OTDR

Optical Time Domain

Reflectometer
 What is OTDR?
 An OTDR is Optical Time Domain Reflectometer
which sends pulses of light into a fiber and
digitizes the reflected backscatter signal coupled
back to its detector.
 Using the fiber’s refractive index, it converts time
into distance over a scale of 100m to beyond
200km.
 It can measure distance to faults very accurately.
Also OTDR is the only instrument that can
measure distance to a fault.
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"Why should I measure loss with
optical time domain reflectometer
(OTDR) when an optical loss test
set (OLTS) gives me a value for
optical loss?"

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 OLTS or OTDR
 While these instruments seem to take similar
measurements, they serve different purposes;
the choice between them depends largely on
the specific needs of end users.

 An OLTS is a highly accurate tool that

determines the total amount of loss or
attenuation in a fiber span under test.

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 Why OTDR?
 OLTS cannot tell you what cause the loss and
where it occurs in the fiber/cable system. To give
you these answers an OTDR is needed.
 Also in long distance networks, where most of the
problems occur away from the end equipment,
the OTDR is critical for successful emergency
restoration of the network.
 OTDR can measure loss across a splice, connector
etc., and can be used to monitor the quality of
splices as they are made in real-time.
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 Why OTDR?
 With an OTDR you can evaluate the characteristic
properties of a single fiber or a complete link.
 In particular, you can see losses, faults, and the
distances between Events at a glance.
 OTDRs check the quality of fiber optic links by
measuring backscatter.
 Standards organizations, for example, the
International Telecommunication Union (ITU),
accept backscatter measurements as a valid
means for analyzing a fiber's attenuation. 6
 Why OTDR?
 Backscatter is also the only fiber optic
measurement method that detects splices within
an installed link.
 It can also be used to measure the optical length
of a fiber.
 The OTDR functions by looking for “Events” in a
fiber. Example: irregularities or splices.
 The OTDR pinpoints these irregularities in the
fiber, measures the distance to them, the
attenuation between them, the loss due to them
etc.,
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OTDR Operation

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 OTDR Operation
 Laser is connected to the device front panel
connector.
 Impurities in glass absorb portion of the light and
portion of light is scattered back.
 Pulse is also amplified by some events like
mechanical splice, connectors, fiber breaks etc.,
 This back trace passes through optical coupler to
a receiver where they are amplified, sampled,
digitized and displayed
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 OTDR Operation
 OTDR can be used to provide
live monitoring on active fiber
systems.
 OTDR display plots attenuation
on vertical scale and distance
on horizontal scale.
 By placing markers on places
of interest on the back scatter
waveform, loss between pair of
marked points called 2 point
loss can be measured.
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 OTDR Operations
 Common measurements or parameters that
can be identified using OTDR are
 Determine length of the optical cable
 Total system and section loss measurements
 Locates individual events such as breaks,
splices, and connectors
 Patch panel connector quality/loss
 Requires only one person to operate
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OTDR Trace

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 Events on Fibers
 Events are loss areas or attenuation areas in a
fiber.
 These can be either reflective events or
absorptive events.
 When there is a connector on the path, there will
be huge reflection.
 When there is some absorption event (like micro
bends, macro bends, fusion splices etc.,), back
scatter power decreases so that there will be a
dip in wave form.
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 Events on Fibers
 An Event on a fiber is anything that causes
loss or reflections other than normal scattering
of the fiber material itself.

 This applies to all kinds of connections as well

as damages such as bending, cracks or
breaks.

 An OTDR trace displays the result of a

measurement graphically on the screen.
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 Events contd..,
 The vertical axis is the power axis and the horizontal axis is
the distance axis.
A fiber yields the following trace.
 You see the slightly decreasing power level (attenuation)

and strong reflections at the beginning and end of the fiber

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 Events contd..,
Beginning of a Fiber:
 If you are using a normal straight connector, the

beginning of a fiber always shows a strong

reflection at the front connector

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Begining of a Fiber
 Connector or Mechanical Splice
 Connectors within a link cause both reflection and loss
 A mechanical splice has a similar signature to a
connector but with a lower loss and reflection values

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 Fusion Splice
 A fusion splice is a non-reflective Event, only loss
can be detected.
 Modern fusion splices are so good, they may be
nearly invisible.

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 Bends and Macro-bending
 Bends in a fiber cause loss, but they are non-
reflective Events.
 To distinguish bends from splices, look at the
installation and maintenance records.
 In the case of macro-bending, the loss is at an
unknown location, Splices are at a documented,
well-known distance.

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 Cracks
Cracks
 A crack refers to as a partially damaged fiber

that causes reflection and loss

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 Events
 So typical reflective events could occur due to a
connector, mechanical splices etc.,
 Typical absorptive events could occur due to
fusion splice, core mismatch, macro bend losses
etc.,
 When a single mode is connected to multimode
fiber there will be an apparent signal gain.
 This effect is more common in SM fibers where
micron variations of fiber core size has a
significant effect.
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Events

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 Break
 In this example, back scatter trace gradually rolls
off to zero indicating a non reflective broken fiber.
 This trace is common in some cable breaks and
where water and cable gel has created less
reflective surface at a break.

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 Key OTDR specifications

 Dynamic range
 Dead zone performance
 Reflection accuracy
 Loss accuracy and linearity

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 Dynamic Range
 The key specification for an OTDR is dynamic
range.
 This is described as the difference in decibels
between the initial power level reflected from the
fiber under test and a value equal to the noise
floor of the detector.
 In signal theory, the noise floor is the measure
of the signal created from the sum of all the noise
sources and unwanted signals within a
measurement system.
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 Dynamic Range
 This specification determines the total optical loss
that the OTDR can analyse; ie, the overall length
of fibre link that can be measured by the unit.
 The higher the dynamic range, the longer the
distance the OTDR can analyse.
 Having insufficient dynamic range will result in
the in-ability to measure the complete link length
and, in many cases, affect the accuracy of the
link loss, attenuation and far-end connector
losses.
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 This important figure determines both how far
down the fiber line a measurement can be made,
and how quickly an individual signal-to-noise ratio,
or clear trace, can be obtained.
 signal-to-noise ratio: The ratio of the power or
volume (amplitude) of a signal to the amount of
unwanted interference (the noise) that has mixed
in with it.
 Measured in decibels, signal-to-noise ratio (SNR or
S/N) measures the clarity of the signal in a circuit
 The Larger the Number, the Better.
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 Products range from 30 to 45 dB for single-mode
(SM) testing, 18 to 34 dB for multimode (MM)
fiber testing.
 Every 1 dB of extra dynamic range at an
operational pulse width can mean a twofold
increase in speed and productivity.

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 Table outlines the dramatic effect of dynamic
range vs. averaging time to acquire a good trace

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 Measurement Parameters
The Pulse Width
 One of the key parameters for good
measurement results is the width of the light
pulse emitted into the fiber.
 It determines the distance resolution, which is
very important to separate Events clearly.
 The shorter the pulse, the better the distance
resolution.
 A short pulse, however, means that the dynamic
range is smaller and the trace might be noisy.
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 If you want to measure long distances, you need
a high dynamic range, so the pulse should be
long.
 But with high pulse width resolution decreases.
 Depending on the specific purpose of your
measurement, you need a trade-off between
high-resolution and high dynamic range.

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 Dead Zone
 Dead zone is the distance that an OTDR is blind
after it measures a strong reflection.
 This is due to recovery time of optical detector
and its associated electronic amplifiers.

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There are two specifications for dead zone.

 Event dead zone is usually about 1 to 5 m and

specifies how closely you can see connectors or
other reflections.

 The Event dead zone is the minimum distance

that you need between two Events of the same
type in order to see them separately.

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 Event Deadzone contd..,
 For example, if you have two connectors two
meters apart, you see a reflection with two peaks
and a drop between them.

 The drop indicates that there are really two

reflections from two different Events.

 If the Events are too close, then you would not

see a drop and you could not separate them.
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 Event Dead zone contd..,
 The Event dead zone depends strongly on the
instrument. (Generally around 1 to 3 m)

Event Deadzone 35
 Attenuation Deadzone
 The attenuation dead zone describes the distance
from the leading edge of a reflective Event until it
returns to the fiber’s backscatter level.

 It is easy to determine the point where the

leading edge starts but it is difficult to say when
recovery ends.

 So many companies place a +/– 0.5 dB margin

around the backscatter after the reflection.
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 Attenuation Deadzone contd..,
 The size of the attenuation dead zone depends
strongly on the instrument's setup.
 Generally, Attenuation dead zone is around 3 to 10 m

Attenuation Deadzone 37
Specifications of NetTek OTDR

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 Linearity and Loss accuracy
 OTDR linearity is defined in dB/dB.

 To explain this concept, let's assume that an

OTDR has detected a loss of 1 dB. Given a
linearity of 0.05 dB/dB, the actual loss might be
anywhere from 0.95 dB to 1.05 dB

 This determines both how accurately total link

loss will be measured (and decibel/kilometer will
be displayed), but also individual losses such as
those from splices.
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 Fusion splice machines are excellent today,
and to find these splices necessitates low
noise and repeatable measurements.

 The best way to evaluate this specification is

to measure the same splice a few times and
see if the measurement remains the same.

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 Practical Usage
 1. Clean the port
 2. Switch on the OTDR
 3. Select the wave length at which tests are to be
performed.
 4. Select the pulse width (pulse width is the
duration of time laser is kept on. Typical value:
0.1ns, 10ns, 100 ns). Resolution often depends
on the pulse width.
 5. Range (0-50km, 50-100km, 100-150km)

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 6. Select refractive index of fiber (to be tested)
 7. Sampling time (only for sampling mode)

 Sensitivity:
 It is defined as the ability of OTDR to detect far
events

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 If pulse width is decreased, sensitivity decreases,
resolution increases and dead zone decreases.

 If pulse width is increased, sensitivity increases

at the instrument’s photo detector, resolution
decreases and dead zone increases.

 OTDR can operate in 2 modes as real time or live

mode, sampling mode or average mode, auto
mode.
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 Real Time Mode
 Real time mode also called as Free run mode.

 Real time mode continuously sends laser pulses

to the fiber under test and displays a backscatter
waveform.

 But the waveforms produced in real time mode

may contain unexceptional amount of noise
making it difficult to see attenuation changes like
non reflective splices.
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 Real Time Mode
 When a laser pulse is send,
intrinsic impurities in the fiber
randomly scatter the light. Each
successive pulse may be
scattered by completely different
set of impurities than the
previous pulse.

 This results in random noise on

waveform in real time mode.
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 Average Mode
 In average mode (also known as filter mode)
results of each pulse is averaged with preceding
pulses which makes the trace appear cleaner with
each successive sample taken.

 The average mode can be preset for the no of

samples to be averaged.

 The higher the number, longer the OTDR will take

to display the trace.
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 Most of the OTDRs specify the averaging in
terms of time that they will take to give the
result rather than no of samples taken.

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 Mainframe OTDR
 Main frame OTDR is the most complex and have
the most available features.
 It uses CRT display and operated on AC power.
 They also provide a provision of floppy disk drive
to store data.

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 Now a days OTDR come in
more compact size which
provides most of the features
of mainframe OTDR.

 Mini OTDR use LCD display,

operate on battery power,
less weight and are more
suitable for field applications.
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