VGD 201

VanGuard Data
Optic Network and Advanced OTDR Operators Training
OTDR Operation for High Quality Traces
Copyright Vanguard Data (c) 2009 1

www.vanguarddata.com.au
Agenda
1. Introduction
2. OTDR Emulator used in this training.
3. What is an OTDR?
4. OTDR Functional Block Diagram
5. Returned / Measured Optical Power
a) Backscatter
b) Reflection From Connectors
c) Reflection From the Start Connector
d) Reflection From the End Event
6. OTDR Parameter Selection
a) Pulse Width
b) Wave Length
c) Trace Acquisition Time
d) Index Of Refraction (IOR)

Introduction
Through this lesson we cover the fundamentals of What is an OTDR,
how an OTDR operates and the basic building blocks and operation of
an OTDR.
In this lesson a basic understanding of optical attenuation, dB, fibre

join types and other fundamental knowledge is required. If your not
familiar with these concepts try our prerequisite lesson Introduction To
Fiber Optics available from our web site.

What is the VanGuard Data OTDR Emulator?
The Vanguard Data OTDR Emulator is a software package specifically
designed for OTDR training. It allows the user gain practical hand on
experience using an OTDR by setting all common parameters such as
Wavelength, Pulse Width, Trace Duration and IOR then taking a virtual
trace in real time all from the computer desktop.
The trace is calculated to provide realistic OTDR simulation without

the need for expensive hardware.
The practical components of this training will be performed in the

OTDR Emulator which can be downloaded from our web site:
www.vanguarddata.com.au/otdrem/otdrem_download.html

The VanGuard Data OTDR Emulator

Practical 01 Getting Stated
Just to get stated Lets take our first trace using the OTDR Emulator.
1) Open the OTDR Emulator 2) Connect to the Virtual Fiber
3) Click Auto Select Trace Parameters from the tool bar
Copyright Vanguard Data (c) 2009

Practical 01 Getting Stated
4) Click Start Test. 5) Wait for the trace to complete.
Congratulations. You just took your first OTDR Trace, easy wasnt it!
Try taking a trace on a different fibre and with different parameters.
Keep this trace as we will use it as a reference throughout
the lesson.

VanGuard Data
Optic Network and Advanced OTDR Operators
Training
What is an OTDR?

What is an OTDR?
Put simply, an OTDR (or Optical Time Domain Reflectometer) is
just like a RADAR for optic fiber. It sends pulses of optical energy
into an optic fiber then measures and graphs the reflected signal.
When analyzed correctly the

returned optical power indicates
various characteristics of the
optic fiber being tested.

What is an OTDR?
An optic fiber transmission system has a light source (LASER or
LED) and an optical receiver (Photo Diode) at separate ends of
the fiber. Because the OTDR transmits and receives optical
power from the same end these components are both coupled
into one output test port on the OTDR.
LASER
OTDRs work by transmitting a short pulse of

light from the LASER into the fiber then listening
with the receiver for any light reflected or
returned back to the receiver at the same end.
Photo Diode
OTDR Functional Block Diagram
CPU / Controller 1) Pulse LASER Optical Components
5) Record Electrical
Data Samples LASER
Sample Rate Clock
6) Display Output
Sampling
4) Sample electrical
Signal at a measured
Photo
rate Diode
LCD
2) Convert returned optical
Amplifier energy into proportional
3) Amplify electrical
electrical energy
signal

CPU / Controller Pulse LASER Optical Components
Electrical
Data Samples
Sample Rate
LASER
Display Output
1) Under control of the CPU, the LASER is pulsed on

for a short duration.
Photo
2) Optical power interacts with events on the fiber
being tested and some is returned to the photo diode Diode
due to backscatter or reflection.
Convert returned optical
3) The Photo Diode converts the returned optical energy into proportional
power into a proportional amount of electrical power electrical energy

CPU / Controller Pulse LASER 4) The proportional electrical
signal is amplified.
Electrical
Data Samples 5) The CPU samples and
Sample Rate
records the electrical level
Display Output at evenly spaced periods.
6) The sampled data indicates

the level of returned optical
Sampling
Sample electrical power. Time of sample X
signal at a the speed of light allows
controlled rate distance to be calculated.
LCD
7) Data samples are graphed
Amplifier as optical power (dB)
Amplify against distance and
electrical signal displayed on the LCD. This
is a trace that the operator
can analyse.
Returned Optical Power
What causes light to be Returned to the OTDR?
Optical power is returned to the OTDR from:
1) Backscatter
2) Reflection from connectors.
3) Reflection from the start connector (The Launch)
4) Reflection from the end event (The Fresnel Reflection)

Causes of Returned Optical Power
Returned Power Due to Backscatter:
Backscatter is a phenomenon where photons are scattered in all
directions as they interact with the larger particles of the optic fiber
itself. Some of these are naturally scattered back to the OTDR to be
measured as returned optical power.
The photons that are scatted back to the OTDR cause Backscatter.
The OTDR measures Backscatter and plots the amplitude of the
backscatter to data points on the trace. This indicates the quality of
the fiber itself opposed to a joining point
Causes of Returned Optical Power
Remember that an optical connector is reflective?
Reflective Events (connectors) return a fraction of the available
optical energy back to the source. The reflected light will have a
specific amplitude and will take a measureable duration from the
time the LASER sent the light until the reflection was received.
LASER Fibre 1 Fibre 2
The speed of light in the test fiber multiplied by the

time the reflection took to return to the OTDR can
calculate the distance on the fiber to the connector.
Photo Diode
Reflection From Connectors.
Optical connectors present a polished glass surface to the LASER
source that causes a slight reflection.
Fibre 1 Fibre 2
This reflection is picked up by the OTDR which translates the

additional returned optical power to a change in the dB level on
the trace. The trained eye will identify this as a connector.

Reflection From the End connector.
The last connector in an optic fiber causes what is known as the End
Event on the trace. Exactly like any other connector the End connector
is reflective and will return optical power to the OTDR.
Fibre End Event
The end event gets special attenuation as it is commonly much

larger than terminated connectors and can represent up to 4% of the
total optical power at that point. It is know as the Fresnel Reflection.
The End event reflection is also used to identify the fiber length.

VanGuard Data
Optic Network and Advanced OTDR Operators
Training
OTDR Trace Parameters

The OTDR Trace
Before covering OTDR parameters lets have a quick look at our
first trace. An OTDR Trace is a graph of the returned optical
power measured against distance. With practice, you will be able
to read the trace and understand the various characteristics of the
fiber being tested.
OTDR Trace
dB Scale
(Optical
Power)
Distance Scale
The OTDR Trace.
Different OTDR parameters can change the usability and

accuracy of the trace which we will now discuss.

Pulse Width.
Remember from earlier this lesson that an OTDR sends short pulses
of light down the fiber and waits for reflected light. The length of this
pulse is know as the pulse width.
LASER
OTDRs work by transmitting a short pulse of

light from the LASER into the fiber then listening
with the receiver for any light reflected or
returned back to the receiver at the same end.
Photo Diode
22

Pulse Width.
The pulse width is measured in nanoseconds or microseconds which
is the time the OTDR LAZER is cycled on for. A longer pulse width
puts more optical power into the fiber which allows the OTDR see
further distances.
Notice that the blue trace is not

able to see the end of the fiber
clearly.
Trace Noise
The lower pulse width doesnt provide enough power to see the end
of the fibre so what is called a Noisy Trace is the result

Practical 02 Pulse Width.
On the VanGuard Data OTDR Emulator, Connect to Test Cable 01
25.3 Kms / Fibre 01.
1)
2)
3)
You will get a good

quality trace with a
suitable pulse width
selected

Change the pulse width to 50nS and take the trace again.
4)
5)
The second trace with a

lower pulse width is very
noisy as it doesnt have
enough optical power to
see the end of the fibre.

From this practical you have seen how a the pulse width setting can
impact the quality of the trace. Try a few other pulse width settings and
see why a very high pulse width is also not a good selection. The
answer will be provided in the advanced trace analysis lesson.

Optical Wave Lengths
Optical Power generated by a LASER or LED for data transmission is
invisible to the human eye but is still considered to be light. Like visible
light, it can be generated in a variety of colors which are caused by the
frequency of the optical power.
If you consider light as a wave, the different colors can be

considered as different frequencies. The frequencies are
incredibly high but they can still be described in exactly the same
way.

Frequency: Measured in Hertz is the number of oscillations per
second of a wave. You might be more familiar with describing a wave
by its frequency with more every day objects such as 50 120 Hz for
mains power (depending on where you live)
The faster the

oscillations the higher
the frequency
Low Frequency High Frequency

Wavelength: A wave oscillating at a know rate and leaving the source
at the speed of light will have a measurable physical distance. The
faster the oscillation (or the higher the frequency) the faster the wave
will complete one full cycle and therefore the shorter the wavelength.
The Greek character lambda () is

commonly used to indicate wavelength.
The lower the frequency is, the longer the wavelength.

For waves such as mains power we characterize it by the frequency.
i.e: 50Hz, 120Hz etc
Because light has such high frequencies that are hard to communicate
we refer to the wave by its wavelength instead.
Example:
1550nM is a commonly used wavelength in data communications,
the same value represented in Hertz would be:
193548387096774 Hz
As you can see, in the case of optical frequencies it is much easier to

describe them using wavelengths instead of in Hertz.

There are a number of common wavelengths selected for use in data
transmission equipment.
They are:
Single Mode Multi-Mode
Wavelength dB / km Wavelength dB / km
1310nM 0.33 850nM 3.00
1550nM 0.21 1300nM 1.00
1625nM 0.25
Different wavelengths attenuate (loose) optical power at different
rates. 1550nM is the most efficient wavelength and is commonly
used for single wavelength transmission systems.

Practical 03 - Wavelength.
1)
2)
3)
4)
You will get a trace

taken at 1310nM

Practical 03 - Wavelength.
Change the wavelength to 1550nM and take the trace again.
5) 6)
If you consider the left had scale is attenuation in dB you can see that
the 1550nM trace looses less optical power for the same distance of
fibre. The slope of the trace is know as the Attenuation Slope and
indicates the dB per km that the fibre is attenuating optical power.
Trace Acquisition Time.
When an OTDR takes a trace it rapidly sends light pulses and
measures the response repeatedly for what is known as the Trace
Acquisition Time, this is the length of time the trace is active for.
By sending multiple pulses, an OTDR can average the result which

removes some of the noise on the trace so a lower pulse width can be
used. The advantages of a lower pulse with will be discussed soon.
One of the most important characteristics of a trace is to have a low

level of noise while using the lowest possible pulse width.
One of the most challenging skill of OTDR operation to master is to

make a suitable balance between Pulse Width and Acquisition Time

Practical 04 Acquisition Time.
1) Configure:
2)
1550 nM
50Km
10 nS
3 Min Acquisition
3)

Change the trace acquisition time and take the trace again.
4) 5)
The lower acquisition time produces a noisy trace

(for the same Pulse Width) as it hasnt been
averaged as long.
Return the trace acquisition time to 3 min and set the wavelength to
1310 nM and take the trace again.
Notice that even when all other settings are equal that the 1310nM
trace has much more noise than the 1550nM trace.
Why do you think that is the case??????

Remember this statement form earlier in the lesson:

One of the most challenging skill of OTDR operation to master is to
make a suitable balance between Pulse Width and Acquisition Time
The reason the 1310nM trace has more noise is because 1310nM
has a higher attenuation rate and therefore needs either more power
(higher pulse width) or longer acquisition time to average out the
noise for the same length of fiber.

Index Of Refraction (IOR)
The Index Of Refraction (IOR) is a means of describing the speed of
light in an optic fiber by comparing it to the speed of light in a vacuum.
The IOR of an optic fiber is calculated by:
IOR = Speed Light in Vacuum

Speed Light in Fiber
You wont have to measure the speed of light or manually calculate the
IOR. The IOR is generally printed on the cable being tested. You will
have to understand what the IOR is and how to enter it into the OTDR
being used and why it is important.

Index Of Refraction (IOR)
The reason an OTDR needs to have an accurate value for the speed
of light in the fibre is because different fiber types have different
speeds due to the materials they are made from and the OTDR uses
the speed of light in the fibre to calculate distance measurements.
Therefore, if you have an incorrect IOR all of the distance

measurements will be inaccurate.

Practical 05 - IOR.
1)
2)
3)
You will get a

good quality trace
with suitable
parameters.

Practical 05 - IOR.
Change the IOR to 1.6 and take the trace again.
5) 6)
Because the IOR has been changed the trace shows different distances
for the same fiber. If trying to find a fault at a measured distance this can
be a serious problem so always make sure the IOR is correctly set.
Practical 06 Adjust Trace Settings.
The OTDR Emulator has a unique feature not possible with a real
OTDR. That is; to adjust trace settings AFTER the trace has been
taken to show how a trace could be improved from its initial result.

1) 2)
3) Change the PW to a low value
4)

Because the pulse width is too low the trace is noisy.
5) Right Click the Trace in the trace list and select Adjust Trace
Parameters
6) The Adjust Trace Dialog will be
displayed. From here you can reset the
trace parameters and the trace will be
re-calculated with the new values in
real time.

The pulse width and acquisition time are too low so the trace is noisy.
7) Slide the time scale slowly over to 3 Minutes and see how the trace
improves over longer acquisition times. (Return it to 30 Sec when
complete

The pulse width and acquisition time are too low so the trace is noisy.
8) On the Pulse Width tab, adjust the pulse width up for each option
between 10nS and 1000nS and see how the change in pulse width
changes the trace.

OTDR Settings - Summary.
When configuring an OTDR you need to consider:
1) Pulse Width
2) Wavelength
3) Range and Resolution
4) Acquisition Time and
5) IOR.
At this stage that best measure of a good quality trace is a low level of
noise. To achieve a clean trace it is a balance of acquisition time and
pulse width but the values can change per wavelength.
Before moving on, test the other fibres in the OTDR Emulator. Adjust
the acquisition time and pulse width across different wavelengths and
consider how you would do this in the field with time constraints to
finish the job.
Conclusion.
Congratulations on completing:
In this lesson you have covered:

1) What is an OTDR and how they work
2) How to set up an OTDR for a high quality trace
Now complete the last session in this series:
OTDR Trace Analysis


VGD 201

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

VGD 201

Uploaded by

Document Information

Original Title

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

VGD 201

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

VanGuard Data

Optic Network and Advanced OTDR Operators Training

OTDR Operation for High Quality Traces

Copyright Vanguard Data (c) 2009 1

Copyright Vanguard Data (c) 2009 2

In this lesson a basic understanding of optical attenuation, dB, fibre

Copyright Vanguard Data (c) 2009 3

The trace is calculated to provide realistic OTDR simulation without

The practical components of this training will be performed in the

Copyright Vanguard Data (c) 2009 4

Copyright Vanguard Data (c) 2009 5

3) Click Auto Select Trace Parameters from the tool bar

Copyright Vanguard Data (c) 2009

Copyright Vanguard Data (c) 2009

OTDR Operation for High Quality Traces

Copyright Vanguard Data (c) 2009 8

When analyzed correctly the

Copyright Vanguard Data (c) 2009 9

OTDRs work by transmitting a short pulse of

Copyright Vanguard Data (c) 2009 11

1) Under control of the CPU, the LASER is pulsed on

Copyright Vanguard Data (c) 2009 12

6) The sampled data indicates

Copyright Vanguard Data (c) 2009 14

LASER Fibre 1 Fibre 2

The speed of light in the test fiber multiplied by the

This reflection is picked up by the OTDR which translates the

Copyright Vanguard Data (c) 2009 17

The end event gets special attenuation as it is commonly much

Copyright Vanguard Data (c) 2009 18

OTDR Operation for High Quality Traces

OTDR Trace Parameters

Copyright Vanguard Data (c) 2009 19

Different OTDR parameters can change the usability and

Copyright Vanguard Data (c) 2009 21

OTDRs work by transmitting a short pulse of

Copyright Vanguard Data (c) 2009

Notice that the blue trace is not

Copyright Vanguard Data (c) 2009

You will get a good

Copyright Vanguard Data (c) 2009

The second trace with a

Copyright Vanguard Data (c) 2009

Copyright Vanguard Data (c) 2009

If you consider light as a wave, the different colors can be

Copyright Vanguard Data (c) 2009 27

The faster the

Low Frequency High Frequency

Copyright Vanguard Data (c) 2009 28

The Greek character lambda () is

The lower the frequency is, the longer the wavelength.

As you can see, in the case of optical frequencies it is much easier to

Copyright Vanguard Data (c) 2009 30

Copyright Vanguard Data (c) 2009 31

You will get a trace

Copyright Vanguard Data (c) 2009

By sending multiple pulses, an OTDR can average the result which

One of the most important characteristics of a trace is to have a low

One of the most challenging skill of OTDR operation to master is to