FIBER TESTING:

THE RIGHT THRESHOLDS AND

WHY THEY MATTER

Christian Till
Subject Matter Expert & Senior Member of Technical Staff

February 3, 2021
Standard selection

Focus on splices and connectors

Similar values can be found in:

– IEC 14764
– IEC 11801
– TIA 568 Inside and Outside Plant

Slight variations for mean

connector loss vs 100%
Recommendation ITU-T G.671

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Splice

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Splice Thresholds – ITU-T G.671

So is 0.08 dB
the right threshold?!

“Note 9 – These values assume the joining of fiber types covered

by the same Recommendation. These values are worst-case over
all environments and for a large sample size. Typical values of
insertion loss for ... actively – aligned fusion splices 0.08 dB ...”

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Splice loss

vs

Photometry Reflectometry
– Fast and accurate – MFD can have higher
impact on loss measurement
– Bad reference can ruin
a measurement – Advanced reflectometry
will have better accuracy
– Only E2E loss

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 Photometry Reflectometry
Technology
Traditional Advanced Traditional Advanced
Number of technicians required 2 2 1 1
Need to reference tester Yes Yes No No
Technical expertise needed to perform test Low Low Medi um to high Low
Provide Insertion Loss Yes Yes Yes Yes
Provide Insertion ORL No Yes Yes Yes
Provide Length of the fiber No Yes Yes Yes
Provide Absolute Power Yes No No No
Allow locating faults No No Yes Yes
Distributed Loss
No No Yes Yes
(elements such as connectors, splices)
Live testing Yes , a bsolute power l evel No Yes , real time trace Yes , real time trace
Detection of Transpose fiber Yes Yes Yes with receive box Yes with receive box
20s to 3mn depending on the
3s to 1mn depending on the link complexity
Average test time per fiber* 2/5s dual λ 2/5s dual λ bidir link complexity and technician
and technician 's skills – Typical 45s/λ
's skills – Typical 30s/λ

LS/PM LS/Power Intelligent Intelligent OFM

Related product in EXFO portfolio OLTS (FOT) OTDR (MAX, FTB) Intelligent OTDR (iOLM)
(FLS/PX1) Checker (OX1) OLTS (MAX) (OX1)

Graphical representation of Si mplified Tra di tional trace Adva nced Li nk Ma p for Ba s ic Link Ma p for
No No No
the link l i nk vi ew + Si mplified l ink vi ew cha ra cterization fa ult l ocation
EXFO Advisor:
Intelligent 5-Star Link
Pa s s/Fail; Pass/Fail; Macrobend fault
Quality rating
Automatic-diagnosis Pa s s/Fail Pa s s/Fail Pa s s/Fail Ma crobend Pass/Fail; Macrobend detection detection; contextual
detection diagnosis/guidance to fix
Pass/Fail; Macrobend
and fault detection

Loopback measurements No No No No No Yes No

Mode Field Diameter vs Wavelength

MFD@1310nm Core diameter MFD@1550nm Core diameter

9.2 microns 9 microns 10.4 microns 9 microns

1310nm wavelength travels 1550nm wavelength travels

Slightly Outside the core beyond the core
(part of the cladding)

Using 1310nm for testing the splice loss, will give you
the actual condition of the core joint.
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Macrobend detection: Higher loss at a higher wavelength

OTDR OTDR offline iOLM

1550 nm
1625 nm

1310 nm

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Gainers with an OTDR
MFD Large MFDSmall MFD Small MFDLarge

MFD9.9µm
MFD10.9µm MFD10.9µm
MFD9.9µm

Gainer Loser
B1

L1 S
L2

S B2 BiDi Testing!

L = Apparent Optical Loss/Gain

S = Actual Optical/Splice Loss

B = Backscattered Light
Corning SMF-28e specification

The only way to have the true loss of the event is to perform a
bidirectionnal measurement and average the losses from both direction
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MFD Distribution

Source: fibersmirk.com/mfd

Corning SMF-28e+ Source: FIA

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Doing the perfect splice

– No angular / axial mis-alignment

from splicing machine

– Core alignment splicing machine

– Perfect cleaving angle

– Vee-grooves clean

– Fiber with excellent glass geometry

𝜔1 𝜔2
𝑀𝐹𝐷𝑙𝑜𝑠𝑠 = −20 × log 0.5 × +
𝜔2 𝜔1
2
𝜔1
𝑂𝑇𝐷𝑅𝑜𝑛𝑒𝑤𝑎𝑦 = 5 × log
𝜔2 Source: Fujikura, measured @ 1310nm

Source: Felix Kapron et all

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 Expected loss same fiber (G.652.D) - OTDR

Corning SMF-28e+

Source: fibersmirk.com/mfd
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 Same fiber type (G.652.D) different supplier

Fiber 1

Corning SMF-28e+

Fiber 2

Prysmian Bendbright

Source: fibersmirk.com/mfd
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 Splice loss – G.652 to G.657

Fiber 1

Corning SMF-28e+

Fiber 2

Corning ClearCurve ZBL

Source: fibersmirk.com/mfd
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Doing the right thing - Alternatives

Know what fiber type you are testing!

Bidirectional measurement for backbone

and F1 fiber

Using custom elements

for correct P/F thresholds ->
Let the technician focus
on getting the work done!
– Modifications can easily be checked via
One Click File Validation in FastReporter3

Look at the overall splice distribution

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© 2021 EXFO Inc. 20200542 16
Trial me First Time Right with
for 90 days
TestFlow
Progress
Process optimization Quality
Test limits analysis Compliance
Vendor selection
Systems Construction
engineer director

Analytics
insights

1101111
001
1
1101111 1
001
00 00 0 0 0000 Validate
JOB Create job 11 results
0
0100110 JOB
0
11 010
Project
manager Progress Analyze Accept T est results
auditor
Quality deployment job
Compliance

Assign Upload
job results

Perform job
Fiber inspection
iOLM fiber characterization
RESULTS
Optical power meter
Technician Generic tasks

© 2021 EXFO Inc. 20200542 17

TestFlow Analysis Dashboard for Splices
(can be filtered on region/job/…)

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Connectors

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Connector Thresholds – ITU-T G.671

0.75 dB for 100%

0.5 dB for 95%

“NOTE 8 – … In consideration of future network evolutions,

a value of –40 dB is under study.”

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Quality has it´s price

Mixing Connector grades can increase loss!

Custom elements with dedicated thresholds are key

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Installation best practices
Connector cleaningness
and macrobending

5%
10%

85%
Dirty/damage optical connection
Macrobends
Other
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Connector endface

Core
0-25 µm

Cladding
25-120 µm

Adhesive
120-130 µm

Zones Scratches Defects

A: Core None None Contact

130-250 µm
No limit <2 µm
No limit ≤3 µm
B: Cladding 5 from 2–5 µm
None >3 µm
None >5 µm Non-critical
zone 250+ µm
C: Adhesive No limit No limit

D: Contact No limit None ≥10 µm

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TestFlow Analysis Dashboard for Connectors
(can be filtered on region/job/…)

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Inhouse Quality Control

CTP-10 Example measurement of a 20+ channels 100 GHz AWG

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An EXFO 5-star advisor
Assess the quality of your fiber links
as per industry best practices.

3 second fiber health check

(length, IL, ORL)
Flash
Advisor

© 2021 EXFO Inc. 20200542 26

5 Stars – What it is?

A neutral
GOOD
opinion from
an expert
Or
about the
quality of the
BAD ?link

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5 Stars – What it is?
The rating is RELATIVE to expected values.
The closest from the expected value, the highest quality rating

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5 Stars – Examples
LINK 1 LINK 2 LINK 3 LINK 4
Star rating for FTTH Last Mile
Chase what really matters and
impact your link!
Should a 0.35 dB splice be a concern on
last mile? Is hoping for a 0.20db
improvement worth the re-splicing cost and
delay in this case? Does the last mile
technician have a splice machine? Is it even
doable (accessible)? What to do with this
FAIL?

In combination with the pass/fail on RX

power, star rating allows a more
comprehensive evaluation of the link health,
preventing chasing marginal failures.

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Key take aways

1. Thresholds are dependent on the application as well as

quality and specifications of components
2. iOLM measurement configs distributed through TestFlow
will help technician avoid unnecessary work and better
document the network with custom elements
3. Monitoring loss distribution of events and component QC
will increase overall network quality
4. EXFO 5-Star Advisor will help you assess the quality of
your fiber links © 2021 EXFO Inc. 20200542 31
Thank you!
Christian Till
Mobile: +49 15140090116
[email protected]

linkedin.com/in/christiantill/

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