Application of statistical inference to optical time domain reflectometer data

摘要

The present invention relates to a method for interpreting data obtained by measuring a length of optical fiber using an optical time domain reflectometer (OTDR), and comparing that measurement to a reference measurement. The technique uses statistical inference to determine a whether a reference trace is valid by comparing that trace to a more recent test trace. One technique uses a chi-squared best fit of an array reflectance spike occurrences along the fiber to a historical reference array.