Optical
Power Meter Introduction
With the
rapid development of optical fiber communication technology, optical fiber
communication has become the main mode of transmission in various communication
networks. Optical power is the most basic measurement parameter in the optiacal
fiber communication system, and is one of the most important parameters to
evaluate the performance of optical equipment and to evaluate the transmission
quality of optical fiber.
What is Optical Power Meter?
An
optical power meter (OPM) ,not only is a device used to measure the power in an
optical signal, but also is a device for testing average power in optical fiber
systems. High Precision Handheld Optical Power Meter is is more functional and
intelligent. The power meter can be used under the situation of laboratory,
LANs, WANs and CATV as well as long distance optical network. Working together with
Stabilized Optical Laser Sources, the optical power meter can be used to
identify optical fiber, measure optical attenuation and verify continuity an
evaluate fiber link transmission quality.
How to measure optical power
with optical power meter?
To turn
on the network optical devices, only one optical power meter and one optical
fiber connector adapter are needed to measure the power of the transmitter or
receiver.
Before
measuring the power, the wavelength and other parameters of the optical power
meter must be set within the specified range. Then the optical power meter can
be connected to the transceiver to measure the power of the receiver, or it can
be connected to the light source to measure the power of the transmitter. Finally,
record the measured value and compare it with the power value specified by the
device to see whether it is in the specified floating range, which determing
the failure of optical device.
Four main factors of Optical
Power Meter
First, there
are various optical power meters due to different application. An appropriate measurement
is necessary according to the test. Common optical power meter can test optical
power of common optical fiber communication. In special application, like Passive
Optical Network(PON) and Coarse Wavelength Division Multiplexing(CWDM), PON
optical power meters and CWDM optical power meters are be required to measure
the optical power.Secondly, each optical power meter has a certain wavelength
range (usually between 800nm-1700nm). Most optical fiber devices work at the
regular wavelength( 850nm，1310nm and 1550nm).For
more accurate
measurement of the optical power, the wavelength range of the optical power
meter is suggested to cover these three wavelengths. Thirdly, the power
measurement range of the optical power meter also has an important influence on
the accuracy of the measurement results. In common situation, the power
measurement range of optical power for common applications should be between –
70dBm and + 30dBm. Finally, the diversity of interfaces is very useful now.In
the past, optical power meters only have one FC interface, which is very
inconvenient to use. Now, some optical power meters adopt the design of general
interface, and some are equipped with MPO / MTP interface, which makes the
measurement much more flexible.
Conclusion
With the fast development of the optical
fiber communication. Optical fiber detection plays an important role in optical
fiber network whenver installing new optical fiber and repairing old optical fiber.
Optical power meter is used to measure power and detect loss, it is usefuil and
necessary at present.
