One end of the cable drum will be prepared by using the proper tools.
Take the prepared end of the cable inside the splice van to maintain the temperature and dust-free environment
Make the OTDR (Optical Time-domain Reflectometer) ready for testing. When the OTDR is ready, strip the fiber and cleave it by means of a diamond-edged cleaver to ensure the cleaving end should be perpendicular.
Connect the fiber to the OTDR by making a mechanical joint. The mechanical joint will be done by using two connectors coupled to each other through a mechanical coupler.
Now the fiber is ready for testing. Keep the OTDR in average mode and shoot the laser through the fiber for 10 seconds.
When the laser will be off, put the cursor “B” at the end of the cable and Cursor “A” around 80 meters from starting (This 80meters is called Dead Zone, because of the changing in the medium of the laser frequency in a very short distance).
Now note the dB/Km loss of the cable.
a. 1310nm <= 0.4 dB/Km
b. 1550nm <= 0.25dB/Km
If the loss is more than the above-mentioned parameter checks the mechanical splice or cleave the fiber again and follow the above procedures again.
If still, the problem persists then there is some problem with the fiber.
Then proceed with the same procedure for all the fibers individually.
All the readings should be witnessed and checked.
Below equipment shall be used to perform the OTDR testing
Test Equipment type:
Optical Power Meter
The above procedure is for the fiber optic cable drum testing, upon successful completion of the testing next step is for the installation, inspection, and testing of the fiber optic cable.
