Page 344 - Optical Communications Essentials

Test and Measurement

334 Chapter Nineteen

time. The average power is a measure of the power level averaged over a rela-
tively long time period compared to the duration of an individual pulse.
The widespread implementation of WDM systems calls for making optical
spectrum analyses to characterize the spectral behavior of various telecommu-
nication network elements. One widely used instrument for doing this is an
optical spectrum analyzer (OSA), which measures optical power as a function of
wavelength.
The long-term workhorse instrument in fiber optic systems is the optical
time-domain reflectometer (OTDR). In addition to locating faults within an
optical link, this instrument measures parameters such as attenuation, length,
connector and splice losses, and reflectance levels.

Further Reading

1. D. Derickson, ed., contributors from Hewlett-Packard Co., Fiber Optic Test and Measurement,
Prentice Hall, Upper Saddle River, N.J., 1998.
2. National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), http://www.nist.gov.
3. Telecommunication Industries Association (TIA), http://www.tiaonline.org.
4. Electronic Industries Association (EIA), Washington.
5. Telecommunication Standardization Sector of the International Telecommunication Union
(ITU-T), Geneva, Switzerland, http://www.itu.int.
6. American National Standards Institute (ANSI), New York, http://www.ansi.org.
7. F. Caviglia, V. C. Di Biase, and A. Gnazzo, “Optical maintenance in PONs,” Optical Fiber
Technology, vol. 5, pp. 349–362, October 1999.
8. C. Mas and P. Thiran, “A review on fault location methods and their application to optical net-
works,” Optical Networks Mag., vol. 2, pp. 73–87, July/August 2001.
9. Circadiant Systems, white papers on measurement (http://www.circadiant.com). See measure-
ment white papers on this website or on websites of other test equipment manufacturers.

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