Method, apparatus and system for minimally intrusive fiber identification

Abstract

A method, apparatus and system for minimally intrusive fiber identification includes imparting a time-varying modulation onto an optical signal propagating in an optical fiber and subsequently detecting the presence of the time-varying modulation in the optical signal transmitting through the fiber to identify the fiber. In a specific embodiment of the invention, a time-varying curvature is imposed on the fiber to be identified and the presence of the resultant time variation in the transmitted power of a propagating optical signal is subsequently detected for identification of the manipulated fiber.

Description

FIELD OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates generally to fiber identification and, more particularly, to a method, apparatus and system for identifying fibers that minimally intrudes with optical signals propagating therein. BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Modern telecommunications offices have evolved in recent years to accommodate greater volumes of traffic, thus placing larger and larger amounts of equipment (usually connected by optical fibers) in areas of limited space. In addition to the increasing numbers of optical fibers, traffic carried by each of the optical fibers is also ever-increasing. As capacity increases, problems arise in the management of the optical fibers of a telecommunication office. Specifically, because optical fibers transport large amounts of high bit-rate traffic, the disruption of such traffic leads to the disruption of service to many circuits and, as such, to many customers simultaneously. For example, a typical telecommunications office inclu...

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