Method for referencing an optical power loss measurement system, and associated computer readable memory and oplm system

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2016164601-A1
Application number	US-201514941759-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Nov 16, 2015
Priority date	Dec 9, 2014
Publication date	Jun 9, 2016
Grant date	—

Abstract

The computer readable memory has recorded thereon instruction code for execution by a computing device for use with an optical power loss measurement (OPLM) system. The instruction code generally comprises: code for displaying a first set of instructions including measuring a first power value of test light outputted from a first reference optical waveguide; code for displaying a second set of instructions including measuring a second power value of test light outputted from a reference waveguide link including the first reference optical waveguide connected in series to a second reference optical waveguide; code for displaying a third set of instructions including measuring a reference power value of the OPLM system resulting from the propagation of light from via the reference waveguide link; and code for determining a corrected reference power value based on the reference power value and on the first and second power values.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A non-transitory computer readable memory having recorded thereon instruction code for execution by a computing device for use with an optical power loss measurement (OPLM) system including an optical source and a detector, said instruction code comprising:
code for displaying to a user a first set of instructions, the first set of instructions including measuring a first power value of all test light outputted from a first reference optical waveguide; code for displaying to the user a second set of instructions, the second set of instructions including measuring a second power value of all said test light outputted from a reference waveguide link including the first reference optical waveguide connected in series to a second reference optical waveguide; code for displaying to the user a third set of instructions, the third set of instructions including measuring, using the detector of the OPLM system, a reference power value of the OPLM system resulting from the propagation of light from the optical source to the detector via the reference waveguide link; and code for determining a corrected reference power value based on the reference power value and on the first and second power values.

2 . The non-transitory computer readable memory of claim 1 , wherein said instruction code further includes code for at least one of storing and communicating the corrected reference power value.

3 . The non-transitory computer readable memory of claim 2 , wherein the corrected reference power value include measurements at each one of a plurality of wavelengths, the optical power loss value being determined for each one of the plurality of wavelengths.

4 . An optical power loss measurement (OPLM) system comprising:
a first OPLM device including:
a first housing having a first connector interface;
a first optical source mounted in the first housing and optically coupled to the first connector interface; and
a first large-area detector mounted to the first housing;
a second OPLM device including:
a second housing having a second connector interface;
a first detector mounted in the second housing and optically coupled to the second connector interface; and
a second large-area detector mounted to the second housing; and
at least one computing device mounted in at least one of the first and second housings and in communication with the first optical source, the first and second large-area detectors and the first detector, the at least one computing device being configured to perform the steps of:
receiving a first power value associated with measuring, using at least one of the first large-area detector and the second large-area detector, a test light outputted from a first reference optical waveguide;
receiving a second power value associated with measuring, using at least one of the first large-area detector and the second large-area detector, the test light outputted from a reference waveguide link including the first reference optical waveguide connected in series to a second reference optical waveguide;
receiving a reference power value of the OPLM system, the reference power value being measured using the first detector of the second OPLM device and resulting from the propagation of light from the first optical source of the first OPLM device to the first detector of the second OPLM device via the reference waveguide link; and
determining a corrected reference power value based on the reference power value and the first and second power values.

5 . The OPLM system of claim 4 , further comprising determining a reference loss value of the reference waveguide link by calculating the difference between the first power value and the second power value.

6 . The OPLM system of claim 4 , wherein said determining the corrected reference power value includes adding the reference loss value to the reference power value.

7 . The OPLM system of claim 6 , wherein the first detector of the second OPLM device is a fiber-pigtailed detector.

8 . The OPLM system of claim 4 , wherein the first power value and the second power values are measured using either the first large-area detector or the second large-area detector.

9 . The OPLM system of claim 4 , wherein the at least one computing device is further configured to perform the steps of:
receiving a third power value, the third power value being measured using the first detector of the second OPLM device and resulting from the propagation of light from the first optical source of the first OPLM device to the first detector of the second OPLM device via a test link, said test link including an optical device under test (DUT) connected in series between the first and second reference optical waveguides; and determining an insertion loss value of the DUT based on the corrected reference power value and the third power value.

10 . The OPLM system of claim 9 , wherein the said determining the insertion loss value includes calculating the difference between the third power value and the corrected reference power value.

11 . The OPLM system of claim 4 , wherein the at least one computing device has the computer readable memory of claim 1 .

12 . The OPLM system of claim 4 , wherein the first OPLM device further includes a second optical detector optically coupled to the first connector interface and the second OPLM device further includes a second optical source optically coupled to the second connector interface, the reference power value being bi-directionally measured between the first OPLM device and the second OPLM device.

13 . The OPLM system of claim 9 , wherein the first OPLM device further includes a second optical detector optically coupled to the first connector interface and the second OPLM device further includes a second optical source optically coupled to the second connector interface, the third power value being bi-directionally measured between the first OPLM device and the second OPLM device.

14 . The OPLM system of claim 4 , wherein at least one of the first and second large-area detectors is mounted to one of the first and second OPLM devices.

15 . A method for measuring an optical insertion loss of an optical device under test (DUT) using an optical power loss measurement (OPLM) system comprising an optical source and a detector, the method comprising the steps of:
obtaining a reference connection value from a difference between a second power value and a first power value, the first power value corresponding to a measurement of a test light at an open end of at least one first reference optical waveguide and the second power value corresponding to a measurement of the test light at an open end of a reference waveguide link including the first reference optical waveguide connected in series to a second reference optical waveguide; obtaining a reference power value of the OPLM system, the reference power value resulting from the propagation of light from the optical source to the detector via the reference waveguide link; determining a corrected reference power value based on the reference power value and on the first and second power values; obtaining, from the detector of the OPLM system, a third power value resulting from the propagation of light from the optical source to the detector via a test link including the DUT connected in series between the first and second reference optical waveguides; and determining the insertion loss of the DUT based on the corrected reference power value and on the third power value.

16 . The method of claim 15 , further comprising:
measuring said f

Assignees

• Exfo Inc

Inventors

• Perron Stephane

Classifications

• H04B10/07955 Primary

  Monitoring or measuring power · CPC title

• G01M11/33 Primary

  with a light emitter being disposed at one fibre or waveguide end-face, and a light receiver at the other end-face · CPC title

• G01M11/02 Primary

  Testing optical properties · CPC title