Method and systems to identify types of fibers in an optical network

Abstract

A method to determine the types of optical fibers forming a link of an optical communication network. By scanning a signal's bit error rate at a receiver end, as a function of a pre-dispersion applied to a signal at a transmitter end, local minimums in the curve indicate the presence of amplifiers, and therefore fiber span extremities. By determining the accumulated dispersion at each fiber extremity, a ratio of dispersion per span length can be obtained and the span's coefficient of chromatic dispersion be inferred, thereby identifying the type of fiber. Alternatively, a signal's signal-to-noise ratio can be scanned, instead of its bit error rate. In a typical network, the required instrumentation is pre-existing.