Optical fiber fault location method

Abstract

An optical pulse reflection method based on the optical radar principle is discussed for optical fiber cable fault location. The optical reflection coefficient at flat surfaces of optical fibers was measured and found to be in good agreement with calculated value. The average reflection coefficient at fractures in optical fibers, which were generated by simple tensile stress, was about 0.5%. The reflected pulse signal from an optical fiber fault at a distance of 1.4 km in a SELFOC fiber having transmission loss of 17 dB/km was detected experimentally.