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US 12,687,458 B2Granted
Pluggable optical time domain reflectometer
AssigneeII-Vi Delaware, Inc.
InventorsIan Peter McClean, Siegfried Fleischer
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Abstract
A pluggable OTDR is disclosed that is utilizes a specific architecture that separates its passive optical elements from the remaining active optical and electrical elements. The set of active elements (i.e., laser, photodetector, and control/processing electronics) can arranged in a manner similar to a small form-factor pluggable (SFP) optical transceiver and assembled within a housing that meets these requirements. The passive optics may be incorporated into a separate optical fiber pigtailed component that is attached between the active OTDR module and a fiber span under test.
Claims20
An optical time domain reflectometer (OTDR) comprising:
- an active OTDR module in a form of a small form-factor pluggable (SFP) component that houses an electrical interface connection, an optical input port, an optical output port, a laser source, a laser driver circuit, a photodetector, a transimpedance amplifier, and electrical process and control circuitry;
- and
- a separate pigtailed component coupled between a fiber span under test and the input and output optical ports of the active OTDR module;
- wherein the laser source provides, in an OTDR measurement process, an optical probe signal to the fiber span under test via the optical output port of the SFP component;
- wherein the laser driver circuit supplies an electronic input causing the laser source to generate the optical probe signal;
- wherein the photodetector is disposed to receive reflected portions of the optical probe signal from the fiber span under test via the input optical port of the SFP component, and generate therefrom an electrical photocurrent representation of the reflected portions of the optical probe signal;
- wherein the transimpedance amplifier is coupled to an output of the photodetector to receive the electrical photocurrent and converts the electrical photocurrent into an electrical voltage representation of the reflected portions of the optical probe signal;
- wherein the electrical process and control circuitry energizes the laser driver circuit and transforms the electrical voltage representation of the reflected portions of the optical probe signal output from the transimpedance amplifier into data useful in generating OTDR output traces;
- and
- wherein the separate pigtailed component houses a directional optical coupling device coupled to both the optical output port and the optical input port of the active OTDR module and configured to direct propagation of the optical probe signal from the optical output port toward the fiber span under test and direct reflections attributed to the optical probe signal from the fiber span under test into the optical input port of the active OTDR module.
7 more elements
An optical time domain reflectometer (OTDR) system, comprising:
- an OTDR small form factor pluggable (SFP) component housing:
- an electrical interface connection that permits plugging the OTDR SFP component into another electrical component;
- a first angled physical connector configured to provide an optical probe signal to a fiber span under test;
- a second angled physical connector configured to receive reflected portions of the optical probe signal from the fiber span under test;
- a laser source that provides, in an OTDR measurement process, the optical probe signal to the fiber span under test via the first angled physical connector;
- a photodetector disposed to receive the reflected portions of the optical probe signal from the fiber span under test via the second angled physical connector and generate therefrom an electrical photocurrent representation of the reflected portions of the optical probe signal;
- and
- electrical circuitry that receives the electrical photocurrent and generates an electrical data signal representative of the reflected portions of the optical probe signal;
- and
- a pigtailed component coupled between the first and second angled physical connectors and the fiber span under test;
- wherein the pigtailed component houses a directional optical coupling device coupled to both the first and second angled physical connectors and configured to direct propagation of the optical probe signal from the first angled physical connector toward the fiber span under test and direct reflections attributed to the optical probe signal from the fiber span under test into the second angled physical connector;
- and
- wherein the pigtailed component comprises a bandpass filter disposed between the directional optical coupling device and the second angled physical connector.
10 more elements
An optical time domain reflectometer (OTDR) system, comprising:
- an OTDR small form factor pluggable (SFP) component housing:
- an electrical interface connection that permits plugging the OTDR SFP component into another electrical component;
- a first angled physical connector configured to provide an optical probe signal to a fiber span under test;
- a second angled physical connector configured to receive reflected portions of the optical probe signal from the fiber span under test;
- a laser source that provides, in an OTDR measurement process, the optical probe signal to the fiber span under test via the first angled physical connector;
- a photodetector disposed to receive the reflected portions of the optical probe signal from the fiber span under test via the second angled physical connector and generate therefrom an electrical photocurrent representation of the reflected portions of the optical probe signal;
- and
- electrical circuitry that receives the electrical photocurrent and generates an electrical data signal representative of the reflected portions of the optical probe signal;
- and
- a pigtailed component coupled between the first and second angled physical connectors and the fiber span under test;
- wherein the pigtailed component houses a directional optical coupling device coupled to both the first and second angled physical connectors and configured to direct propagation of the optical probe signal from the first angled physical connector toward the fiber span under test and direct reflections attributed to the optical probe signal from the fiber span under test into the second angled physical connector;
- and
- wherein the pigtailed component comprises a wavelength division multiplexer between a fiber span and the fiber span under test.
10 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.