plant, and did not operate a municipal power utility. Therefore the most logical approach to obtaining dedicated communications infrastructure was to negotiate dark fiber from the cable operators.


21st Century began construction of the network in 1999 and transferred the Franchise agreement to RCN Communications in the midst of the build. When 3,700 of 12,500 homes were built RCN chose to cease construction of the network. The Village went to court to remedy the breach of the franchise agreement. The Village settled with RCN and obtained ownership of the outside plant that had been constructed by RCN and the funds to complete the network. RCN also agreed to remove the cable plant that would not be used by the Village.
CTC surveyed the cable plant for the Village and found that the as-built and design maps submitted by RCN were not consistent with the actual construction. CTC developed cost estimates for removal of abandoned plant and for construction of the remaining cable plant and assisted the Village in obtaining agreements with the power company, Commonwealth Edison, and the telephone company, Southwestern Bell Communications for use of pole attachments abandoned by RCN and new attachments that would be needed to complete the network. The Village used these cost estimates to brief Village decisionmakers, the park district, and the five school districts potentially served by the network.

CTC developed AutoCAD maps of the aerial and underground routes that would be needed to serve the educational and governmental facilities. Detailed design maps at the pole level were created for construction. Maps indicated areas where existing RCN plant could be reused and where new pole attachments, underground conduit, and manholes and handholds would be needed. The design was modified to optimally serve the Village's institutional needs. A flexible fiber optic architecture was developed with two rings and diverse physical routing between each site and two hubs. A splice matrix was developed to provide the redundant paths over the fiber and to also facilitate the addition of new institutional, residential, or business locations with minimal or negligible disruption to active users on the network. Fiber counts in the initial design were modified so that there would be sufficient fiber for foreseeable needs, but the count was limited so that splicing and termination costs would not be excessive.

CTC developed a sixty-page bid document of detailed construction specifications, which were provided to prospective bidders along with a CD-ROM of the design. The bid document included general contractor requirements; safety and health standards; inspection and project control procedures; work specifications for make-ready, underground and aerial construction, splicing, and termination; description of required materials; and testing specifications. It included prices per task and unit cost for each construction procedure and type of materials. The document then estimated the total number of the various tasks and materials that would be needed for the project and requested cost estimates for each phase of the project.

CTC worked with the Village to evaluate bids based on cost and the demonstrated experience of the construction companies. CTC assisted in developing a scoring methodology, provided quantitative and qualitative analysis of the proposals and contacted references of the construction companies and other communities and customers who worked with the companies.

Once construction had begun CTC worked with the Village Utility Coordinator to address issues and questions during the course of construction. Actual construction costs were thirty percent less than the original estimates.

Over the course of the project CTC network engineers worked with the Village to determine the governmental, educational, and park district requirements for voice, data, and video on the network, reviewing the functionalities and costs with the user groups. CTC's final recommendation was for an all Internet Protocol (IP). CTC developed specifications for equipment at the hub facilities, key sites, and general user sites for network equipment. CTC also developed specifications for voice networking using IP based switching and end user equipment. Based on the specifications the Village selected a vendor, procured the equipment. The Village is in the process of activation of the network, which should be complete by the end of 2004.

In the process of planning the fiber optic network, it was found that there were serious deficiencies in internal building wiring. CTC assisted the Village in planning and estimating the cost for replacement network cabling to support the new data and voice network.