Fibre Optic
Testing
Test tools for
premises fibre testing.
Whilst there is a
choice of troubleshooting and testing tools available, certain types of
fibre test equipment are better suited for premises testing.
Visual fault
locator (VFL).
For
visual verification and troubleshooting, a visual fibre tracer and a VFL
are required. The latter uses a bright red laser that's visible through
some cable jackets to pinpoint the location of significant optical events
like breaks in the fibre or loss caused by overly tight bends in the
cable. However, the faults must occur where the cable is in the open and
visual location is possible. You can also use VFLs to verify the integrity
of mechanical splices and factory-polished/no-epoxy connectors during
termination.
Optical loss test
set (OLTS).
This
test tool provides a quantitative optical loss measurement using a light
source and an optical power meter. The tool directly measures loss by computing
the difference between the optical power entering a fibre and the optical
power exiting it. This test method can accurately predict actual network
loss because it duplicates the transmission path and the wavelength of the
active network. BP Comms use the advanced NOYES SMLP5-5 Multimode &
Singlemode OLTS which includes a fully featured Optical Power Meter
calibrated at four wavelengths & a stabilised Light Source containing
a Class 1 laser source and Class 1 LED for both multimode and single-mode
fibres. The meter is capable of storing results to speed testing and
simplify reporting.
Optical time
domain reflector (OTDR).
This
advanced diagnostic tool for optical fibres allows the Fibre Engineer to
take a snapshot of a fibre link. Like optical radar, the OTDR sends short
pulses of light down one end of a fibre at a specified repetition rate.
Light reflected back from fibre discontinuities and light continuously
backscattered from the fibre itself travels back to the OTDR, where the
instrument records the optical power and arrival time. The arrival time of
the pulse from a given point in the fibre is related to its distance from
the OTDR. With this information, the OTDR graphically displays returned
power versus distance. OTDRs are well-equipped for troubleshooting
problems because they allow you to visually locate reflective events like
connections and fibre breaks and nonreflective events like splices and
tight bends by studying the graphical “trace.” The power difference
between two points on the trace is an estimate of optical loss.
Fibre
Optics | Fibre
Termination | Fusion
Splicing | OTDR Testing |
Installation
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