New OTDR evaluates up to 20,000km of submarine cables

Anritsu Corporation has introduced the Coherent OTDR*1 MW90010B to locate faults in submarine cables. It can evaluate up to 20,000 km and has a readily selectable wavelength that covers the full C-band*2. It is more portable, with a 40% weight reduction for the same product size as the prior model. The company helps customers enhance the quality of submarine cable communications and supports test solutions to fulfil market demands.

The volume of communications traffic is growing due to the spread of 5G mobile and cloud services. Also, the worldwide submarine cable network carries most data communications and is anticipated to expand with future technological innovations.

Nowadays, major IT vendors have not only invested in new installation projects but are increasingly installing landing stations*3 and cables to directly synchronise their data centres at high speed and low latency. Consequently, the submarine cable networks become more complex and quality assurance for their installation and maintenance also become more vital. To satisfy this market demand, the company is improving the test solution.

The solution uses the coherent (optical heterodyne) detection method with a built-in tunable wavelength light source. Its selectable wavelength feature enables the measurement of all cable lines from each landing station and assists in assuring the quality of submarine cables.