Chromatic dispersion analyser successfully characterises 500-kilometre fibre optic link containing eight amplifiers
Exfo announces that its new FTB-5800 chromatic dispersion analyser has successfully characterised an entire long-haul network belonging to Telus.
Test trials on a 500-km link proved to be conclusive when the chromatic dispersion (CD) analyser, a module contained inside the FTB-400 field-testing platform, swept through eight erbium-doped fibre amplifiers (EDFAs) with accurate and repeatable measurements.
This marks the first time a field-ready CD analyser tests an entire link including amplifiers.
"It is impressive to see what Exfo's new box can accomplish," said Larry Bernier, network surveillance and control analyst at Telus.
"Other CD test sets on the market are either incapable of testing through amplifiers or they require communication between source and receiver." "This represents a remarkable achievement since there's no known limit to the distances that our CD analyser can measure," said Mario Larose, vice-president of marketing at Exfo.
"Long-haul and ultra-long haul carriers as well as network service providers have been wanting to characterise entire links, not only sections of it, for the longest time.
Up until today, this was impossible using a field-testing instrument, but this latest trial at Telus signals a new era in fibre-optic testing." Combined with the highly intuitive graphical user interface and all-in-one configuration of the FTB-400 platform, Exfo's chromatic dispersion analyser represents the best-of-class solution for high-end field testing.
The CD analyser can also be combined with a polarisation mode dispersion (PMD) analyser inside the FTB-400 platform to handle all dispersion testing needs.
A single CD-PMD analyser source completes the test set to allow significant savings in testing time and cost.
