Optical network Troubleshooting

Photo Credit Goes to Cable Plus USA

Optical network Troubleshooting

– we have A lot of ways to detect optical network faults

– variety of tools can be used to analyze the signal and detect the performance

– spectrum analyzer , power meter , OTDR are some examples

– OTDR : optical time domain reflectometer

– the main device used to analyze the fiber and detect issues

– how OTDR analyze the signal :

OTDR contain coupler , photo diode , laser , pulse generator , digital signal processor

– the pulse generator generate pulses then the laser emit these pulses as Optical signal in to the fiber to be tested

– the optical signal travel along the fiber and the reflection will be received back by the photo detector inside the OTDR

– the returning part of light will be separated from the injected light by the coupler

– the reflection will be converted in to electrical signal and analyzed then it can be viewed on the display as Trace

– the Trace can show what happened to the signal during its journey , the Trace is a relation between distance and power

– The Trace can show whether we have fusion splice , mechanical splice , fiber break , connector pair , dead zone , fiber end , …

– OTDR has some acquisition parameters :

injection level : it indicates the power level of the test signal

wavelength : 850 – 1300 for multi mode ,, 1310 – 1550 – 1625 for single mode ,,
1625 nm can be used for in service testing to avoid service flow interruption over 1310 & 1550

pulse width : control the amount of light injected to the fiber , expressed in n sec ,

Long pulse width can be used for Long distance testing

Short pulse width for short distances

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Source: LinkedIn

Credits: Mr. Usman Ashraf