OTDR Trace

An Optical Time Domain Reflectometer (OTDR) is a helpful device that calculates the distance at which the fiber signal stops or degrades to a point of unusability.

It is particularly helpful when tracking down a fiber fault. If you have the OTDR distance handy, Fiber Manager XI can display the geographic location of the fault, letting you send the crews to the correct spot the first time.

To run an OTDR trace, follow these steps:

1. Navigate to the fiber facility where you want to initiate the trace.

   • This must be a facility with fiber ports. You cannot run an OTDR trace starting at a fiber strand within a fiber cable. You cannot run an OTDR trace starting at a splice case.

2. On the Main Menu > Fiber tab, click Fiber Tracing.

   

3. A Fiber Tracing pane appears and includes these tools.

   • Select Trace Location - Use this tool to click a fiber facility or fiber optic cable and initiate the trace.

   • Zoom to Extent - This zooms and pans the map to display the trace path, start to end.

   • Clear Trace - After performing a trace, this removes the current trace results.

   • Create Circuit Using Trace Results - After performing a trace, you can save the results as a circuit. See the topic Create a New Circuit.

   • Create Trace Report - After performing a trace, you can export the results to a report.

4. Before you initiate the trace, type in the OTDR distance in the Options tab.

   
   NOTE: If you forgot to enter the distance, type the value, then click the retrace tool.

5. In the map, click on the fiber facility where you want to initiate the trace. In this example, we are initiating the trace at a patch location.

6. A Trace Selector dialog appears. It shows all the available ports from which to run the trace. Check the box next to the port where you want to initiate the OTDR trace, then click OK.

   
   IMPORTANT:

   • Unlike a Full Path Trace, it does matter whether you check the front port or the back port.

   • You check multiple ports but do so with a specific purpose. The traces are merged and presented as one result.

   • If the trace results contain multiple branches or traces, generate a trace report for information about specific loss and distance values.

     

7. The trace path is selected on the map. The OTDR distance is Overlaid on top of the full trace path.

   

8. When finished looking at the trace results, click the Clear Trace tool.