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Polarization OTDR: Locating High-PMD Fibers

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Polarization OTDR: Locating High-PMD Fibers

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  • Author: André Fougeres
It is generally accepted that the total maximum tolerable polarization-mode dispersion (PMD) of a link should not exceed ten percent of the length of a bit. For non-return-to-zero systems operating at 2.5 Gb/s, 10 Gb/s, and 40 Gb/s, this translates into less than 40 ps, 10 ps, and 2.5 ps, respectively. Moreover, to operate within acceptable PMD levels, the maximum distance between two regenerators decreases in proportion to the square of the increase of the transmission rate per channel. Increasing the number of regenerators on a given existing link is obviously not an option (roughly costs US$1 million each). Similarly, even though improvements in production techniques have considerably reduced the PMD of new singlemode fibers, laying down a complete network made of these new fibers considerably reduces the cost advantage of higher-speed transmission.

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