Customer Reviews

Troubleshooting Optical Fiber Networks: Understanding and Using Optical Time-Domain Reflectometers

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My company, Taliescent, makes measurement standards for fiber optic test instruments. We have recently decided to add products for the FTTH market and the first logical product would be a way to verify Optical Time Domain Reflectometer (OTDR) Measurements. Since I have not dealt with OTDRs since graduate school, and I was attending the Optical Fiber Conference in Anaheim, CA I decided to go talk about our product ideas with one of the experts, Larry Johnson who is the president of The Light Brigade. His company provides live fiber optic training and makes training videos aimed at the technician and the installer market. During our conversation he mentioned that he co-authored a book on OTDRs. Figuring this would be a useful resource, I went to the Elsevier Publishers booth where they happened to have the book. I then told the booth lady that I publish an online fiber optic newsletter (ftthblog.com) and would like to review the book. So she gave me the book for free.
So, I guess now I have to review this book the title of which is "Troubleshooting Optical Fiber Networks, Understanding Your Optical Time Domain Reflectometer". First, a little background on OTDRs. This was one of the first fiber optic test instruments introduced commercially 24 years ago and is still evolving and one of the most commonly used. Basically an OTDR shoots a pulse of light into the fiber and monitors the reflections. From this measurement, the user can tell whats happening in a fiber network many kilometers downstream from where the measurement is made. For example, you can tell that there is break in the fiber 5.4 km from where you are. This is very useful information if you are troubleshooting or commisioning a fiber optic installation.
This book is very good in that it was written by two scientists from Tektronix, Duwayne Anderson and Florian Bell, who have intricate knowledge of all the technical aspects, and by Larry Johnson, who is very familiar on how users interact with the instrument and what kind of information would be useful to them. This combination produced a book that is very readable but also provides enough meat for an engineer or a scientist.
The book starts with an short history of the OTDR, moves on to a basic tutorial of fiber optics and then dives in to the various technical aspects of the insides of anOTDR. The second part of the book focuses on the various types of measurements that can be made with the OTDR and finally finishes up with some advice on selecting the appropriate OTDR, since they come in many flavors. The book can be used in several different ways. If you want a crash course on OTDRs, as I did, this is a very good place to start. Also, it functions as a good reference that you keep on the bookshelf. Finally, its a good textbook for a course on OTDRs aimed at technicians or even engineers, since it has ample references and study questions at the end of each chapter. As an added bonus, there is a training CD from the Light Brigade included with the book that provides some good videos on how an OTDR is used in the field.

This is a must own book. Explains in detail and basic terms on how OTDR's work. One of my best books that I refer to. Wow....