Patent ID: 11879802
Assignee: EXFO INC.
Field: Measurement (Instruments)
Classification: CPC G  H | IPC G  H

Claim 1:
2. An OTDR method for testing fiber link continuity in a multi-fiber device comprising a plurality of optical fiber links, according to a fiber arrangement, the method comprising:
receiving a set of backscattering patterns obtained from a pre-characterization of a corresponding set of receive fibers, said backscattering patterns being caused by fluctuations at least partly inherent from an optical fiber structure of said receive fibers and define signatures of the receive fibers;
performing an OTDR acquisition toward at least one of said optical fiber links, said one of said optical fiber links being connected at its remote end to a first receive fiber and wherein said OTDR acquisition is performed by propagating a test signal in the optical fiber link under test and detecting corresponding return light signal from the optical fiber link so as to obtain an OTDR trace representing backscattered and reflected light as a function of distance in the optical fiber link under test; and
in said OTDR trace, searching for one backscattering pattern among said set of backscattering patterns, corresponding to one receive fiber, to determine if said first receive fiber matches said one receive fiber, wherein said backscattering patterns are used as signatures to recognize said one receive fiber in said OTDR trace;
wherein a link continuity of said one of said optical fiber links is determined when a match is found.