IEC 61300-3-6:2003

Fibre optic interconnecting devices and passive components - Basic test and measurement procedures - Part 3-6: Examinations and measurements - Return loss

Presents procedures for the measurement of the return loss (RL) of a fibre optic device under test (DUT). RL, as used in this standard, is the ratio of the power (Pi) incident on, or entering, the DUT to the total power reflected (Pr) by the DUT, expressed in decibels.

Dispositifs d'interconnexion et composants passifs à fibres optiques - Méthodes fondamentales d'essais et de mesures - Partie 3-6: Examens et mesures - Facteur d'adaptation

Présente des procédures pour la mesure du facteur d'adaptation d'un dispositif à fibres optiques en essai (DEE). Le facteur d'adaptation (RL, return loss), tel qu'il est utilisé dans cette norme, est le rapport de la puissance (Pi) incidente sur le DEE ou à l'entrée de ce dernier, à la puissance totale réfléchie (Pr) par le DEE, exprimée en décibels.

General Information

• Status: Published
• Publication Date: 06-Feb-2003
• ICS: 33.180.20 - Fibre optic interconnecting devices
• Technical Committee: SC 86B - Fibre optic interconnecting devices and passive components
• Drafting Committee: WG 4 - TC 86/SC 86B/WG 4
• Current Stage: DELPUB - Deleted Publication
• Completion Date: 09-Dec-2008

Relations

• Revises: IEC 61300-3-6:1997/AMD1:1998 - Amendment 1 - Fibre optic interconnecting devices and passive components - Basic test and measurement procedures - Part 3-6: Examinations and measurements - Return loss
• Effective Date: 05-Sep-2023
• Revises: IEC 61300-3-6:1997/AMD2:1999 - Amendment 2 - Fibre optic interconnecting devices and passive components - Basic test and measurement procedures - Part 3-6: Examinations and measurements - Return loss
• Effective Date: 05-Sep-2023
• Revised: IEC 61300-3-6:2008 - Fibre optic interconnecting devices and passive components - Basic test and measurement procedures - Part 3-6: Examinations and measurements - Return loss
• Effective Date: 05-Sep-2023
• Revises: IEC 61300-3-6:1997 - Fibre optic interconnecting devices and passive components - Basic test and measurement procedures - Part 3-6: Examinations and measurements - Return loss
• Effective Date: 05-Sep-2023

Standards Content (Sample)

INTERNATIONAL IEC
STANDARD
61300-3-6
Second edition
2003-02
Fibre optic interconnecting devices
and passive components –
Basic test and measurement procedures –
Part 3-6:
Examinations and measurements –
Return loss
Dispositifs d'interconnexion et composants passifs
à fibres optiques –
Méthodes fondamentales d'essais et de mesures –
Partie 3-6:
Examens et mesures – Puissance réfléchie

Reference number
Publication numbering
As from 1 January 1997 all IEC publications are issued with a designation in the

60000 series. For example, IEC 34-1 is now referred to as IEC 60034-1.

Consolidated editions
The IEC is now publishing consolidated versions of its publications. For example,

edition numbers 1.0, 1.1 and 1.2 refer, respectively, to the base publication, the

base publication incorporating amendment 1 and the base publication incorporating

amendments 1 and 2.
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INTERNATIONAL IEC
STANDARD
61300-3-6
Second edition
2003-02
Fibre optic interconnecting devices
and passive components –
Basic test and measurement procedures –
Part 3-6:
Examinations and measurements –
Return loss
Dispositifs d'interconnexion et composants passifs
à fibres optiques –
Méthodes fondamentales d'essais et de mesures –
Partie 3-6:
Examens et mesures – Puissance réfléchie

 IEC 2003  Copyright - all rights reserved
No part of this publication may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or
mechanical, including photocopying and microfilm, without permission in writing from the publisher.
International Electrotechnical Commission, 3, rue de Varembé, PO Box 131, CH-1211 Geneva 20, Switzerland
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Commission Electrotechnique Internationale
T
International Electrotechnical Commission
Международная Электротехническая Комиссия
For price, see current catalogue

– 2 – 61300-3-6  IEC:2003(E)
CONTENTS
FOREWORD . 3

1 Scope . 5

2 Normative references. 5

3 General description. 5

3.1 Method 1 . 6

3.2 Method 2 . 6

3.3 Method 3 . 6
3.4 Method 4 . 6
3.5 Selection of reference measurement method. 6
4 Apparatus and symbols . 7
4.1 Device under test (DUT). 7
4.2 Method 1: measurements with OCWR . 7
4.3 Method 2: measurements with OTDR . 9
4.4 Method 3: measurements with OLCR . 9
4.5 Method 4: measurements with OFDR .11
5 Procedure .12
5.1 Launch conditions .12
5.2 Pre-conditioning.13
5.3 DUT output port .13
5.4 Method 1: measurement with OCWR.13
5.5 Method 2: measurement with OTDR.17
5.6 Method 3: measurement with OLCR .20
5.7 Method 4: measurements with OFDR .20
6 Details to be specified.22
6.1 Return loss measurement with OCWR .22
6.2 Return loss measurement with OTDR.22
6.3 Return loss measurement with OLCR.23
6.4 Return loss measurement of with OFDR.23
6.5 Measurement procedure .24
Annex A (informative) Comparison of return loss detectable by four different methods .25

Figure 1 – Measurement set-up of return loss OCWR method. 7
Figure 2 – Measurement set-up of return loss with OTDR method . 9
Figure 3 – Measurement set-up of return loss with OLCR method .10
Figure 4 – Measurement set-up of return loss with OFDR method .11
Figure 5 – Measurement set-up of the system reflected power .14
Figure 6 – Measurement set-up of the branching device transfer coefficient .14
Figure 7 – Measurement set-up of the splitting ratio of the branching device .15
Figure 8 – Measurement set-up of return loss with an OCWR .15
Figure 9 – Typical OTDR trace of the response to a reflection.17
Figure A.1 – Comparison of detectable return loss, resolution and measurable distance
for four return loss measurement methods.25

61300-3-6  IEC:2003(E) – 3 –
INTERNATIONAL ELECTROTECHNICAL COMMISSION

___________
FIBRE OPTIC INTERCONNECTING DEVICES

AND PASSIVE COMPONENTS –
BASIC TEST AND MEASUREMENT PROCEDURES –

Part 3-6: Examinations and measurements – Return loss

FOREWORD
1) The IEC (International Electrotechnical Commission) is a worldwide organization for standardization comprising
all national electrotechnical committees (IEC National Committees). The object of the IEC is to promote
international co-operation on all questions concerning standardization in the electrical and electronic fields. To
this end and in addition to other activities, the IEC publishes International Standards. Their preparation is
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of standards, technical specifications, technical reports or guides and they are accepted by the National
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4) In order to promote international unification, IEC National Committees undertake to apply IEC International
Standards transparently to the maximum extent possible in their national and regional standards. Any
divergence between the IEC Standard and the corresponding national or regional standard shall be clearly
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5) The IEC provides no marking procedure to indicate its approval and cannot be rendered responsible for any
equipment declared to be in conformity with one of its standards.
6) Attention is drawn to the possibility that some of the elements of this International Standard may be the subject
of patent rights. The IEC shall not be held responsible for identifying any or all such patent rights.
International Standard IEC 61300-3-6 has been prepared by subcommittee 86B: Fibre optic
interconnecting devices and passive components, of IEC technical committee 86: Fibre optics.
This second edition cancels and replaces the first edition published in 1997 and its
amendments 1 (1998) and 2 (1999). This edition constitutes a technical revision.
The text of this standard is based on the following documents:

FDIS Report on voting
86B/1778/FDIS 86B/1832/RVD
Full information on the voting for the approval of this standard can be found in the report on
voting indicated in the above table.
This publication has been drafted in accordance with the ISO/IEC Directives, Part 2.
IEC 61300 consists of the following parts, under the general title Fibre optic interconnecting
devices and passive components – Basic test and measurement procedures:
– Part 1: General and guidance
– Part 2: Tests
– Part 3: Examinations and measurements

– 4 – 61300-3-6  IEC:2003(E)
The committee has decided that the contents of this publication will remain unchanged until

2007. At this date, the publication will be

• reconfirmed;
• withdrawn;
• replaced by a revised edition, or

• amended.
A bilingual version of this publication may be issued at a later date.

61300-3-6  IEC:2003(E) – 5 –
FIBRE OPTIC INTERCONNECTING DEVICES

AND PASSIVE COMPONENTS –
BASIC TEST AND MEASUREMENT PROCEDURES –

Part 3-6: Examinations and measurements – Return loss

1 Scope
This part of IEC 61300 presents procedures for the measurement of the return loss (RL) of
a fibre optic device under test (DUT). RL, as used in this standard, is the ratio of the power (P )
i
incident on, or entering, the DUT to the total power reflected (P ) by the DUT, expressed
r
in decibels:
 P 
r
RL = −10 ⋅log  (1)
 
P
 i 
Return loss is a positive number.
2 Normative references
The following referenced documents are indispensable for the application of this document. For
dated references, only the edition cited applies. For undated references, the latest edition of
the referenced document (including any amendments) applies.
IEC 60793-2 (all parts), Optical fibres – Product specifications
IEC 61300-1, Fibre optic interconnecting devices and passive components – Basic test and
measurement procedures – Part 1: General and guidance
IEC 61300-3-1, Fibre optic interconnecting devices and passive components – Basic test and
measurement procedures – Part 3-1: Examinations and measurements – Visual examination
IEC 61300-3-39, Fibre optic interconnecting devices and passive components – Basic test and
measurement procedures – Part 3-39: Examinations and measurements – PC optical connector
reference plug selection
3 General description
Four methods will be presented for measuring optical return loss:
− measurement with an optical continuous wave reflectometer (OCWR) (method 1);
− measurement with an optical time domain reflectometer (OTDR) (method 2);
− measurement with an optical low coherence reflectometry (OLCR) (method 3);
− measurement with an optical frequency domain reflectometry (OFDR) (method 4).
These four measurement methods have different characteristics and different applications in
terms of spatial resolution and detectable RL (in annex A a comparison of return loss
detectable by the four different methods is reported).

– 6 – 61300-3-6  IEC:2003(E)
3.1 Method 1
This technique is the nearest to the theoretical definition of return loss given by equation (1). It

measures directly the incident power and the reflected power. It is not affected by instrumental

data processing and it gives absolute measurement values, which are not relative to a

reference reflection (technique A). This method has some limiting factors: it cannot spatially
resolve two different reflections on the line and its dynamic range is limited by the

characteristics of the branching de
...

IEC 61300-3-6
Edition 2.0 2003-02
INTERNATIONAL
STANDARD
NORME
INTERNATIONALE
Fibre optic interconnecting devices and passive components – Basic test and
measurement procedures –
Part 3-6: Examinations and measurements – Return loss

Dispositifs d’interconnexion et composants passifs à fibres optiques –
Procédures fondamentales d’essais et de mesures –
Partie 3-6: Examens et mesures – Facteur d’adaptation

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IEC 61300-3-6
Edition 2.0 2003-02
INTERNATIONAL
STANDARD
NORME
INTERNATIONALE
Fibre optic interconnecting devices and passive components – Basic test and
measurement procedures –
Part 3-6: Examinations and measurements – Return loss

Dispositifs d’interconnexion et composants passifs à fibres optiques –
Procédures fondamentales d’essais et de mesures –
Partie 3-6: Examens et mesures – Facteur d’adaptation

INTERNATIONAL
ELECTROTECHNICAL
COMMISSION
COMMISSION
ELECTROTECHNIQUE
PRICE CODE
INTERNATIONALE
U
CODE PRIX
ICS 33.180.20 ISBN 2-8318-7811-X
– 2 – 61300-3-6 © CEI:2003
SOMMAIRE
AVANT-PROPOS .6

1 Domaine d'application.10

2 Références normatives .10

3 Description générale.10

3.1 Méthode 1 .12

3.2 Méthode 2 .12
3.3 Méthode 3 .12
3.4 Méthode 4 .12
3.5 Sélection de la méthode de mesure de référence .14
4 Matériel et symboles .14
4.1 Dispositif en essai (DEE) .14
4.2 Méthode 1: mesures avec OCWR (réflectomètre à onde entretenue optique) .14
4.3 Méthode 2: mesures avec OTDR (réflectomètre optique dans le domaine
temporel).18
4.4 Méthode 3: mesures avec OLCR (réflectométrie optique de faible cohérence).20
4.5 Méthode 4: mesures avec OFDR (réflectométrie dans le domaine des
fréquences optiques) .22
5 Mode opératoire.26
5.1 Conditions d'injection.26
5.2 Préconditionement.28
5.3 Accès de sortie du DEE .28
5.4 Méthode 1: mesures avec OCWR (réflectomètre à onde entretenue optique) .28
5.5 Méthode 2: mesures avec OTDR (réflectomètre optique dans le domaine
temporel).36
5.6 Méthode 3: mesures avec OLCR (réflectométrie optique de faible cohérence).40
5.7 Méthode 4: mesures avec OFDR (réflectométrie dans le domaine des
fréquences optiques) .42
6 Détails à spécifier .46
6.1 Mesure du facteur d’adaptation avec un OCWR (réflectomètre à onde
entretenue optique).46
6.2 Mesure du facteur d’adaptation avec un OTDR (réflectomètre optique dans le

domaine temporel).46
6.3 Mesure du facteur d’adaptation avec une OLCR (réflectométrie optique de
faible cohérence).48
6.4 Mesure du facteur d’adaptation avec une OFDR (réflectométrie optique dans
le domaine des fréquences).48
6.5 Procédure de mesure .50

Annexe A (informative)  Comparaison de facteur d’adaptation détectable par quatre
méthodes différentes.52

Figure 1 – Montage de mesure de la méthode OCWR du facteur d’adaptation .14
Figure 2 – Montage de mesure du facteur d’adaptation avec la méthode OTDR .18

61300-3-6 © IEC:2003 – 3 –
CONTENTS
FOREWORD.7

1 Scope.11

2 Normative references.11

3 General description.11

3.1 Method 1 .13

3.2 Method 2 .13

3.3 Method 3 .13

3.4 Method 4 .13
3.5 Selection of reference measurement method .15
4 Apparatus and symbols.15
4.1 Device under test (DUT) .15
4.2 Method 1: measurements with OCWR.15
4.3 Method 2: measurements with OTDR.19
4.4 Method 3: measurements with OLCR .21
4.5 Method 4: measurements with a OFDR .23
5 Procedure.27
5.1 Launch conditions.27
5.2 Pre-conditioning .29
5.3 DUT output port.29
5.4 Method 1: measurement with OCWR .29
5.5 Method 2: measurement with OTDR.37
5.6 Method 3: measurement with OLCR.41
5.7 Method 4: measurements with OFDR.43
6 Details to be specified.47
6.1 Return loss measurement with OCWR .47
6.2 Return loss measurement with OTDR .47
6.3 Return loss measurement with OLCR.49
6.4 Return loss measurement with OFDR .49
6.5 Measurement procedure .51

Annex A (informative)  Comparison of return loss detectable by four different methods .53

Figure 1 – Measurement set-up of return loss OCWR method.15
Figure 2 – Measurement set-up of return loss with OTDR method.19

– 4 – 61300-3-6 © CEI:2003
Figure 3 – Montage de mesure du facteur d’adaptation avec la méthode OLCR .22

Figure 4 – Montage de mesure du facteur d’adaptation avec la méthode OFDR .24

Figure 5 – Montage de mesure de la puissance réfléchie par le système.28

Figure 6 – Montage de mesure du coefficient de transfert du dispositif de couplage.30

Figure 7 – Montage de mesure du rapport de division du dispositif de couplage .30

Figure 8 – Montage de mesure du facteur d’adaptation avec un OCWR .32

Figure
...