Huawei reveals 1:64 eOTDR SFP transceiver prototype

SAN FRANCISCO, USA: Huawei has successfully developed an embedded optical time domain reflectometer (eOTDR) SFP transceiver with the largest split ratio in the industry of up to 1:64 and <=5m EDZ. The new prototype will be showcased at the OFC 2014 Conference and advances the industry's first ever 1:64 eOTDR prototype that Huawei launched in April 2013.

An optical time domain reflectometer (OTDR), which uses scattered light in fibers to make measurements, is primarily used for fiber testing and troubleshooting. Traditionally, FTTH PON maintenance and troubleshooting is performed through external OTDR equipment.

This approach incurs fiber connection changes in an optical distribution network (ODN), and is costly and operationally complex. With the rapid expansion of fiber to the x (FTTx) and the exponential growth of fibers, the need for reduced fiber maintenance costs is increasing all the time.

Huawei's new SFP eOTDR transceiver offers cost-effective fiber maintenance by embedding OTDR functionality into an optical line terminal (OLT) PON optical module and operating at the same wavelength as user data. A standardized SFP eOTDR transceiver can be easily deployed on FTTx for troubleshooting.

This approach does not require engineering reconstruction such as fiber connection changes or adaptation of optical network terminals (ONTs), nor does it interrupt services during troubleshooting. Huawei's groundbreaking SFP eOTDR transceiver achieves a split ratio of 1:64 and covers mainstream FTTH scenarios, moving eOTDR technology another stage closer to large-scale commercial deployment.

"With the new SFP eOTDR transceiver, Huawei leads the industry in technology innovations by solving key issues such as reusing data wavelength to carry test signal, SNR improvement and optical module miniaturization. This will be a key milestone for future commercialization of eOTDR," Dr. Frank Effenberger, Huawei's chief expert on access networks, said.

"Huawei is dedicated to sustainable technology innovations, and focuses on the protection of operators' existing network investment to create an evolutionary, full service broadband optical access solution."