KR20170125461A - Optical time domain reflectometer for divided optical fiber monitering on optical termination box - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to an optical time domain reflectometer (OTDR) for monitoring a distribution line installed in an optical terminal box, capable of analyzing a malfunction of a plurality of measurement target optical cables inserted into or withdrawn from an optical terminal box. The present invention, installed in an optical terminal box with a plurality of optical lines to monitor the optical lines by using an OTDR function, includes: a control module controlling the flow of a signal for measuring an optical property of the optical lines, and determining whether the optical lines are normal or not by analyzing the signal; an optical circulator distributing monitoring light, which is outputted from the OTDR, to one of the optical lines under the control of the control module; an optical coupler transmitting the monitoring light, distributed from the OTDR and flowing in through the optical lines, by changing a route through the optical circulator; an optical power meter measuring optical power, sensed through the optical coupler, to deliver the power to the control module; and a communication module transmitting a signal, measured through the optical power meter, to an external computing device.

Description

OPTICAL TIME DOMAIN REFLECTOMETER FOR DIVIDED OPTICAL FIBER MONITORING ON OPTICAL TERMINATION BOX

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an OTDR (Optical Time Domain Reflectometer) for monitoring a distribution line installed in a photonic box for analyzing faults of a plurality of measurement target optical cables installed in and out of an optical terminal box.

Recently, a variety of communication devices have been developed and used, the number of Internet users has increased, and data traffic has increased exponentially with the advent of new multimedia services. As a result, the entire network is evolving to send and receive large amounts of data.

In particular, the amount of traffic in the city's internal network is increasing due to the explosion of the Internet, intranet, and extranet in urban areas, and optical communication technology is being used as a technology for traffic reduction due to the surge in data transmission.

As an optical communication technique using an optical fiber, there is a WDM (Wavelength Division Multiplexing) method.

WDM is a system for simultaneously transmitting a plurality of channels through one optical line using light of different wavelengths. In a wavelength division-multiplexing (WDM) optical communication system, And transmits and receives light having different wavelengths.

In order to maintain and repair such a WDM optical transmission system, it is necessary to be able to easily measure a failure section for each channel of an optical path in the field, and an OTDR (Optical Time-Domain Reflectometer) is used as a means for checking the communication state of the optical fiber have,

The OTDR uses a pulse as a signal to cause a pulse of light to enter a fiber under measurement to detect fresnel reflections at a break point or rayleigh scattering in an optical fiber, Or the loss characteristics of the < / RTI >

However, the conventional OTDR is integrated with all the functions of the optical measuring instrument, such as the driving, signal processing, and analysis functions, and has limitations in cost reduction, size, and weight reduction. In addition, since the meter needs to have an OTDR for each wavelength band, if the wavelength band to be measured is increased, the specifications of the OTDR are increased accordingly, so that the replacement cost of the meter is increased and the size becomes large and is not suitable for portable use .

On the other hand, the optical terminal box is used for connecting, branching and arranging optical fibers, and is usually fixed to a main body or an indoor / outdoor wall, and an optical adapter, a connector and a cable are built in. , Connection protection function and input / output function.

That is, the optical fiber cabinet is one of the subscriber terminal devices that performs the connection and distribution function between the external optical line and the subscriber transmission device. The optical fiber in the optical cable is connected to the optical fiber of the optical fiber cord (or optical splitter) The optical fiber is distributed to the optical network unit, the optical fiber is distributed to the long-haul optical line terminal by optical connection after the remaining optical fibers are distributed.

As described above, a plurality of subscribers are allocated to one optical cable, and the distributed optical cables thus distributed need to be monitored.

1. Korean Patent No. 10-0492193 2. Korean Patent No. 10-1587091

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to provide an OTDR for a fiber optic terminal capable of monitoring and managing optical fibers of a plurality of subscriber lines.

More particularly, the present invention provides an OTDR for monitoring a distribution line installed in a compact optical fiber box that monitors and manages optical fibers on a plurality of subscriber lines distributed from one optical fiber installed in an optical terminal box, .

In order to achieve the above object, an OTDR for monitoring a distribution line installed in a photonic box according to the present invention is detachably installed in a light terminal box having a plurality of subscriber optical lines, A control module for controlling the flow of signals for measuring the optical characteristics of the subscriber's optical line of the subscriber's optical line and analyzing the measured signals to determine whether the optical line is normal; An optical circulator for distributing surveillance light output from the OTDR to one of the plurality of subscriber optical lines under the control of the control module; An optocoupler for transmitting surveillance light, which is changed in path by the optical circulator and is received through a subscriber optical line divided from the OTDR, to the control module; An optical power meter for measuring optical power sensed through the optical coupler and transmitting the optical power to the control module; And a communication module for transmitting a signal measured by the optical power meter to an external computer device.

The optical power meter includes a sensor unit for converting light energy into electrical energy, and a conversion unit for amplifying the converted electrical energy and transmitting the amplified electrical energy to the control module.

Preferably, the control module is further connected to a display unit for indicating whether the analyzed optical line is normal or not.

The OTDR for monitoring the distribution lines installed in the optical fiber box according to the present invention effectively monitors a plurality of subscriber optical lines distributed from optical terminals and provides a communication service of stable quality.

1 is a block diagram of an OTDR for monitoring a distribution line installed in a photonic box according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention.
2 is a flow chart for explaining an operation state of an OTDR for monitoring a distribution line installed in a photonic box according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention.

While the invention is susceptible to various modifications and alternative forms, specific embodiments thereof are shown by way of example in the drawings and will herein be described in detail. It should be understood, however, that the invention is not intended to be limited to the particular embodiments, but includes all modifications, equivalents, and alternatives falling within the spirit and scope of the invention.

Like reference numerals are used for like elements in describing each drawing. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

The terms first, second, etc. may be used to describe various components, but the components should not be limited by the terms. The terms are used only for the purpose of distinguishing one component from another.

For example, without departing from the scope of the present invention, the first component may be referred to as a second component, and similarly, the second component may also be referred to as a first component.

And / or < / RTI > includes any combination of a plurality of related listed items or any of a plurality of related listed items.

It is to be understood that when an element is referred to as being "connected" or "connected" to another element, it may be directly connected or connected to the other element, .

On the other hand, when an element is referred to as being "directly connected" or "directly connected" to another element, it should be understood that there are no other elements in between.

The terminology used in this application is used only to describe a specific embodiment and is not intended to limit the invention.

The singular expressions include plural expressions unless the context clearly dictates otherwise. In the present application, the terms "comprises" or "having" and the like are used to specify that there is a feature, a number, a step, an operation, an element, a component or a combination thereof described in the specification, But do not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, integers, steps, operations, elements, components, or combinations thereof.

Unless defined otherwise, all terms used herein, including technical or scientific terms, have the same meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinary skill in the art to which this invention belongs.

Terms such as those defined in commonly used dictionaries are to be interpreted as having a meaning consistent with the contextual meaning of the related art and are to be interpreted as either ideal or overly formal in the sense of the present application Do not.

Hereinafter, an OTDR for monitoring a distribution line installed in a photonic box according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings 1 to 3.

INDUSTRIAL APPLICABILITY The present invention effectively provides a communication service with stable quality by monitoring a plurality of subscriber optical lines distributed from optical terminals.

The OTDR for monitoring the distribution lines installed in the optical fiber box according to the present invention is installed in the optical trunk box and monitors the subscriber optical line.

The communication system in which the OTDR according to the present invention is installed includes an OLT (Optical Line Terminal) located inside a communication company and an ONU (Optical Network Unit) installed at a subscriber side like a normal communication system, Or point-to-multipoint communication can be performed by the data multiplexing device, and the signal light emitted from the OLT reaches the optical splitter or the data multiplexing device via the trunk optical line, and reaches the subscriber via a plurality of subscriber optical lines .

1, the OLT is installed in the optical trunk box 300 to monitor the optical network including the trunk optical line and the subscriber optical line 200 which are led into the optical trunk box 300, An optical transmitter 10, an optical serializer 20, an optical coupler 30, an optical power meter 40 and a communication module 50.

First, the OTDR 100 performs the same function as a normal OTDR. The OTDR 100 performs the function of measuring the optical characteristics of the optical path under the control of the control module 10, and by operating the optical circulator 20 And provides surveillance light to the selected one or more subscriber optical lines (200).

The control module 10 controls the flow of signals for measuring the optical characteristics of the plurality of subscriber optical paths 200 and analyzes the measured signals to determine whether the optical paths are normal or not. Program.

That is, the control module 10 transmits a subscriber's optical line selection signal to the optical circulator 20, and controls the optical circulator 20 to select a desired plurality of subscriber's optical paths 200 .

The optical circulator 20 functions to distribute surveillance light output from the OTDR 100 to any of the subscriber optical lines of the plurality of subscriber optical lines under the control of the control module.

The optical circulator 20 selects a specific subscriber optical line corresponding to the subscriber optical line select signal transmitted from the control module 10 and transmits the supervisory light generated in the OTDR 100 to the subscriber optical line.

Of course, the control module 10 may transmit the subscriber's optical line selection signal to the optical circulator so that the subscriber's optical line 200 can be selected.

And an optical coupler 30 that changes the path by the optical circulator 20 and transmits monitoring light from the OTDR 100 through each subscriber's optical line 200 to the control module.

That is, the optical coupler 30 distributes the surveillance light generated from the OTDR 100 to a plurality of subscriber optical paths 200 or transmits surveillance light via the subscriber optical line to the control module.

The optical power meter 40 measures the optical power sensed through the optical coupler and transmits the measured optical power to the control module 10. The optical power meter 40 includes a sensor 41 for converting light energy into electrical energy, And a conversion unit 42 for amplifying the amplified signal and transmitting the amplified signal to the control module.

The optical power meter 40 may be a light-current conversion type cathode ray tube, a light-current conversion type semiconductor, and a light-to-heat conversion type depending on the type of the sensor. It is preferable to use a small Ge photodiode.

The present invention also includes a display unit 60 that can receive the monitoring light from the control module 10 and measure the communication quality of each subscriber's optical line 200 and display whether the analyzed optical line is normal or not have.

Although the display 60 allows the user to check the measurement results in real time in the field, it is troublesome to visit the site to measure the quality of the daily light ray. In other words, since the ordinary optical fiber tray is installed on a high steel tower, it is difficult to measure the quality of the optical cable by climbing on such a high steel tower, and there is a risk of falling, so that it can be remotely monitored and managed from the ground or a management room desirable.

Accordingly, the present invention preferably includes a communication module 50 for transmitting the signal measured by the optical power meter or the communication quality information of the optical line measured by the control module to an external computer device.

Considering that the OTDR 100 for distribution line monitoring of the present invention is installed in the optical trunk box 300 of the steel tower, various types of wired or wireless communication modules can be used as the communication module 50, .

In other words, it is possible to provide a signal processing result to an external mobile terminal through the communication module 50, and receive the status of the subscriber's optical line through the mobile terminal, so that the optical line can be monitored and managed in real time. The communication module 50 may use a wired or wireless local communication protocol such as USB, Bluetooth, wifi, or the like, or may be connected to the earphone jack of the mobile terminal to transmit the measured value through the UART communication.

Hereinafter, the operation of the OTDR for monitoring a distribution line installed in the optical fiber box according to the present invention will be described.

In the embodiment of the present invention, the subscriber optical line may be plural, and the control module 10 instructs the OTDR 100 to send out the monitoring light after preparing the measurement for one predetermined subscriber optical line.

Of course, at this time, the optical circulator 20 operates under control of the control module to distribute surveillance light output from the OTDR 100 to any one of the plurality of subscriber optical paths.

The surveillance light transmitted from the OTDR 100 is optical circulator, the surveillance light is transmitted to the subscriber optical line through the optical coupler 30, and the reflected light via the subscriber optical line is transmitted through the optical coupler to the control module 10), the communication quality of the subscriber optical line is measured.

At this time, the reflected light received through the optical coupler is converted into an electric signal by the optical power meter 40 and is transmitted to the control module. Information obtained by analyzing the electric signal of the reflected light is displayed through the display unit 60, To the external computing device.

When the measurement of any one selected subscriber optical line is completed, the control module instructs the next subscriber optical line to change the optical path, and the optical regulator changes the path so that the monitoring light of the OTDR is transmitted to the optical path, Perform the forward procedure again to measure the status of the selected subscriber's optical line.

By repeating this measurement procedure as many as the number of subscriber optical lines, the communication quality of the subscriber optical line connected to the optical terminal box can be measured.

It will be apparent to those skilled in the relevant art that various modifications, additions and substitutions are possible, without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims. The appended claims are to be considered as falling within the scope of the following claims.

10: Control module
20: optical circulator
30: Optocoupler
40: Optical power meter
41: sensor unit 42: conversion unit
50: Communication module
60:

Claims (3)

And means for monitoring the optical line by being detachably installed in a light terminal box having a plurality of subscriber optical lines by using an Optical Time Domain Reflectometer (OTDR)
A control module (10) for controlling the flow of signals for measuring optical characteristics of a plurality of subscriber optical lines and analyzing the measured signals to determine whether the optical lines are normal or not;
An optical circulator (20) for distributing surveillance light output from the OTDR to a subscriber optical line of a plurality of subscriber optical lines under the control of the control module;
An optical coupler (30) for transmitting surveillance light, which is changed in path by the optical circulator and is incident through a subscriber optical line distributed from an OTDR, to the control module;
An optical power meter 40 for measuring the optical power sensed through the optical coupler and transmitting the measured optical power to the control module; And
And a communication module (50) for transmitting a signal measured by the optical power meter to an external computer device. The OTDR for monitoring a distribution line installed in a photonic box. The method according to claim 1,
The optical power meter 40 comprises a sensor unit 41 for converting light energy into electrical energy and a conversion unit 42 for amplifying the converted electrical energy and transmitting the amplified electrical energy to the control module. OTDR for distributed line monitoring. The method according to claim 1,
Wherein the control module is further connected to a display unit (60) for indicating whether the analyzed optical line is normal or not, and an OTDR for monitoring a distribution line installed in the optical trunk box.

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