Fault location on optical amplifier submarine systems

Abstract

This paper identifies the problems that arise when optical time domain reflectometry (OTDR) is applied to optical amplifiers systems. It formulates the performance impairment induced by these problems in terms of single way dynamic range (SWDR). A new modulation format is proposed to improve SWDR. Experiments successfully demonstrate that the proposed format achieves a 6 dB improvement and confirm that this format is effective in OTDR applications into amplifier systems.<>