Photonic Sensing Systems

ASSIGNMENT-2
Designing an OTDR system

An Optical Time Domain Reflectometer (OTDR) uses a pulsed laser source with wavelength
at 1550 nm to detect reflection points along a long length of optical fibre. The laser can
generate pulses whose energy is 20 pJ per pulse with a rectangular spectral spread of 1 nm.
Although the energy per pulse is fixed, the pulse peak power and pulse duration are adjustable
by the user. The temporal pulse shape is assumed to be rectangular.

For pulse detection, you are to use a photodetector whose noise-equivalent power is 1 pW and
saturation limit is 100 uW.

Conceptually design a complete OTDR system, including appropriate optical components,

where these laser pulses are used to detect and map Rayleigh backscattered power and one
reflection point. This will demonstrate both continuous (distributed) detection in the case of
Rayleigh scatter, and discrete (point) detection in the case of a well-defined reflection. The
design spatial resolution (or location accuracy) must be better than 0.5 m at the system’s
maximum range.

In your design, assume the optical fibre under test has an attenuation coefficient of 0.22 dB/km.
This attenuation coefficient includes a Rayleigh scattering component, which is described
Rayleigh scattering coefficient αs of 0.2 dB/km with the remainder due to material absorption.

The optical fibre has the following additional physical properties:

- Single mode, with mode field diameter of 10 um
- core refractive index of 1.46.
- dispersion of 20 ps/nm/km

In your proposal brief:

a) Provide a description, diagram and explanation of the components proposed in your
design, including your considerations of power budget. Explain your calculation for
maximum range as a function of target reflection. (11 marks)

b) Calculate the maximum range that your OTDR can operate when detecting and
locating a single reflection point with reflectivity as low as 0.1% (7 marks)

c) Calculate the maximum range that your OTDR can operate when performing a
continuous measurement and ranging of backscattered power with no discrete
reflection point. (7 marks)

Remember to consider both spatial resolution and signal to noise and explain any conditions
or additional limits of your system.

When presenting these calculations please explain your working and provide an algebraic
solution initially. This can be followed by a numerical substitution to present your final
maximum range values.

Due by 11:59 pm on Sun, 27th August 2023

(25 marks)