Advanced simulation tool for optical time-domain reflectometry (OTDR) with arbitrary pulse shapes

We present an advanced simulation tool for optical time-domain reflectometry (OTDR) with the ability to incorporate any OTDR pulse shape. According to our knowledge, the proposed OTDR simulator is the first one with this feature, thus progressing beyond the existing state of the art of OTDR simulations. Starting from a mathematical formalism, we develop the numerical implementation of the simulation tool. To include the effects of the OTDR pulse shape, the optical fiber network under test is treated in our approach as a linear time-invariant single-input/single-output system. Furthermore, the limitations of current OTDR equipment such as (nonlinear) power saturation of the OTDR detector, and limited dynamic range due to detector noise are also incorporated into the simulation model. Our simulation results are experimentally verified with OTDR measurements, and we show an excellent agreement between the simulated traces and the measured traces. The advanced OTDR simulation tool has proven to correctly reproduce measured traces of systems for various pulse widths, and is thus very valuable to evaluate the usability of OTDR measurements for a certain application, without the need to run actual OTDR measurements.

ISBN:978-1-62841-079-2

Publication year:2014

Keywords:OTDR, linear systems, optical fiber testing