Long-term monitoring of polarization-mode dispersion of aerial optical cables with respect to line availability

Author

Nellen, Philipp M. ; Brönnimann, Rolf ; Held, Marcel ; Sennhauser, Urs

Author_Institution

Swiss Fed. Labs. for Mater. Testing & Res., Dubendorf, Switzerland

Volume

22

Issue

8

fYear

2004

Firstpage

1848

Lastpage

1855

Abstract

Physical and technical limits become important when trying to increase data transfer rates to tens of gigabits and higher for already installed optical cables. Polarization-mode dispersion (PMD) is one of the crucial transmission constraints, especially for aerial cables exposed to environmental stresses. Optical fibers in the laboratory and three aerial optical fiber cable links across the Swiss alps were characterized with respect to PMD. Long-term measurement results are correlated to weather data along the cables, and predictions regarding line availability are made.

Keywords

optical cables; optical fibre dispersion; optical fibre polarisation; optical fibre testing; Swiss alps; aerial cables; aerial optical cables; data transfer rates; line availability; long-term monitoring; optical cables; optical fibres; polarization-mode dispersion; transmission constraints; Availability; Birefringence; Fiber nonlinear optics; Monitoring; Nonlinear optics; Optical fiber cables; Optical fiber polarization; Optical fibers; Optical interferometry; Polarization mode dispersion; Aerial optical cables; PMD; line availability; monitoring; polarization-mode dispersion;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Lightwave Technology, Journal of

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0733-8724

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/JLT.2004.832423

Filename

1321181