Method and apparatus for identifying an optical transmission medium

Abstract: In a method of identifying an optical transmission medium from a plurality of such media, the particular medium to be identified is excited by polarized light which is modulated at the identification location (by applying either an electromagnetic action or a mechanical action) so that the medium can be identified by the deviation of the plane of polarization of the transmitted light.

Description: This invention relates to a method for identifying an optical transmission medium and to an apparatus for identifying the same. In the course of the recent development of telecommunication networks, a huge number and a wide variety of telecommunication cables have been and are being laid in tunnels, conduits and ducts in building sites often in the form of bundles. Such installations normally contain also power transmission cables whose external view resembles to that of telecommunication cables. When, for example, a specific cable has to be branched at a point somewhere in the middle thereof, the cable has to be identified in the first place at the point of branching. Although the process of identification may seem very simple as a cable can be identified by introducing light from an end of the cable and detecting the light coming out from its other end, an operator for the branching operation positioned at the point of branching somewhere in the middle of the cable can not simultaneously see the light incoming end and the light outgoing end of the cable particularly when the cable is considerably long. As far as metal cables for power transmission are concerned, there has been proposed a method for identifying a particular cable out of a bundle of cables by using a search coil. With this method of identification, the magnetic field generated outside of a live metal cable is detected by a coil. This technique can be advantageously used as it is a noncontact method for singling out a live metal cable out of a bundle of cables installed together. However, the above technique is effective only for identification of a metal cable and it cannot be applied to identifying an optical fiber cable (nonmetal cable) that does not generate a magnetic field from without. Thus there has been proposed, for identification of coated optical fibers, a so-called local detection method, which will be described below. Each of the coated optical fibers, including the one to be detected, can be identified at its ends. Therefore, in the local detection method, a given optical signal is introduced at an end of the optical fiber cable into the coated optical fiber which is assumed to be the right one for branching at a point in the middle of its longitudinal direction and then each of the coated optical fibers within the cable sheath is partially exposed and bent at the point. Under these conditions, the optical fiber into which light has been introduced leaks the light (in a radiation mode) from the bent area. So, the optical fiber in question can be identified by detecting the source of the leaked light. A telephone line is often used on sites of installing or repairing optical fiber cables for communication between workers. When an optical fiber cable contains metal wires, any of such wires may be utilized for telephone communication. However, if the optical fiber cable to be laid is a nonmetallic cable that does not contain any metallic wires or if the optical fiber cable contains metallic wires but any of them can not be suitably used for telephone communication, a coated optical fiber is used as a telephone line, to which optical telephone sets are connected. [Problems to be Solved by the Invention] While the above described local detection method may be used when the cable sheath of an optical fiber cable can be partially peeled off and a particular optical fiber can be detected out of a number of optical fibers contained in it, the method may not be successfully used particularly when a large number of optical fiber cables are laid in parallel and a particular optical fiber can not be detected without peeling off all the sheath of the cables. Besides, the process of peeling off, if partially, the sheath of an optical fiber cable in this method entails damage to the cable and that of bending the optical fiber cable can be accompanied by possible deterioration of the transmission characteristics of the cable, which in turn results in bit errors particularly when the cable is in live condition and actually used. Now, light signals for telephone communication are transmitted from and received at the ends of the coated optical fiber by the optical telephone sets. While the optical telephone sets have to be connected to the both ends of the coated optical fiber for telephone communication, such connection can not be realized when there are no cuttable coated optical fibers or when all the work for connection of the optical fiber cable has been completed. If optical telephone communication has to be established under these circumstances by using one of the coated optical fibers of the cable, the selected fiber should be cut and optical telephone sets should be connected to the fiber at both ends, entailing a troublesome operation to be performed. In view of the above-mentioned technological problems, it is therefore the object of the present invention to provide a method and an apparatus for identifying a particular optical transmission medium without damaging the optical fiber cable in which the optical fiber is contained and adversely affecting the currently busy lines of the cable. According to the invention there is provided a method for identifying an optical transmission medium out of a plurality of optical transmission media, using a longitudinal intermediate portion of the media as an identification section, characterized in that a particular optical transmission medium to be identified is excited by means of polarized light and said polarized light is modulated by applying either an electromagnetic action or a mechanical action to the particular optical transmission medium to be identified at said identification section so that said particular optical transmission medium can be identified by a deviation of the polarized plane of said polarized light. Also according to the invention there is provided an apparatus for identifying an optical transmission medium out of a plurality of optical transmission media, using a longitudinal intermediate portion as an identification section, characterized in that said apparatus comprises a transmitting/receiving station provided with a light source to be used for exciting said optical transmission medium with polarized light and a light-receiving section with a variable polarization plane for receiving the polarized light transmitted through the optical transmission medium and means for externally applying an electromagnetic or mechanical action to the optical transmission medium at a longitudinally intermediate portion of said optical transmission medium. With the method of identifying an optical transmission medium according to the invention, longitudinal middle portions of a plurality of optical transmission media installed in parallel are used as identification section and a particular optical transmission medium is identified in that section in a manner as described below. Since each of said optical transmission media, including the one to be detected at the longitudinally intermediate portion (identification section), can be identified at its ends, the optical transmission medium in question is excited at one of its ends by the polarized light. In other words, a given optical signal is introduced into the optical transmission medium in question at an end of the bundle of the optical transmission media. As the light signal entered into the optical transmission medium in question, each of the optical transmission media is subjected to an electromagnetic or mechanical action at the identification section. Under this condition, the polarized light that has been introduced from an end of the optical transmission medium to be detected at the middle is modulated by said action and the modulated polarized light is detected at the other end. To the contrary, all the optical transmission media other than the optical transmission medium to be identified or those that have not been excited by the polarized light do not show any fluctuation in the state of transmission. Therefore, the operator at the identification section can identify the optical transmission medium by communicating over the telephone with his or her colleagues at the two ends of the medium each time he applies said action to one of the optical transmission media to check if it shows modulation of the polarized light until the optical transmission medium in question is identified as it shows modulation of the polarized light at the light-receiving end of the medium and the operator at that end notifies the detection of the modulation of the polarized light. Since an apparatus for identifying an optical transmission medium according to the invention comprises a transmitting/receiving station provided with a light source and a section for receiving light for polarized light with a shifted wave plane and means for externally applying a given action to the optical transmission medium, it can satisfactorily apply said identifying method to any optical transmission media. EP-0232041, WO-87/05762, EP-0221695 and GB-2083311 disclose various techniques in which a light signal, passing along an optical fibre, is modulated at selected positions along its length by subjecting the optical fibre to mechanical stress at those positions. In EP-0232041 and WO-87/05762, the applied stress changes the plane of polarisation of the light passing along the optical fibre. Now the method as well as an apparatus for identifying an optical transmission medium according to the present invention will be described in greater detail by referring to the accompanying drawings that illustrate preferred embodiments of the invention, in which:- Fig. 1 is a diagram illustrating the principle of shifting the plane of a polarized wave; Fig. 2 is a schematic illustration of an instrument used for an experiment carried out for the purpose of the present invention; Fig. 3 is a graphic illustration showing the relationship between the applied electric current and the angle of rotation of the main or principal axis of the plane of a polarized wave; Fig. 4 is a schematic illustration of another instrument used for another experiment carried out for the purpose of the present invention; Fig. 5 is a graphic illustration showing the fluctuation of the power output when an ultrasonic wave is applied to the experiment of Fig. 4; Fig. 6 is a schematic illustration of the method for identifying an optical transmission medium and a first embodiment of the apparatus for identifying the same; Fig. 7 is a schematic illustration of a variation of the method of Fig. 6 and a second embodiment of the apparatus of the invention. Fig. 1 illustrates the principle of an optical system that provides the basis for the method of identifying an optical transmission medium according to the invention. In the optical system of Fig. 1, a laser beam from light source (LD) 1 is introduced into a single-mode-type optical fiber 2 and the outgoing light is detected by a photodetector 3 and then its intensity is measured by an analyser 4 connected thereto. With the arrangement of Fig. 1, the power of the detected outgoing light will be fluctuated in accordance with the shift of the plane of polarized wave. The electric field of the light at the outgoing terminal of the optical fiber before it is led to the analyser 4 is expressed by equations (1) and (2) below. E x = a x · e j∞ · e jδ E y = a y · e j∞ wherein a x , a y : amplitude along x-axis and y-axis, δ : phase difference at x-axis and y-axis, and ∞ : angular frequency. Power P of the outgoing light along an assumed x-axis with angle ϑ of the principal axis will be expressed by equation (3) below, when detected by analyser 9. P (ϑ) = a x ²·cosϑ + a y ²·sinϑ + 2a x ·a y ·cosϑ·sinϑ·cosδ Thus, the power of the received light is a function of angle ϑ of the main axis. Angle ø of rotation of the polarized light brought forth by a magnetic field is theoretically expressed by equation (4) below. ø = v · H · ℓ · cosΨ wherein v : Verdet's constant (rad/m), H : magnetic field (AT/m), ℓ : length of the optical fiber (m), and Ψ : angle between the magnetic field and the optical fiber (deg) For wavelengths of 1300nm and 1550nm, the Verdet's constant will respectively take the following values. 1300nm : 1.10 x 10⁻⁶ (rad/m) 1550nm : 0.77 x 10⁻⁶ (rad/m) Fig. 3 illustrates the relationship between the current applied to the coil and the angle of rotation of the principal axis of the polarized wave plane of coherent light passing through optical fiber 2 caused as a result of the Faraday effect obtained in an experiment conducted by using an arrangement as illustrated in Fig. 2, which is constituted by a coated optical fiber 2 with an outer diameter of 0.04mmø, a magnetic-field-applying device 5 as means for rotating linearly polarized light and an instrument 6 for measuring the degree of polarization comprising a light-emitting section 7 and a light receiving section 8. A deviation of the polarized plane of the polarized light passing through an optical fiber caused by an external force such as mechanical vibration can be explained in the following manner. An external force such as mechanical vibration brings the optical fiber under stress and generates a photo-elastic effect that gives rise to a partial double refraction in the area of the optical fiber under stress. The electric field vectors of the light passing through a single-mode optical fiber prior to the application of stress which is a function of signal are expressed by equation (5) below, while the intensity of the light is expressed by equation (6). ex = A cos ∞t ey = A cos ∞t wherein A : amplitude. Ii = 2 A² Note that the angle of incidence of the polarized light is assumed to be 45° relative to both the X- and Y-axes for simplification of explanation. Then the photoelastic effect generated by the external stress brings forth a difference of refractive index equal to |nx - ny| in orthogonal directions on a sectional plane of the optical fiber as well as a phase difference equal to γ in the orthogonal components of the electric field. Consequently, the polarized plane is modulated to produce an elliptically polarized light. Then the intensity of light Io of the output of the analyser in y-direction will be expressed as follows. Io = 2 A² sin²(γ/2) Thus the ratio of the intensity of the light outgoing from the analyser to that of the incoming light will be expressed by the following equation. Io/Ii = 2 A² sin²γ/2 If the stress is applied by means of a piezo-electric device, γ will be given by the following formula. γ = π/2 + γ msin∞mt wherein π/2 : phase difference bias, m = π(Vm/Vπ), Vmsin∞t : drive voltage of the piezo-electric device and Vπ : applied voltage that makes the optical phase difference equal to π. The following equation is derived from equations (8) and (9). Io/Ii = sin²(π4 + (γm/2) sin∞mt = {1 + sin(γmsin∞mt)}/2 If m < < 1, formula (6) will be also expressed as follows. Io/Ii = {1 + γmsin∞mt)}/2 It will be seen that a light with an intensity modulated proportionally to the drive voltage applied to thee piezo-electric device is obtained. In another experiment, where an arrangement as illustrated in Fig. 4 and constituted by a coated optical fiber 2 with an outer diameter of 0.04mmø, an ultrasonic-wave-applying device 9 as means for deviating the plane of polarized light, a light/electricity converter (O/E) 10 and an oscilloscope 11 connected downstream to an analyser 4 was used and a vibration of 40kHz was applied to the optical fiber 2 from the ultrasonic-wave-applying device 9, the power of the light received by way of the analyser 4 showed a fluctuation as illustrated in Fig. 5. Now the identifying method and a preferred embodiment of the identifying apparatus of the invention realized on the basis of the principle illustrated in Fig. 1 will be described by referring to Fig. 6. It may be assumed that an optical transmission medium 21 of Fig. 6 is installed in a tunnel, a conduit or a duct in a building (not shown). The optical transmission medium 21 may be a coated optical fiber, a single core optical fiber cable, a multi-core optical fiber cable or any cable comprising mainly optical fibers and the optical fiber under consideration of the optical transmission medium 21 may be, for instance, a single-mode type optical fiber. It should be noted, however, that the optical transmission medium 21 schematically shown in Fig. 6 comprises an optical fiber cable 22 for input purposes and an optical fiber cable 23 for output purposes. In Fig. 6, a light source 24 for transmitting light signals into the optical transmission medium 21 may be a laser diode that generates coherent light and a light-receiving section 25 for polarized light with a shifted wave plane is realized by combining a known analyser and electric as well as electronic devices. The light source 24 and the light receiving section 25 for polarized light with a shifted wave plane are installed within a transmitting/receiving station 26. In the transmitting/receiving station 26, the light source 24 is mutually connected with the input terminal of the optical fiber cable 22 for input purposes and the light-receiving section 25 for polarized light with a shifted wave plane is mutually connected with the output terminal of the optical fiber cable 23 for output purposes. In Fig. 6, an identification section 27 is arranged at a longitudinally intermediate portion of the optical transmission medium 21. Also in Fig. 6, a magnetic-field-applying device 28 is arranged for applying a magnetic field to the optical transmission medium 21 from outside of said optical transmission medium 21. Said magnetic-field-applying device 28 is so designed that the intensity of the magnetic field applied to the optical transmission medium 21 as well as the frequency of application of magnetic field can be varied and consequently the linearly polarized light can be modulated through such operation of varying the intensity of magnetic field as well as the frequency of application as described later. The magnetic-field-applying device 28 is juxtaposed with the identification section 27 on the optical transmission medium 21. Since currently available optical communication systems are based on the intensity modulation/direct detection technique, application of a magnetic field to busy lines (optical fiber cables) by means of a magnetic-field-applying device 28 and any fluctuation of the polarized wave due to such application do not interfere with the communications which are current in the optical fiber cables. In relay station 29 in Fig. 6, the optical fiber cable 22 for input purposes and the optical fiber cable 23 for output purposes are connected with each other by way of an optical fiber cable 30 for looping. With an embodiment as illustrated in Fig. 6, a particular optical transmission medium 21 is singled out from a plurality of optical transmission media in the following manner. A laser beam (linearly polarized light) emitted from the light source 24 of the transmitting/receiving station 26 is introduced into the optical fiber cable 22 and then passes through the optical fiber cables 30 and 23 before it is received by the light-receiving section 25 for polarized light with a shifted wave plane. While the beam proceeds through the optical fiber cables, a magnetic field is externally applied to the optical transmission medium 21 by means of the magnetic-field applying device 28. In the optical transmission medium 21 to which a magnetic field is applied, the intensity and the phase of the linearly polarized light is amplitude- or frequency-modulated (hereinafter referred to as AM or FM) so that the principal axis of the light is rotated and the rotation of the axis is detected by the light-receiving section 25 for polarized light with a shifted wave plane. Since the optical transmission medium 21 in which the polarized plane of the polarized light is being deviated is the one which is subjected to a magnetic field applied from without, the operator at the transmitting/receiving station 26 notifies his colleague at the identification section 27 by means of a radio or wired communication system of the fact that the optical transmission medium 21 is the one to be identified. Upon receiving the notice, the operator at the identification section 27 can correctly identify the optical transmission medium 21 in question. Now a variation of the method and a second embodiment of the apparatus of the invention realized on the basis of the principle illustrated in Fig. 1 will be described by referring to Fig. 7. In the embodiment of Fig. 7, the magnetic-field-applying device 28 of the identification section 27 arranged in a longitudinally intermediate portion of the optical transmission medium 21 in the above described first embodiment is replaced by an ultrasonic-wave-applying device 31 for externally applying an ultrasonic wave to the optical transmission medium 21. Said ultrasonic-wave-applying device 31 is so designed that the amplitude and the frequency of the ultrasonic wave applied to the optical transmission medium 21 can be varied by means of a controller 32. Therefore, the polarized light passing through the optical transmission medium 21 can be modulated by such operation in terms of intensity and phase of the light. It should be noted that, as in the case of the first embodiment, any fluctuation that may take place in the polarized wave of light as an ultrasonic wave is applied to the busy lines (optical fiber cables) by the ultrasonic-wave-applying device 31 does not adversely affect the communications which are current through the cables. All the technological aspects of the embodiment of Fig. 7 other than the use of ultrasonic wave are similar to those of the embodiment of Fig. 6. The embodiment of Fig. 7 is operated for singling out a particular optical transmission medium 21 out of a plurality of optical transmission media in a manner similar to that of the first embodiment and described below. A laser beam emitted from the light source 24 in the transmitting/receiving station 26 is introduced into the optical fiber cable 22 and then passes through the optical fiber cables 30 and 23 before it is received by the light-receiving section 25 for the polarized light with a shifted wave plane. While the beam proceeds through the optical fiber cables, an ultrasonic wave is externally applied to the optical transmission medium 21 by means of the ultrasonic-wave-applying device 31 near the identification section 27 and then the intensity and the phase of the linearly polarized light passing through the optical transmission medium 21 is modulated so that the main axis of the light is rotated and the rotation of the axis is detected by the light-receiving section 25 for polarized light with a shifted wave plane. All the other stages of the process of identification are identical with those of the embodiment of Fig. 6. While a transmitting/receiving station 26 and a relay station 23 are located at the opposite ends of the optical transmission medium 21 in each of the above embodiments of Figs. 6 and 7, they may be replaced respectively by a transmitting station (light source) and a receiving station (light-receiving section for polarized light with a shifted wave plane) without altering the function of identifying a particular optical transmission medium of those embodiments. Once a particular optical transmission medium (optical fiber cable) 21 is singled out, the next step may be, for example, the operation of locally removing the cable sheath at a longitudinally intermediate portion, exposing a number of optical fibers that have been coated to atmosphere and identifying the optical transmission medium to be branched. The above described method for identifying a particular optical transmission medium can be effectively applied to such operation. If the optical transmission medium 21 is a coated optical fiber, the coating is removed and then the fiber is bent at the exposed portion so that linearly polarized light may be introduced into the optical transmission medium from the bent area. If such is the case, the polarized light may be introduced into the optical transmission medium either from an end of the medium or a longitudinally intermediate portion of the medium where the optical fiber is exposed. The method for identifying an optical transmission medium and an apparatus for identifying the same according to the invention bring forth the following effects. (1) Because either an electromagnetic action or a mechanical action is externally applied to an optical transmission medium, there is no need of peeling off a part of the coating of the optical transmission medium to cause it to leak the light passing therethrough and therefore it is free from being damaged. (2) Because no operation is required for peeling off the coating of related optical transmission media, the operation of identifying a particular optical transmission medium can be carried out with ease. (3) Because the operation of identifying a particular optical transmission medium does not affect any live lines, it can be carried out without interfering with the current communications.

Claims: A method for identifying an optical transmission medium (21) out of a plurality of optical transmission media, using a longitudinal intermediate portion of the media as an identification section (27), characterized in that a particular optical transmission medium (21) to be identified is excited by means of polarized light and said polarized light is modulated by applying either an electromagnetic action or a mechanical action to the particular optical transmission medium (21) to be identified at said identification section (27) so that said particular optical transmission medium (21) can be identified by a deviation of the polarized plane of said polarized light. A method for identifying an optical transmission medium according to claim 1, wherein said plurality of optical transmission media are either optical fiber cables or coated optical fibers. A method for identifying an optical transmission medium according to claim 1, wherein an end portion, or a longitudinally intermediate portion which is away from the identification section, of the optical transmission medium (21) to be identified is used as an optical excitation section. A method for identifying an optical transmission medium according to any of claims 1 to 3, wherein the polarized light is reflected at an end portion (30) (other than the end portion to be used as an optical excitation section) and detected by a photodetector (25) and an analyser arranged in the optical excitation section (26) as said light proceeds along the optical transmission medium (21) to be identified. A method for identifying an optical transmission medium according to any of claims 1 to 4, wherein said mechanical action is ultrasonic vibration. A method for identifying an optical transmission medium according to any of claims 1 to 5, wherein the deviation of the polarized plane of the polarized light detected in the optical excitation section (26) is transferred to the optical identification section (27) by way of a radio or optical fiber transmission channel. A method for identifying an optical transmission medium according to any of claims 1 to 6, wherein data acquired by the optical identification section (27) is converted into an electromagnetic action modulated by a carrier wave with a given frequency or a mechanical action, said action being applied to the optical transmission medium (21) to be identified and said deviation of the polarized plane of the polarized light being detected by said optical excitation section (26) so that said data is transferred from said optical identification section (27) to said optical excitation section (26). An apparatus for identifying an optical transmission medium (21) out of a plurality of optical transmission media, using a longitudinal intermediate portion as an identification section (27), characterized in that said apparatus comprises a transmitting/receiving station (26) provided with a light source (24) to be used for exciting said optical transmission medium (21) with polarized light and a light-receiving section (25) with a variable polarization plane for receiving the polarized light transmitted through the optical transmission medium (21) and means (28) for externally applying an electromagnetic or mechanical action to the optical transmission medium (21) at a longitudinally intermediate portion (27) of said optical transmission medium (21).

Inventors: FUJISAKI AKIRA C O CHIBA WORKS, MIYAZAKI MITSUO C O TOKYO EL P, MIZUTANI MORINOBU C O TOKYO EL, OGOSHI HARUKI C O FURUKAWA ELE, SENTSUI SHINTARO C O CHIBA WOR, FUJISAKI, AKIRA, C/O CHIBA WORKS, MIYAZAKI, MITSUO, C/O TOKYO EL. POWER COMP. INC., MIZUTANI, MORINOBU, C/O TOKYO EL. POWER COMP. INC., OGOSHI, HARUKI, C/O FURUKAWA ELECTRIC CO. LTD., SENTSUI, SHINTARO, C/O CHIBA WORKS
Applicants: FURUKAWA ELECTRIC CO LTD, TOKYO ELECTRIC POWER CO, THE FURUKAWA ELECTRIC CO., LTD., THE TOKYO ELECTRIC POWER CO., INC.
Application year: 1990
Main classification: H04B10
IPC codes: H04B10