FIBRE OPTIC TESTING
Determining acceptable loss in fibre optic cabling systems
As a test equipment manufacturer , perhaps the most frequently asked question regarding testing of fibre optic cabling is ‘ How much loss am I allowed to have ?’ Unfortunately , the answer is ‘ it depends ’. So , what does it depend on ? Here , Dan Payerle , global product manager – data cable testers , Ideal Networks explains .
Well The answer to that question depends on who is doing the testing and in what phase of a project the cabling is being tested . Most of our customers are installation contractors who are paid to install , terminate and certify the cabling and they have no idea what the client plans to run on the cabling once the job is done . Unless their plans have specifications for acceptable attenuation ( insertion loss ) it is up to the installer to determine the correct value based on the specifics of each link being tested . If the application the client plans to run on the system is 10 gigabit Ethernet for example , the installer can refer to the standards for that application to determine acceptable loss .
28 | February 2017