Mixer-based time domain reflectometer and method
AssigneeThe Boeing Company
InventorDaniel Harres
Life of this patent
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Abstract
An apparatus to measure optical characteristics of a fiber optic transmission line or other optical medium may include a source to generate a bipolar pulse signal waveform. The apparatus may also include a mixer to mix the bipolar pulse signal waveform and an optical pulse and reflected signal waveform from the fiber optic transmission line or other optical medium to form a mixed product waveform, wherein the reflected signal is responsive to the optical pulse being transmitted into the fiber optic transmission line or optical medium.
Claims34
An apparatus to measure optical characteristics of a fiber optic transmission line or other optical medium, comprising:
- a source to generate a bipolar pulse signal waveform;
- and
- a mixer to mix the bipolar pulse signal waveform and an optical pulse and reflected signal waveform from the fiber optic transmission line or other optical medium to form a mixed product waveform, wherein the reflected signal is responsive to the optical pulse being transmitted into the fiber optic transmission line or optical medium.
An optical system, comprising:
- a fiber optic transmission line or optical medium;
- and
- a mixer-based optical time domain reflectometer with a bipolar local oscillator to measure optical characteristics of the transmission line or optical medium.
An aerospace vehicle, comprising:
- a fuselage and other components;
- a fiber optic transmission line or optical medium disposed in the fuselage, other components or both;
- and
- a mixer-based optical time domain reflectometer with a bipolar local oscillator to measure optical characteristics of the transmission line or optical medium.
A method to measure optical characteristics from a selected segment of a fiber optic transmission line or other optical medium divided into a predetermined number of segments, the method comprising:
- determining an average value or voltage of an optical pulse and reflected signal waveform without any modulation on a local oscillator;
- applying a bipolar pulse on the local oscillator at a time delay corresponding to the selected segment;
- mixing the bipolar pulse and the optical pulse and reflected signal waveform to form a mixed product waveform;
- and
- determining an average value or voltage of the mixed product waveform.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.