FiberWeave Help & Troubleshooting

1. Installation

Install via Plugin Repository (Recommended)

1. Open QGIS and go to Plugins > Manage and Install Plugins
2. Click the Settings tab
3. Under Plugin Repositories, click Add...
4. Enter:
   • Name: FiberWeave
   • URL: https://qgis.devitt.co.za/plugins.xml
5. Click OK
6. Switch to the All or Not Installed tab
7. Search for FiberWeave and click Install Plugin

Install from ZIP (Manual)

1. Download fiberweave.zip
2. In QGIS: Plugins > Manage and Install Plugins > Install from ZIP
3. Browse to the downloaded ZIP and click Install Plugin

Updating the Plugin

When a new version is available, QGIS will notify you automatically if the repository is configured. Go to Plugins > Manage and Install Plugins > Upgradeable to update.

Requirements

2. Database Setup

Using the Built-in Installer

1. After installing the plugin, find the FiberWeave toolbar in QGIS
2. Click the Database Installer button
3. Enter your PostgreSQL connection details:
   • Host: your database server (e.g. localhost)
   • Port: 5432 (default)
   • Connect to Database: postgres (to create a new DB)
   • Username: your PostgreSQL user
   • Password: your PostgreSQL password
   • New Database Name: fiberweave_network
4. Click Test Connection to verify
5. Click Install Database

The installer runs all migration scripts in order and creates:

• The fttx schema
• ITU-T compliant network tables (cable routes, fibers, OLT/ONU, splices, etc.)
• Inside plant tables (buildings, rooms, racks, equipment, ports)
• Views, functions, triggers, and code generators

Database Already Exists?

If the database already exists, the installer will ask whether to proceed. Choosing Yes will connect to the existing database and create any missing tables. All CREATE TABLE statements use IF NOT EXISTS, so existing data is preserved.

Connecting QGIS to the Database

1. In the QGIS Browser panel, right-click PostGIS > New Connection
2. Enter connection details for fiberweave_network
3. Expand the connection to see the fttx schema and all layers
4. Drag layers onto the map canvas to start working

3. Getting Started

Recommended Workflow

1. Install the plugin and set up the database (see above)
2. Connect QGIS to the database via PostGIS connection
3. Load base layers — add your area imagery/streets as background
4. Plan outside plant — draw cable routes, place OLT/ONU equipment, define splice points
5. Capture buildings — add building points on the map for premises to serve
6. Set up inside plant — define rooms, racks, and equipment inside each building
7. Run calculations — use power budget, BOM generation, and network validation tools
8. Export reports — generate deliverables via the Processing toolbox

FiberWeave Toolbar

After activation, the FiberWeave toolbar provides quick access to:

• Database Installer — set up or upgrade the database
• Inside Plant Manager — manage buildings, rooms, racks, equipment
• Power Budget Calculator — calculate optical loss budgets
• BOM Generator — generate bills of materials
• Network Validator — check network design integrity
• Data Import — import data from CSV, Excel, shapefiles

4. Inside Plant Management

Data Hierarchy

Linking Buildings to Inside Plant

1. Capture building locations on the map as point features, or import from CSV/shapefile
2. Open the Inside Plant Manager from the toolbar
3. On the Buildings tab, click Add Building
4. Fill in: building code, name, address, type (Central Office, POP, Data Center, Co-location), floor count
5. On the Rooms tab, click Add Room and select the parent building
6. Set room type, floor number, size, and environmental specs (HVAC, UPS, fire suppression)
7. On the Racks tab, click Add Rack and select the parent room
8. Set rack height (RU), type, and utilization is auto-tracked

Building Types

Room Types

Automatic Rack Utilization

When you add equipment to a rack, database triggers automatically:

• Validate the equipment fits within the rack height
• Prevent overlapping rack unit positions
• Update used_ru and available_ru counts
• Track port utilization per equipment

5. Outside Plant & Network Design

Core Layers

GPON/XG-PON Planning

FiberWeave supports ITU-T compliant passive optical network design:

• GPON (G.984) — up to 1:64 split ratio, 2.5 Gbps downstream
• XG-PON (G.987) — up to 1:128 split ratio, 10 Gbps downstream

Place OLT equipment, define splitter locations as ODN nodes, and connect ONU endpoints to build your PON tree.

Connecting Inside to Outside Plant

Equipment ports in the Inside Plant can link to itu_fiber_cables via the cable_id foreign key on equipment_ports. This bridges your building infrastructure with the outside fibre network.

6. Processing Tools

FiberWeave registers processing algorithms in the QGIS Processing Toolbox under the FiberWeave provider. Access via Processing > Toolbox and search for "FiberWeave".

Available Algorithms

Power Budget Calculation

The power budget calculator accounts for:

• Fiber attenuation (dB/km by fiber type)
• Splice losses
• Connector losses
• Splitter insertion losses
• System margin

7. Troubleshooting

Installation Issues

# Windows (OSGeo4W Shell)
pip install psycopg2-binary

# Linux
pip3 install psycopg2-binary

Database Issues

DELETE FROM fttx.equipment_ports WHERE equipment_id IN (
  SELECT equipment_id FROM fttx.rack_equipment WHERE rack_id IN (
    SELECT rack_id FROM fttx.racks WHERE room_id IN (
      SELECT room_id FROM fttx.rooms WHERE building_id = 1)));
DELETE FROM fttx.rack_equipment WHERE rack_id IN (
  SELECT rack_id FROM fttx.racks WHERE room_id IN (
    SELECT room_id FROM fttx.rooms WHERE building_id = 1));
DELETE FROM fttx.racks WHERE room_id IN (
  SELECT room_id FROM fttx.rooms WHERE building_id = 1);
DELETE FROM fttx.rooms WHERE building_id = 1;
DELETE FROM fttx.buildings WHERE building_id = 1;

# Ubuntu/Debian (replace 15 with your PostgreSQL version)
sudo apt install postgresql-15-postgis-3 postgresql-15-pgrouting

# Then in psql:
CREATE EXTENSION IF NOT EXISTS postgis;
CREATE EXTENSION IF NOT EXISTS pgrouting;

Performance Issues

8. Frequently Asked Questions

# Full backup
pg_dump -h localhost -U postgres fiberweave_network > fiberweave_backup.sql

# Restore
psql -h localhost -U postgres -d fiberweave_network < fiberweave_backup.sql

-- Connect to fiberweave_network database, then:
DROP SCHEMA fttx CASCADE;
CREATE SCHEMA fttx;