Optical time domain reflectometry on optical amplifier systems

Author

Blank, Lutz C. ; Cox, Jon D.

Author_Institution

British Telecom Res. Labs., Ipswich, UK

Volume

7

Issue

10

fYear

1989

fDate

10/1/1989 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

1549

Lastpage

1555

Abstract

The use of optical time-domain reflectometry (OTDR) on long-span fiber transmission systems containing in-line optical amplifiers is discussed. Having identified the specific requirements for OTDR equipment, measurements were carried out on systems of up to 300 km in length, containing three semiconductor laser amplifiers. The results demonstrate that OTDR can be used not only for fault location on fiber links several hundred kilometers in length but also as an alternative to standard system supervisory techniques, thus providing the potential for minimizing the hardware in the optical amplifier stages of future long-span fiber optic transmission systems

Keywords

optical communication equipment; optical fibres; optical links; reflectometers; semiconductor junction lasers; time-domain reflectometry; 300 km; OTDR equipment; fault location; fiber links; in-line optical amplifiers; long-span fiber transmission systems; optical amplifier stages; optical amplifier systems; optical time-domain reflectometry; semiconductor laser amplifiers; standard system supervisory techniques; Fiber lasers; Length measurement; Optical amplifiers; Optical fiber amplifiers; Optical fiber devices; Reflectometry; Semiconductor lasers; Semiconductor optical amplifiers; Stimulated emission; Time domain analysis;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Lightwave Technology, Journal of

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0733-8724

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/50.39096

Filename

39096