Methods, mediums, and systems for testing fiber optic telecommunication systems

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12244337-B2
Application number	US-202117460182-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Aug 28, 2021
Priority date	Aug 28, 2021
Publication date	Mar 4, 2025
Grant date	Mar 4, 2025

Abstract

This application describes techniques for testing fiber optic telecommunication systems, such as undersea fiber optic cable systems. Testing terminals may be deployed at a location of terminating equipment for a fiber optic cable. The testing terminals may be operated remotely. The testing terminals may be configured to programmatically test the cable by loading one or more tests and automatically configure the cable's transmitters and receivers based on predetermined loading schemes selected based on the tests to be performed. The testing terminals may iterate over channels and fiber pairs of the cable and may use back-to-back tests to remove artifacts from test results. Using the described techniques, a cable's channels and fiber pairs can be fully characterized in the amount of time afforded for a typical testing schedule, which was not generally possible using conventional testing.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A computer-implemented method comprising:
displaying an interface configured to present testing options for testing an undersea fiber optic cable;
receiving a selection of a set of the testing options using the interface;
accessing a test set configuration structure comprising a plurality of predetermined configurations for the undersea fiber optic cable;
automatically selecting one of the predetermined configurations based on the selected set of testing options;
programmatically configuring the undersea fiber optic cable with the selected predetermined configuration;
testing a first of a plurality of fibers within the undersea fiber optic cable using the selected set of testing options to generate test results, the testing comprising communicating a broadband test signal between a first testing terminal physically located at a first end of the undersea fiber optic cable and a second testing terminal physically located at a second end of the undersea fiber optic cable over a second of the plurality of fibers within the undersea fiber optic cable including the first of the plurality of fibers under test;
and
storing the test results in a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium.

2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein each of the plurality of fibers carry data on separate optical channels, the broadband test signal communicated between the first and second testing terminals is distinct from the data carried on separate optical channels.

3. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the predetermined configurations comprise loading schemes for the undersea fiber optic cable, the loading schemes comprising one or more of a flat input spectrum loading scheme, an optical signal-to-noise ratio optimized loading scheme, or an optimized generalized optical signal-to-noise ratio loading scheme.

4. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the testing accesses values from a back-to-back test to remove testing equipment artifacts from the test results.

5. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the testing is bidirectional and is configured to substantially fully characterize all fiber pairs in the undersea fiber optic cable.

6. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the testing automatically iterates over a plurality of channels in a fiber of a fiber pair within the undersea fiber optic cable at a rate sufficient to substantially fully characterize the fiber pair in 4 hours or less.

7. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the testing is initiated through a remote connection to the first testing terminal and the second testing terminal.

8. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium, the computer-readable storage medium including instructions that when executed by a computer, cause the computer to:
display an interface configured to present testing options for testing an undersea fiber optic cable;
receive a selection of a set of the testing options using the interface;
access a test set configuration structure comprising a plurality of predetermined configurations for the undersea fiber optic cable;
automatically select one of the predetermined configurations based on the selected set of testing options;
programmatically configure the undersea fiber optic cable with the selected predetermined configuration;
test a first of a plurality of fibers within undersea fiber optic cable using the selected set of testing options to generate test results, the testing comprising bidirectionally communicating a broadband test signal between a first testing terminal physically located at a first end of the undersea fiber optic cable and a second testing terminal physically located at a second end of the undersea fiber optic cable over a second of the plurality of fibers within the undersea fiber optic cable including the first of the plurality of fibers under test to generate a first set of test measurements from the first testing terminal and a second set of test measurements from the second testing terminal;
combine the first set of test measurements with the second set of test measurements; and
store the combined test results in a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium.

9. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 8 , wherein each of the plurality of fibers carry data on separate optical channels, the broadband test signal communicated between the first and second testing terminals is distinct from the data carried on separate optical channels.

10. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 8 , wherein the predetermined configurations comprise loading schemes for the undersea fiber optic cable, the loading schemes comprising one or more of a flat input spectrum loading scheme, an optical signal-to-noise ratio optimized loading scheme, or an optimized generalized optical signal-to-noise ratio loading scheme.

11. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 8 , wherein the testing accesses values from a back-to-back test to remove testing equipment artifacts from the test results.

12. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 8 , wherein the testing is configured to substantially fully characterize all fiber pairs in the undersea fiber optic cable.

13. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 8 , wherein the testing automatically iterates over a plurality of channels in the fiber of a fiber pair within the undersea fiber optic cable at a rate sufficient to substantially fully characterize the fiber pair in 4 hours or less.

14. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 8 , wherein the testing is initiated through a remote connection to the first testing terminal and the second testing terminal.

15. A computing apparatus comprising:
a processor; and
a memory storing instructions that, when executed by the processor, configure the apparatus to:
display an interface configured to present testing options for testing an undersea fiber optic cable;
receive a selection of a set of the testing options using the interface;
access a test set configuration structure comprising a plurality of predetermined configurations for the undersea fiber optic cable;
automatically select one of the predetermined configurations based on the selected set of testing options;
programmatically configure the undersea fiber optic cable with the selected predetermined configuration, the undersea fiber optic cable comprising a first end at which first testing terminal is located and a second end at which a second testing terminal is located;
test a first of a plurality of fibers within the undersea fiber optic cable using the selected set of testing options to generate test results, the testing comprising bidirectionally communicating a broadband test signal between the first testing terminal and the second testing terminal over a second of the plurality of fibers within the undersea fiber optic cable including the first of the plurality of fibers under test to generate a first set of test measurements and communicating between the second testing terminal and the first testing terminal to generate a second set of test measurements for the fiber;
combine the first set of test measurements with the second set of test measurements to generate a combined set of test results for the first of a plurality of fibers; and
store the combined test results in a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium.

16. The computing apparatus of claim 15 , further comprising a communications interface configured to establish a remote connection to a user device and to receive testing initiation or conf

Assignees

• Subcom Llc

Inventors

• Patterson William W
• Havens D Mark
• Bellomo Robert P
• Bakhshi Bamdad
• Behringer Robert
• Mattos Roberto
• Jiang Ying
• Barnett William C
• Enright Mark

Classifications

• H04Q2011/0083

  Testing; Monitoring · CPC title

• H04Q2011/0079

  Operation or maintenance aspects · CPC title

• H04Q11/0062

  Network aspects · CPC title

• H04B10/0775

  Performance monitoring and measurement of transmission parameters · CPC title

• H04B10/0779

  Monitoring line transmitter or line receiver equipment · CPC title