Locating disturbances in optical fibres
AssigneeTampnet AS
InventorSteinar BJØRNSTAD
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An apparatus (1) for determining a position of a disturbance to an optical fibre assembly (2) comprises a detector system (8) that receives concurrently, from the optical fibre system (2), a first digital optical signal having a first wavelength and a second digital optical signal having a second wavelength. The apparatus (1) monitors a common parameter of the first and second signals over time and determines respective times at which a change occurs in said parameter in each signal, the change arising from a disturbance to the optical fibre assembly (2). The apparatus (1) uses the first and second times to determine a position of the disturbance.
Claims20
An apparatus for determining a position of a disturbance to an optical fibre assembly, the apparatus comprising:
- a detector system;
- and
- a processing system, coupled to the detector system,
- wherein the apparatus is arranged to:
- receive concurrently at the detector system a first digital optical signal having a first wavelength from an optical fibre assembly and a second digital optical signal having a second wavelength from the optical fibre assembly;
- measure a common parameter of the first and second digital optical signals, wherein the parameter is phase or signal-to-noise ratio or bit error ratio;
- monitor the parameter of the first and second digital optical signals over time;
- determine first data representative of a first time, being a time at which a change occurs in the parameter, or in a time derivative of the parameter, of the first digital optical signal received at the detector system, the change arising from a disturbance to the optical fibre assembly;
- determine second data representative of a second time, being a time at which a change occurs in the parameter, or in a time derivative of the parameter, of the second digital optical signal received at the detector system, the change arising from the disturbance to the optical fibre assembly;
- and
- process the first data and the second data to determine a position of the disturbance.
A detector system for use in a method of determining a position of a disturbance to an optical fibre assembly, the detector system being configured to:
- receive a first digital optical signal having a first wavelength and a second digital optical signal having a second wavelength from an optical fibre assembly;
- monitor a common parameter of the received first and second digital optical signals over time, wherein the parameter is phase or signal-to-noise ratio or bit error ratio;
- and
- determine first data representative of a first time, being a time at which a change occurs in the parameter, or in a time derivative of the parameter, of the received first digital optical signal, the change arising from a disturbance to the optical fibre assembly;
- and
- determine second data representative of a second time, being a time at which a change occurs in the parameter, or in a time derivative of the parameter, of the received second digital optical signal, the change arising from the disturbance;
- wherein the first data and second data are suitable for processing to determine a position of the disturbance.
A method of determining a position of a disturbance to an optical fibre assembly, the method comprising:
- receiving a first digital optical signal having a first wavelength and a second digital optical signal having a second wavelength from an optical fibre assembly;
- monitoring a common parameter of the received first and second digital optical signals over time, wherein the parameter is phase or signal-to-noise ratio or bit error ratio;
- determining first data representative of a time at which a change occurs in the parameter, or in a time derivative of the parameter, of the received first digital optical signal, the change arising from a disturbance to the optical fibre assembly;
- determining second data representative of a time at which a change occurs in the parameter, or in a time derivative of the parameter, of the received second digital optical signal, the change arising from the disturbance;
- and
- processing the first data and the second data to determine a position of the disturbance.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.