A New Remote Fiber Test System for Optical Networks

A novel Remote Fiber Testing System (RFTS) for error detection in optical networks in presented in this paper. The proposed measurement system is applicable to access and local optical networks for which the standard RFTS is too expensive. The basic idea lies in replacing expensive optical switches with more affordable optical power splitters. Consequently, all fibers are simultaneously tested and therefore the new method for error detection is developed. The experimental results demonstrate the possibilities of the new testing system. Furthermore, we have demonstrated that the number of averaging needed in the measurement procedure can be reduced by a factor of 10 by using an appropriate signal-processing algorithm.