This course is an overview of the testing requirements and procedures for fiber optic cables. Items such as attenuation, bandwidth and launch conditions are discussed. Both near and far field optical conditions are discussed as well as how to measure cable conditions using an OTDR.

Upon completing the course, the learner should be able to do the following:

• Identify the prime reasons for conducting fiber optic manufacturing laboratory and field measurements
• Describe the optical fiber and optical connection laboratory measurements used to evaluate system performance
• Describe the near-field and far-field optical power distribution of an optical fiber
• Understand the term optical time-domain reflectometry
• Know how to interpret an optical time-domain reflectometer (OTDR) trace
• Describe the procedure for locating a fiber fault using an OTDR