Mode conditioner and portable high-resolution reflectometer for maintenance and diagnostics of single and multi-mode avionic fiber networks

In this work, we present a commercially available field-portable Optical Backscatter Reflectometer (OBR) instrument with near-zero dead-zone and millimeter spatial resolution for avionic fiber networks. This system coupled with novel, low-loss mode conditioning cables allows troubleshooting and supportability across a range of singlemode and multimode fiber platforms with a single instrument. Specifically, we demonstrate how these tools can be used to isolate link failures by locating and quantifying insertion loss (IL) and return loss (RL) events, including bends, pinches, breaks and faulty connections.