Loss Analysis in Optical Fiber Transmission

Most of telecommunication traffic (voice and data) around the globe is carried over the optical fiber cable. The international traffic through various countries is carried over optical fiber cables laid under the sea. Similarly the long-haul traffic within the country is through optical fiber laid underground. Stress, strain, humidity, temperature, bending at acute angles affects the propagation of light energy in the optical fiber cable. All such factors increase the optical loss and attenuate the signal. The attenuation, especially in the long-haul communication increases the bit error rate and degrades the quality of service. In this paper, different optical losses are analyzed by setting up several experiments at a single mode optical fiber spool of 4 km. The optical fiber segment was subjected to various stress, temperatures and acute bending conditions. The resulting losses and degradation of the signal was measured using OTDR and Power meter.