TEST

AND
MEASUREMENT
Loss- dB
Fundamental Of
OTDR
Power, Laser Source
Test
Link Loss Budget
Loss and it’s origin

Loss in optical power due to…

…..
Scattering
Absorption
Bending
 Micro bending
 Macro bending
Scattering

Scattering, Primarily Rayleigh scattering, also

contributes to attenuation. Scattering causes the
light energy to be dispersed in all directions, with
some of the light escaping the fiber core. A small
portion of this light energy is returned down the
core and is termed “backscattering”.
Absorption
Absorption may be defined as the conversion of
light energy to heat, and is related to the
resonance in the fiber material. There are
intrinsic absorption (due to fiber material and
molecular resonance) and extrinsic absorption
(due to impurities such as OH- ions at around
1240 nm and 1390 nm).
Bending
Loss
Bending losses which are caused by light escaping
the core due to imperfections at the core/clad
boundary (microbending), or the angle of
incidence of the light energy at the core/cladding
boundary exceeding the Numerical Aperture
(internal angle of acceptance) of the fiber due to
bending of the fiber (macrobending).
Single mode fibers (for example) may be bent to a
radius of 10 cm with no significant losses, however
after the minimum bend radius is exceeded,
losses increase exponentially with increasing
radius. Minimum bend radius is dependent on fiber
design and light wavelength.
Example of different types
of Loss
 Input Power :
Pi (w)
Loss = Pi -Po
Output Power:
Loss (dB) = 10*log10 (PiPo (w)
/ Po)

Loss per unit length (dB/Km) =

(10/L)*log10 (Pi / Po)

What do u mean by
3dB loss?
What is “dBm” and Why
“dBm” ?
In Telecommunication transmitted power
is very much low. ( in range of “mw” to
“Microwatt” ).

dBm :
It is output power in decibel (dB) for unit
milliwatt input power.

Remember : 5 dBm - 4 dBm = 1 dB

( not dBm)
What is “dBm” and Why
“dBm” ?
Optical Time Domain Reflectometer
 Course Objectives

 Principles Of OTDR
 Block Diagram of OTDR
 Specifications of OTDR
 Using an OTDR(Operation of OTDR)
Principles Of OTDR
 An OTDR is a fiber optic tester characterizing
fibers and optical Networks

 The aim of this instrument is to detect,locate

and measure events at any location in the
fiber optic link

 An OTDR can test a fiber from only one

end,that is it operates as a one dimensional
Radar System

 The OTDR technique produces geographic

information with regard to localized loss and
reflective events providing a pictorial and
permanent record which may be used as a
Principles Of OTDR(Contd..)
 The OTDR’s ability to characterize a fiber is
based on detecting small signals returned to
OTDR in response to the injection of a large
signal

 OTDR depends on two types of Optical

Phenomena:

Rayleigh Backscattering
Fresnel Reflections
Rayleigh Scattering

 Rayleigh scattering is intrinsic to the fiber

material itself and is present all along the
length of fiber

 If Rayleigh scattering is uniform along the

length of fiber, then discontinuities in the
back scatter can be used to identify
anomalies in transmission along the length of
fiber
Fresnel Reflections

 Fresnel reflections are only point events

 Fresnel reflections occur only where the fiber

comes in contact with air or any other media
such as at a mechanical connection/splice or
joint
OTDR Block Diagram
OTDR

 Light from the source is coupled to the fiber

using a coupling device

 If there are any non-linearities there will be a

reflected ray from the fiber,which is coupled to
the photodiode using a coupler

 A pulse generator controls the LASER DIODE

which sends powerful light pulses to the fiber

 These pulses can have a width in the order of

2ns upto 20msec and a reoccurrence of some
OTDR
 The duration of the pulses can be selected by
the operator for different measuring
conditions(The repetition rate is limited to the
rate at which the pulse return is completed,
before any other pulse is launched

 The OTDR measures the time difference

between the outgoing pulse and the incoming
backscattered pulses and hence the word
“Time Domain”

 The power level of the backscattered and

reflected signal is sampled over time
OTDR

 These points can be plotted on an amplitude

scale with respect to relative timing of launch
pulse

 It then converts this time domain information

into distance based on the user entered
index of fiber

 The RI is inversely proportional to the velocity

of propogation of light in the fiber

 OTDR uses this data to convert time to

distance on the OTDR display and divide this
value by two to take round trip(or two way)into
Typical OTDR Trace
Typical OTDR Trace
Apparent Signal Gain
OTDR Trace with Fiber Break
 OTDR Time to Distance
Conversion

V(Group Delay)=c/n
C: Velocity of light in Vacuum
n: Refractive Index

OTDR Time to Distance Conversion(Round Trip):

L(Distance) = v(Group Delay) * t/2
= (c/n) * t/2
OTDR Specifications

 Dynamic Range

 Dead Zone

 Resolution

 Accuracy

 Wavelength
Dynamic Range

 Dynamic Range determines maximum observable

length of a fiber and therefore OTDR suitability for
analyzing any particular network

 The higher the signal to noise ratio,and the

better the trace will be,with a better event
detection
Dead Zone

 OTDR is designed to detect the back scattering

level all along the fiber link, it measures back
scattered signals which are much smaller than
the signal sent to the fiber

 The device that receives these back scattered

signals is an OTDR, which is designed to
receive a given level range

 When there is a strong reflection,then the

power received by the photodiode can be
more than 4000times higher than the back
scattered power and can saturate the
photodiode
Dead Zone

 The photodiode requires time to recover from

the saturated condition, during this time it will
not detect any signal accurately

 The length of the fiber which is not

characterized during recovery is termed the
dead zone
Dead Zone
 Sampling Resolution
 Sampling resolution is the minimum distance
between two acquisition points

 This data resolution can go down to centimeters

depending on pulse width and range

 The more data points an OTDR can acquire and

process, the more the resolution
Distance Resolution

 Distance resolution is very similar to sampling resolution,

if OTDR samples acquisition points every 1meter,then
only it can locate a fiber within +/- 1meter

 The distance resolution is then like sampling resolution, a

function of pulse width and range
Attenuation vs Distance with increasing
Resolution
Accuracy

 The accuracy of measurement is the capacity

of measurement to be compared with a
reference value

 Linearity Accuracy: Determines how close

an Optical level corresponds to an electrical
level across the whole range

 Distance Accuracy: Depends on the

accuracy of group index(Index of refraction
refers to a single ray in a fiber,while group
index refers to propogation of all the light
pulses in the fiber)
Wavelength
 OTDR’s measure according to wavelength

 The major wavelengths are: 850nm, 1310nm

and 1550nm A fourth wavelength is now
appearing for monitoring live systems which is
1625nm

 The wavelength is usually specified with

central wavelength and spectral width

 The attenuation of wavelength varies with

wavelength, and any measurement should be
corrected to transmission wavelength or to the
central wavelength
Using an OTDR

We can broadly define the use of OTDR in two

process:

 Acquisition Step:where the unit acquires data

and displays it graphically or numerically

 Measurement Step:Where the operator

analyzes the data and makes a decision based on
the results to either store,print or go to the next
acquisition
Acquisition

There are three major approaches to

configure an OTDR:

 A user may simply let the OTDR to auto

configure and accept acquisition parameters
selected by OTDR(Automatic)

 A user may allow the OTDR unit to auto

configure, analyze the results and change one
or more parameters accordingly(Semi
Automatic)

 A more experienced user may choose not to

use auto configuration feature altogether and
 Acquisition Parameters

Given below are various acquisition

parameters and their
effect on the resulting trace:

 Injection Level

 Wavelength

 Pulse Width

 Range

 Averaging
 Injection Level
 Injection level is defined an the power injected
into the fiber under test,the higher this level
the higher the power level

 The presence of dirt on connector faces and

damaged or low quality pig tails or patch cords
are the primary cause of low injection levels

 Mating a dirty connector with a OTDR

connector may scratch the OTDR
connector,degrading the OTDR launch
conditions

 Some OTDRs will display the measured

injection level during real time acquisition or
just prior to averaging
 OTDR Wavelength

 A fiber must be tested with same wavelength

as that used for transmission

 For a given dynamic range 1550nm will see

more distance than 1310nm

 Single mode fiber has more mode field

diameter at 1550nm that at 1310nm
 OTDR Wavelength
•1550nm is more sensitive bends than 1310nm(as shown in the graph
below)
 Pulse Width
 The OTDR pulse width controls the amount of light that
will be injected into the fiber(It is the time for which the
Laser is on and determines the resolution of waveform)

 Longer the pulse width, more light is injected into the fiber

 Longer pulse widths also produce longer dead zones in the

OTDR trace waveform where the measurements are
impossible

 Short pulse widths inject lower levels of light but reduce

dead zone
 Pulse Width

 By reducing the pulse width, there is a

reduction in the dead zone of the
fiber,compared to that of a larger pulse width
and also an increase

 But with the reduction in the pulse width, there

is a reduction in the dynamic range, a
reduction in the sensitivity of the receiver and
also the distance

 By proper selection of pulse width we can

optimize the use of OTDR for making fiber
measurements
 Range

 Range of an OTDR is the distance over which it

can acquire data samples

 The longer this parameter the more distance

OTDR will shoot the pulses

 This parameter is generally set to twice the

distance of the end of fiber
 Averaging
 The OTDR detector works with extremely low
optical power levels(as low as 100 photons per
meter of fiber)

 Averaging is the process by which each

acquisition point is sampled repeatedly and
the results averaged to improve signal to noise
ratio

 Averaging can be done by selecting the time

of acquisition or the number of averages, the
longer the time or higher the number of
averages,the more signal the trace waveform
will display in random noise conditions
 Modes Of Operation Of OTDR
Free Run Mode(Real Time):

 It continually sends laser pulses down the fiber

under test and obtains back scatter

 This mode is useful for optimizing fiber

alignment

 The waveforms obtained in free run mode

contain unacceptable amounts of noise
making it impossible to determine small
attenuation changes such as non-reflective
splices
Noise in Free Run Mode
Modes of Operation of OTDR
Averaging Mode:

 In the averaging mode each pulses are

averaged from that of preceding pulses which
makes the trace appear clear for each of the
succeeding pulses

 The number of samples that are to be averaged

is predefined for an OTDR

 The larger the number, the longer the OTDR

takes for displaying the results

 Recent OTDR specifies their averaging in terms

of time taken for display, instead of number of
TESTS PERFORMED USING OTDR
Acceptance Test

Acceptance of fiber uses OTDR(TO measure

loss per km):

 This loss measurement is wavelength dependent,

so the OTDR is set to the wavelength which
matches with the fiber systems operating
wavelength

 When using an OTDR to make any measurement

it is critical to correctly place reference markers
so that the OTDR can display the loss & distance
between them
 Loss and Span Length
 This test has to be conducted in averaging
mode, when ever we choose averaging mode a
trace will be displayed

 To make any measurements it is critical to

correctly place reference markers so that
OTDR can display loss and distance between
them

 For making this measurement,a trace is

obtained on OTDR in real time mode

 Place the reference markers accurately, first

reference marker is placed exactly where the
back scatter starts,that is beyond dead
 Span Loss and Span
Length
 Then move the cursor to end of the trace and
place the second marker before the Refractive
fiber end , the correct point is where the slope
starts increasing faster than the normal slope
of the trace

 To exactly locate these reference markers use

the horizontal and vertical zoom controls

 Now choose the averaging mode and the

display gives us the loss per span and the
span length
 Attenuation of Splice or
Connector

 OTDR can be used to measure splice or connector

loss, in order to do this a marker is placed on
either of the aberration of the OTDR trace

 OTDR will then display the attenuation between

the two points

 The vertical separation of the two marker points

is the attenuation of the splice or the connector
Attenuation of Fusion Splice
 Fusion splice has a loss value which is very
negligible,so to accurately measure this value
the OTDR is used in averaging mode

 To measure the loss value,first amplify the

slope the of the OTDR trace and then place the
two reference points on either side of the
aberration

 To accurately place the markers use horizontal

and vertical zoom controls
 Automatic Operation

 In two cursor method, sometimes the cursor

might not have been placed properly and the
OTDR also adds some losses and there by
increasing the loss value

 For short distance applications the effect is

negligible,but becomes highly pronounced for
long haul

 Fortunately, most OTDRs have the provision to

perform automatically

 That is, in averaging mode the OTDR displays

 Ghost Reflections

 Sometimes there will be Fresnel reflection at

points where it is not expected-usually after
end of fiber,this usually happens when large
reflection occurs in a short fiber

 The reflected light actually bounces back and

forth within a fiber,causing one or more false
reflections to show up at multiple distances
from the initial large reflection
 Ghost Reflections
 Another type of ghosting happens when you set
the range shorter than the actual length of the
fiber

 This allows OTDR to send additional pulses of

light into the fiber before all the backscatter and
reflections from the first pulse have cleared the
whole fiber

 When more than one pulse in the fiber at one

time,a condition will be setup where returned
light from different pulses arrive at the OTDR at
the same time producing “Unpredictable
 Ghost Reflections
Ghost Busting Techniques used to
determine if ghosts are occurring and
eliminate them:

 Measure the distance of the suspect

reflection,then place a cursor half this distance on
the fiber if an expected reflection is at half way
mark,then the suspect is probably Ghost

 Suppress or reduce the known(true)reflection,by

making the amount of reflected power smaller,
the ghost will also be reduced .To reduce the
reflection, index matching gel at the reflection,
 Ghost Reflection

Ghost Busting Techniques used to

determine if ghosts are occurring and
eliminate them:

 Change the distance Range(Display Range)of the

OTDR.In some OTDRs,a ghost is caused when the
Distance Range is too short
Increase the Range setting and ghost may
disappear

 If a ghost seems to occur in the fiber,then

measure the loss across the suspected
reflection.A ghost will show no loss across it when
Observations & Conclusion
Observations & Conclusion
Various Instruments used for
Fiber Testing
(Power Meter,Laser Source,OTDR
etc…)
EIA / TIA Standards defining
standardized fiber optic test
procedures
Power, Laser Source Test
OTDR can measure loss then why we
measure
the loss with Power meter and Laser
source again?
The most accurate way to measure overall
attenuation in a fiber is to inject a known level of
light in one end and measure the level when it
comes out the other end.
Measurement of Loss in a Fiber
using a LASER Source and a
Power Meter
BER Test Using a VOA

To measure BER of a Optical Receiver,a VOA is used

along with a BER Transmitter

As the attenuation increases, a technician can see the

value of attenuation that causes a significant increase in
the BER of the receiver
Link Loss
Budget
 What is Link Budget?

Computation of all the losses that

comes into account from the source
node to the destination node taking
into account all the losses is called
link budgeting for that particular link
Losses
….
• General Losses:
- Fiber Loss
- Total connector loss
- Total Splice loss

• Specific Losses:
- Total other
component loss
- Manufacturer’s
Specifications
- Total power
 General Losses(Typical
Values)
•Fiber Loss
 Attenuation for 1310nm:0.3dB/km(G.652)
 Attenuation for 1550nm:0.25dB/km
 Largely due to impurities and imperfections
in the glass of the fiber

•Connector Loss
 Connections at the termination points of
fiber,patch panels in a site, Optical
cross connects(OXC)
Conservative estimate is 0.5dB/connection

•Splice Loss
Splices due to construction and repair
Conservative estimate is 0.1dB/splice
Span Loss Analysis

 Compares the allowable span loss for equipment against

the total losses of the span.

 The allowable span loss is the Transmit Power minus

the Receive Power Level.

 The total losses on the span is the sum of all attenuation

due to fiber,connections,splices and other factors.

 If the total span loss does not exceed the allowable span
loss the system should work on this span.
Computation of Span Loss
Margin
Total losses = (fiber length* loss/km) +
(connector loss* No. of
connectors) +
(No. of Splices)*(loss/splice) +
(loss due to components) +
other losses

Span loss Allowed = Tx power - Receiver

sensitivity

Span loss Margin = Total losses - Span loss

 Link
Budget
Attenuation/Span Loss
Example...

Tx Rx
0.5 dB 0.5 dB 0.5 dB
Tx Output Rx input
+0.5 dBm needed
-25 dBm
37km @
22km @ .25dB / km
.25dB/km
= 5.5dB
=9.25 dB
 Attenuation/Span Loss Example...
Span Loss Analysis:
Total Attenuation:
Tx Power : 0.5dBm
Rx Sensitivity :
Connector: 1.5dB -25dBm
Fiber1: 5.5dB Available for span: 25.5dB
Fiber2: 9.25dB Available for span: 25.5dB
Splices: 0.9dB Attenuation on span:
Total 21.25dB 21.25dB
Span Loss Margin:
4.25dB
Signal/Noise
Ratio
Signal is the information carrying optical pulse,Noise is the
optical “static”created in the system

Optical amplifiers amplify both signal and noise

 If the signal travels long enough and through enough

amplifiers,the noise will overwhelm the signal

 This limits the number of consecutive amplifiers in an

amplifier based system,before an optical-electrical-optical
conversion is needed to restore the signal to clean low-noise
pulse