US 12,467,825 B2
Optical time domain reflectometry (OTDR) device and methods
Michael Cahill, Melbourne (AU)
Assigned to II-VI DELAWARE, INC., Wilmington, DE (US)
Filed by II-VI Delaware, Inc., Wilmington, DE (US)
Filed on Oct. 19, 2023, as Appl. No. 18/490,045.
Prior Publication US 2025/0130136 A1, Apr. 24, 2025
Int. Cl. G01M 11/00 (2006.01)
CPC G01M 11/3145 (2013.01) 20 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. An optical time domain reflectometry (OTDR) device, comprising:
an optical transmitter configured to generate a probe signal comprising a train of pulses;
an optical receiver configured to generate time-varying measurements of a back-reflected signal resulting from injection of respective pulses of the probe signal into an optical fiber link;
an optical coupler configured to inject the probe signal from the optical transmitter into the optical fiber link and direct the back-reflected signal from the optical fiber link to the optical receiver; and
a processor configured to:
generate a probe trace of the optical fiber link from first time-varying measurements of the back-reflected signal;
identify one or more ranges of the probe trace that are clear of events;
select an intra-scan first transition point such that the optical receiver transitions from a first operating setting to a second operating setting during a range of the one or more identified ranges that is clear of events; and
generate a range-extended trace of the optical fiber link from second time-varying measurements of the back-reflected signal in which the optical receiver transitions from the first operating setting to the second operating setting at the intra-scan first transition point.