ACES Int'l
Secrets & Tips
for Fiber Optics
Welcome to ACES Int'l Secrets & Tips for Fiber Optics. ACES Int'l would like to present what we believe to be the most in-depth and enlightening articles we can publish involving the field of Fiber Optics. ACES Int'l would like to gratefully thank Sam Starklauf, (Process Analyst/Auditor and Fiber Optics Instructor at Honeywell Technical Solutions, Inc HTSI), for the rights to use this article for this installment of ACES Int'l Secrets & Tips for Fiber Optics.
The articles presented in this section do not necessarily reflect the views or opinions of ACES International Incorporated, nor is
ACES Int'l Inc. responsible for any claims resulting from the use or dissemination of these articles (Note: We have to print the above disclaimer statement for legal reasons).
An Alternative Inspection and Test System for Fiber Optics Training and System Testing
By Sam Starklauf
In this article I would like to explore the possibilities in
using an alternative to the standard test equipment in use by the installers and
technicians in the fiber optics industry. This alternative is the use of a PC
based set of test equipment for the purposes of supporting both training in the
basic fiber optics theory and techniques and the use of computer based
inspection and test equipment in their daily activities.
(From left, Bruce Skeen, Sam Starklauf)
Introduction
As all technicians/installers are aware of formal training is hard to find for standard fiber optics test equipment let alone for using computer based test equipment. Most fiber optics test and inspection training falls under OJT if available at all. Fiber Optics testing in both production and installation can be broken down into two sets of techniques.
The first technique involves Visual inspection of the bare fibers for endface preparation, proper cleave of the bare fibers to meet splice criteria and connector endface polishing. The second set of techniques involves optical power measurements, which is considered one of the most common measurements taken in optical networks or in the telecommunications industry.
Testing becomes even more critical for the passive components that are the heart of a dense wavelength-division multiplexing (DWDM) network. Without these wavelength selective devices or if they are not operating properly, DWDM would not exist. With this in mind I will be writing a series of articles dealing with development of some basic systems for visual inspection techniques for fiber optics connectors and their endfaces, optical power measurements, and inspection and testing of passive components in a DWDM system.
Since quite a bit has been written and documented in the use of traditional fiber optics test equipment for inspection and testing of optical components and assemblies already, I will not attempt to cover the same ground again in this article. Instead I will concentrate the remainder of this article and the follow-up ones on the basic systems required to implement an alternative to the traditional fiber optic test equipment.
For my purposes the articles and their associated applications to be developed can serve two purposes. They can be used as a tool for the inspection and test of in-process and completed optical components and also as a tool for developing training materials and techniques to be used in teaching fiber optics theory and advanced inspection and test techniques to today’s technicians and installers.
Performance or Acceptance criteria of a fiber optics network can be attributed in part to the quality or workmanship in the manufacture, production, or construction of the various optical components or assemblies. Examples of such components or assemblies are the cables, connectors (fiber and connector endface) and splices (fiber endface cleaves) that make up the fiber optics network.
Most fiber optics technicians and installers deal with these components of a fiber network on a daily basis. Knowledge and experience in the proper techniques in working with optical fiber, connectors, and splices is crucial in obtaining good performance of the optical network. Knowledge of proper usage of fiber optic test equipment is also important not only in certifying a system up to the customers acceptance criteria but is equally important when problems develop during production of the cable assembly or during it’s installation at the site. This knowledge about can be obtained through proper training using approved or acknowledged standard test equipment.
Training and experience in the proper use of test equipment can be enhanced
with hands on training utilizing one of two types of test equipment for the
inspection and testing of optical components in a fiber optic network. The first
type of test equipment utilizes the more traditional or standard (familiar)
fiber optics test equipment (inspection microscopes, optical loss test sets,
etc.) produced by well-known companies such as Noyes, EXFO, RIFOCS. An
alternative type or approach is to substitute PC or computer-based inspection
and testing techniques built around a basic computer system with DAQ and frame
grabber enhancements. I will take this opportunity to define my definitions of
each approach and provide a short description on the following pages.