Product Note 006

Accurate Loss Testing Made Easy

Pierre Talbot, B.Eng., Marie-Claude Michel, B.Eng., B.Sc., Product Manager, Portable and Monitoring Division

The Different Reference Methods

Optical loss is defined as the difference in power level between the transmitting source and the receiving
power meter. When you perform loss testing or when you read a loss testing report, how confident should
you be in the results? Which connectors or bulkheads are included in the measurement and which ones
are not? This depends on the reference method you use.

If you want to obtain just the loss through the fiber—and not through the test jumpers and accessories
such as bulkheads—you must reference out, or exclude, the loss through test jumpers and accessories. To
do so, you must hook up the light source to the power meter with the test jumpers. Once they are hooked
up, there is usually a REF key on the power meter to store a new power level as a reference. If you then
disconnect the test jumpers at the bulkhead and reconnect to the fiber under test (FUT), the difference
in power levels between the two setups will correspond to the loss of the FUT. Depending on your specific
application and whether your test system is automated or not, several referencing methods exist which
will result in different loss values for the same FUT. The reason for these differences is that what is
excluded, or referenced out, at the beginning will vary, depending on the method you choose.

An optical loss test set (OLTS) houses a light source and a power meter in the same unit. Automated
OLTSs, which measure loss through the FUT, at the touch of a button, offer a choice of two referencing
procedures:

• loopback method with only one test jumper (see Figure 1)

• side-by-side method with two test jumpers and a bulkhead connector (see Figure 3)

Loopback Method
The loopback reference is performed by connecting a test jumper from the unit's source port and looping
it back to the unit's power meter. It is also useful to be able to calculate the loss through this test jumper
by measuring the power level at the end of the jumper and subtracting it from the power level at the
beginning of the jumper. The FOT-920 MaxTester and the FTB-3920 MultiTest module, both
manufactured by EXFO, offer this feature. Calculating this loss gives you an
indication of the quality of the test jumper. It also enables you to determine if the
jumper is broken, or if the test jumper connectors need to be cleaned. More
importantly, this feature prevents you from testing with bad jumpers all day and
having to spend time repeating all those measurements.

Transmitter Transmitter

Figure 1. Loopback reference

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After performing the loopback reference, simply disconnect the test jumper from the power meter and
connect it to the FUT. It is very important not to disconnect it from the source port because the amount
of light coupled or injected into the test jumper varies from one connection to another. If you happen to
disconnect from the source port, you will have to repeat your references.

Another main advantage of the loopback method is that the

Loss in dB through test-set pair used to determine attenuation in the fiber does not
the test jumper at
1310 nm have to be brought to a common site. In fact, the loopback test
is performed individually on each of the two units. As
mentioned above, an important advantage of the loopback
method is that it automatically takes into account the loss of
the test jumpers and bulkhead adapters, allowing a true
measurement of the fiber itself. Due to the design and the
The power output optics inside the unit, the accuracy of the ensuing loss
level in dBm at
1550 nm
measurement of singlemode fibers is actually improved when
using the loopback reference.

Figure 2. Screen reading of an FOT-MaxTester loopback reference measurement

The FOT-920 MaxTester’s large LCD lets you see all your test results on a single screen for fast data
interpretation.

Side-by-Side Method
To perform the side-by-side reference procedure (see Figure 3), you connect two test jumpers via a
bulkhead connector and then connect the test jumper ends to the source port on one unit and the power
meter on the other. When using the side-by-side reference method, both
Test jumper Bulkhead units must be brought to a common site to take the appropriate references.
connection Test jumper
Once you have performed the side-by-side reference, simply disconnect the
test jumpers at the bulkhead and connect both test jumpers to the FUT.
Much like the loopback reference, it is very important not to disconnect the
test jumper from the source port as the amount of light coupled or injected
into the test jumper will vary from one connection to another. If you happen
to disconnect from the source port, you will have to repeat your reference.

Transmitter Receiver

Figure 3. Side-by-side reference

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What is included in each loss measurement depends on the reference method you use. These reference
methods result in different loss values, which depend on whether the link's end connectors and test
jumpers are included in the fiber measurement. When using the loopback method, the entire light signal
is received at the detector when referencing; when measuring the loss of the FUT, the measurement
obtained by the OLTS will include the loss of the FUT and both the transmitting and receiving patch
panel connections. On the other hand, the side-by-side method includes both the loss of the FUT as well
as the loss through either the transmitting or receiving patch panel connections.This occurs because the
side-by-side method excludes the mating through one bulkhead, which can be considered as either the
transmitting or receiving patch panel connector.

Before measuring optical loss with an automated OLTS, referencing is a crucial procedure that should be
performed before every test session. Each referencing method provides different loss values, depending on
what is included at the time of the reference. For this reason, it is important to know which method best
suits your testing needs, and, also, to understand what the loss values actually signify.

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