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US 9,429,496 B2Granted
Optical time domain reflectometer in a small form factor package
AssigneeUltra Communications, Inc.
InventorsCharles B. Kuznia, Richard J. Pommer, Joseph F. Ahadian, Richard T. Hagan
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A system for creating an optical time domain reflectometer (OTDR) in a small package is described. This system allows the implementation of multiple channels of OTDR in package of similar size to existing fiber optic transceivers.
Claims22
An optical time domain reflectometer (OTDR) device, comprising:
- a connector guide configured to mate to an attachable fiber optic connector;
- a beam splitter disposed within the connector guide;
- a lens seal coupled to a bottom portion of the connector guide;
- a collimating lens in alignment with the beam splitter and sealed to a bottom portion of the lens seal to prevent external contamination;
- a transparent carrier coupled to a bottom portion of the collimating lens, wherein the transparent carrier has electrical pathways;
- an optical transmitter and optical receiver in alignment with the collimating lens and mounted to an underside of the transparent carrier and connected to the electrical pathways;
- and
- a transmitting and receiving circuit mounted to the underside of the transparent carrier and connected to the electrical pathways, a transmitter of the transmitting and receiving circuit configured to send a signal to the optical transmitter to cause the optical transmitter to send a pulse of light into an optical fiber of the attachable fiber optic connector, and a receiver of the transmitting and receiving circuit configured to receive a signal from the optical receiver, from a received pulse of light from the optical fiber of the attachable fiber optic connector;
- wherein a time domain reflectometry measurement is determined from a time difference between a sent and received signal.
6 more elements
A method of performing optical time domain reflectometry, comprising:
- generating a clocking signal via a first integrated circuit bonded to a transparent substrate;
- generating a pulse pattern via a second integrated circuit bonded to the transparent substrate;
- transmitting the pulse pattern to a driver bonded to the transparent substrate;
- exciting an optical transmitter bonded to the transparent substrate with the pulse pattern from the driver, to emit light pulses into a bi-directional coupler that couples light into a first fiber and couples light from the first fiber into a second fiber;
- detecting via an optical receiver bonded to the transparent substrate, a received light from the second fiber;
- and
- sampling the received light and measuring a time difference, via a timing circuit bonded to the transparent substrate, between a sent and received light, to determine a time domain reflectometry measurement.
4 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.