Fiber Optic Testing

After fiber optic cables are installed, spliced and terminated, they must be tested. For every fiber optic cable plant, you need to test for continuity and polarity, end-to-end insertion loss and then troubleshoot any problems. If it's a long outside plant cable with intermediate splices, you will probably want to verify the individual splices with an OTDR test also, since that's the only way to make sure that each splice is good. 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 is the subject of the majority of industry standards, as there is a need to verify component and system specifications in a consistent manner. A list of TIAhttp://www.fiberise.com fiber optic standards is on the FOA website in Tech Topics. Perhaps the most important test is insertion loss of an installed fiber optic cable plant performed with a light source and power meter (LSPM) or optical loss test set (OLTS) which is required by all international standards to ensure the cable plant is within the loss budget before acceptance of the installation.

Testing fiber optics requires special tools and instruments which must be chosen to be appropriate for the components or cable plants being tested. See Jargon and Test Instruments to see a description of these instruments

December 19, 2011

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