Measurement system and measurement method

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10523317-B2
Application number	US-201816000098-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 5, 2018
Priority date	Jun 5, 2018
Publication date	Dec 31, 2019
Grant date	Dec 31, 2019

Abstract

A measurement system is a measurement system inspecting an optical transmission line configured by connecting a plurality of optical cables, each of which includes a plurality of optical fibers, wherein the optical transmission line includes a plurality of optical fiber lines configured by connecting the plurality of optical fibers in the plurality of optical cables, the measurement system including: a first measurement device configured to be disposed at a first end of the optical transmission line; and a second measurement device configured to be disposed at a second end of the optical transmission line, wherein the first measurement device and the second measurement device perform a first measurement to inspect whether the optical cable is misconnected, and a second measurement to inspect the plurality of optical fiber lines in a case where it is determined that there is no misconnection in the first measurement.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A measurement system inspecting an optical transmission line configured by connecting a plurality of optical cables, each of which includes a plurality of optical fibers, wherein the optical transmission line includes a plurality of optical fiber lines configured by connecting the plurality of optical fibers in the plurality of optical cables, the measurement system comprising:
a first measurement device configured to be disposed at a first end of the optical transmission line; and
a second measurement device configured to be disposed at a second end of the optical transmission line,
wherein the first measurement device and the second measurement device perform a first measurement to inspect whether the optical cable is misconnected, and a second measurement to inspect the plurality of optical fiber lines in a case where it is determined that there is no misconnection in the first measurement,
wherein the first measurement device includes
a first light source configured to output testing light, and
a first optical switch configured to switch an optical fiber through which the testing light is incident among a plurality of optical fibers of a first optical cable located at the first end of the optical transmission line,

wherein the second measurement device includes
a power meter configured to measure an intensity of light, and
a second optical switch configured to switch an optical fiber optically connected to the power meter among a plurality of optical fibers of a second optical cable located at the second end of the optical transmission line, and

in the first measurement, the first measurement device emits the testing light to a first optical fiber among the plurality of optical fibers of the first optical cable, and the second measurement device measures an intensity of the testing light which is output from a second optical fiber corresponding to the first optical fiber among the plurality of optical fibers of the second optical cable.

2. The measurement system according to claim 1 ,
wherein the first optical cable and the second optical cable each are a ribbon fiber in which the plurality of optical fibers are arranged in one direction,
the first optical fiber is located at an end in the one direction of the first optical cable, and
the second optical fiber is located at an end in the one direction of the second optical cable.

3. The measurement system according to claim 1 ,
wherein the first light source is capable of outputting a plurality of testing lights having different wavelengths, and
the first measurement device and the second measurement device inspect whether the optical cable is misconnected using the plurality of testing lights in the first measurement.

4. The measurement system according to claim 1 ,
wherein, in the second measurement, the first measurement device sequentially emits the testing light to the plurality of optical fibers of the first optical cable, and the second measurement device sequentially measures an intensity of the testing light which is output from an optical fiber corresponding to the optical fiber through which the testing light of the first optical cable is incident among the plurality of optical fibers of the second optical cable.

5. The measurement system according to claim 1 ,
wherein the first measurement device further includes a first tester to measure a temporal change of an intensity of first return light with respect to the testing light which is output from the first light source, and
the second measurement device further includes a second light source to output the testing light, and a second tester to measure a temporal change of an intensity of second return light with respect to the testing light which is output from the second light source.

6. The measurement system according to claim 5 ,
wherein, whenever the optical transmission line is inspected, the first tester measures the temporal change of the intensity of the first return light before the first measurement to calculate an insertion loss of the first optical switch, and the second tester measures the temporal change of the intensity of the second return light to calculate an insertion loss of the second optical switch.

7. The measurement system according to claim 1 , further comprising:
an analysis unit configured to analyze an abnormal cause of the optical transmission line based on a measurement result of the power meter in a case where it is determined that there is misconnection in the first measurement.

8. The measurement system according to claim 1 ,
wherein the first measurement device further includes a first optical multiplexer/demultiplexer which is provided between the first optical switch and the first light source, and a first communication device which is connected to the first optical switch through the first optical multiplexer/demultiplexer to communicate with the second measurement device, and
the second measurement device further includes a second optical multiplexer/demultiplexer which is provided between the second optical switch and the power meter, and a second communication device which is connected to the second optical switch through the second optical multiplexer/demultiplexer, and communicates with the first measurement device.

9. The measurement system according to claim 1 ,
wherein the first measurement device further includes another power meter to measure an intensity of first return light with respect to the testing light which is output from the first light source.

10. The measurement system according to claim 1 ,
wherein the first measurement device further includes a visible light source configured to output a visible light, and
the first measurement device emits the visible light to an optical fiber line which is determined as abnormal in the second measurement among the plurality of optical fiber lines.

11. The measurement system according to claim 1 , further comprising,
a display unit configured to display an inspection result of the first measurement and the second measurement.

12. The measurement system according to claim 11 ,
wherein the display unit includes a plurality of first connectors which are connected to the plurality of optical fibers of the first optical cable respectively, and a plurality of second connectors which are connected to the plurality of optical fibers of the second optical cable respectively, and
the plurality of first connectors and the plurality of second connectors each emit light to display the inspection result.

13. A measurement method of inspecting an optical transmission line configured by connecting a plurality of optical cables, each of which includes a plurality of optical fibers, wherein the optical transmission line includes a plurality of optical fiber lines configured by connecting the plurality of optical fibers in the plurality of optical cables, the measurement method comprising:
performing a first measurement to inspect whether the plurality of optical cables are misconnected by emitting testing light into a first optical fiber among the plurality of optical fibers in a first optical cable located at a first end of the optical transmission line and measuring an intensity of the testing light output from a second optical fiber corresponding to the first optical fiber among the plurality of optical fibers in a second optical cable located at a second end of the optical transmission line; and
performing a second measurement to inspect the plurality of optical fiber lines in a case where it is determined that there is no misconnection in the first measurement.

Assignees

• Sumitomo Electric Industries
• Sei Optifrontier Co Ltd
• Sumitomo Electric Lightwave Corp

Inventors

• Masuda Kazuya
• Ueda Tomohiko
• Ito Tsuneari
• Otsuka Kenichiro
• Hishikawa Yoshifumi
• FUKUMOTO Gouichi
• Tsuzaki Tetsufumi
• Miyamoto Toshiyuki
• Murakami Takashi
• Suetsugu Yoshiyuki
• Kondo Takashi

Classifications

• H04B10/0731 Primary

  Testing or characterisation of optical devices, e.g. amplifiers · CPC title

• H04B10/071

  using a reflected signal, e.g. using optical time domain reflectometers [OTDR] · CPC title

• G01M11/3145

  Details of the optoelectronics or data analysis · CPC title

• H04B10/07955 Primary

  Monitoring or measuring power · CPC title

• G01M11/3136

  for testing of multiple fibers · CPC title