Lesson 8: Fiber Optic Testing



 
Objectives: From this lesson you should learn:
What parameters need to be tested
What instruments are used for OSP fiber optic testing
How to perform basic fiber optic testing
Advanced testing for long OSP links
Measurement uncertainty in fiber optic testing
How to troubleshoot problems  


Fiber Optic Testing
This lesson, another extensive one, is on fiber optic testing, an important subject. After all fiber optic cables are installed, spliced and terminated, they must be tested. For every fiber optic cable plant, you generally need to test for continuity and polarity, end-to-end insertion loss, verify installation with an OTDR and then troubleshoot any problems on every fiber in every cable. If it’s a long outside plant cable with intermediate splices, you will want to verify the individual splices with an OTDR test, since that’s the only way to ensure that each splice is good.

Long distance, high speed links require testing for spectral attenuation, chromatic dispersion and polarization mode dispersion. Links where DWDM or CWDM are used need spectral attenuation testing. These tests, plus insertion loss and OTDR testing are called "Fiber Characterization." Videos and links to fiber characterization are included in this lesson.

If you are the network user, you may also be interested in testing transmitter and receiver power, as power is the measurement that tells you whether the system is operating properly.

Testing involves visual inspection of terminations with a microscope, tracing fibers visually and finding faults, measuring optical power and loss with power meters and light sources, testing with OTDRs and testers for special issues in long distance links. With this lesson, it's important to learn what needs testing and why, what are the potential errors involved in the tests and where certain tests are appropriate.



Student Assignment:
Either read the chapter in the textbook, the web page linked on the online reference or watch the videos and take the quiz (Test Your Comprehension)
 

Book Chapter:
            IMSA/FOA Reference Guide to Fiber Optics, Chapter 8


Online FOA Reference: Fiber Optic Testing


FOA YouTube Video

FOA Lecture 12: Fiber Optic Testing Overview 
FOA Lecture 15: Five Ways To Test Fiber Optic Cable Plants  
FOA Lecture 17: OTDR Testing  
FOA Lecture 26: Loss Budgets 

Test Your Knowledge:
Online Quiz
Take the Quiz at the end of Chapter 8 and check your answers  

Next: Lesson 9: Fiber Optic Network Design  


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