Optical time domain reflectometer with bandwidth correction

An optical time domain reflectometer having a bandwidth limited system response with bandwidth correction comprising:

• an optical transmitter launching interrogating optical step pulses into a fiber under test;
• an optical receiver receiving optical return energy from the fiber under test and generating signal samples representative of the optical return energy;
• and
• a controller receiving the signal samples and producing step impulse response signal samples of the optical time domain reflectometer and fiber under test by taking the time derivative of the signal samples representative of the optical return energy and generating signal samples representative of the impulse response of the fiber under test corrected for the bandwidth limited system response of the optical time domain reflectometer by modeling the optical time domain reflectometer and the fiber under test as an exponential linear shift-invariant system that includes the optical transmitter, optical receiver and the fiber under test.

A method of generating bandwidth corrected signal samples of optical return energy from a fiber under test using an optical time domain reflectometer having a bandwidth limited system response comprising the steps of:

• generating interrogating optical step pulses that are launched into the fiber under test using an optical transmitter;
• generating bandwidth limited signal samples of the optical return energy using an optical receiver;
• producing step impulse stimulus signal samples corrected for the bandwidth limited system response of the optical time domain reflectometer and the fiber under test by modeling the optical time domain reflectometer as an exponential linear shift-invariant system that includes the optical transmitter, optical receiver and the fiber under test;
• and
• generating signal samples representative of the impulse response for the fiber under test by taking the time derivative of the step impulse stimulus signal samples.

A method of generating bandwidth corrected signal samples of optical return energy from a fiber under test using an optical time domain reflectometer having a bandwidth limited system response comprising the steps of:

• generating interrogating optical step pulses that are launched into the fiber under test using an optical transmitter;
• generating bandwidth limited signal samples of the optical return energy using an optical receiver;
• producing step impulse response signal samples of the optical time domain reflectometer and fiber under test by taking the time derivative of the signal samples representative of the optical return energy;
• and
• generating signal samples representative of the impulse response of the fiber under test corrected for the bandwidth limited system response of the optical time domain reflectometer by modeling the optical time domain reflectometer as an exponential linear shift-invariant system that includes the optical transmitter, optical receiver and the fiber under test.