OPTICAL TIME DOMAIN REFLECTOMETER OTDR FOR FIBER OPTIC COMMUNICATIONS NETWORKS

THE USE OF FIBER OPTIC NETWORKS IN DATA COMMUNICATIONS HAS RAPIDLY INCREASED IN RECENT YEARS. ADVANCED COMMUNICATION NETWORKS TECHNOLOGIES ARE NOW USED IN A WIDE RANGE OF IMPLEMENTATIONS, FROM LOCAL AREA NETWORKS FOR PERSONAL COMPUTERS AND WORKSTATIONS TO PARALLEL PROCESSING NETWORKS FOR SUPERCOMPUTERS. THE GROWING DEPENDENCE ON FIBER OPTIC NETWORKS DEMANDS THE DEVELOPMENT OF AN EFFICIENT METHOD FOR FINDINGDEFECTS AND BREAKS IN FIBER OPTIC NETWORKS. SYSTEM & PROCESSES ENGINEERING CORPORATION (SPEC) HAS DEVELOPED AN OTDR SYSTEM FOR THE ON LINE, REAL TIME ANALYSIS OF FIBER OPTIC NETWORKS. SPEC PROPOSES TO DEVELOP BIPOLAR, CMOS, AND GAAS OTDR ASIC DESIGNS FOR IMPLEMENTING AN OTDR PLUG-IN CARD FOR A PC OR WORKSTATION. THIS DEVELOPMENT WILL ALLOW THE CONVERSION OF PC/WORKSTATIONS INTO OTDR TERMINALS FOR LOCATING CONNECTORS AND BREAKS IN FIBER OPTIC NETWORKS. THE RESOLUTION AVAILABLEFROM THIS ADVANCED TECHNOLOGY OTDR SYSTEM WILL RANGE FROM 1 M TO 5 CM -A SUBSTANTIAL IMPROVEMENT IN OTDR OPERATING RANGE AND ACCURACY.