Measuring bend losses of optical fibres

• Main Author: Pang, Wing Kei
• Other Authors: Chang Wonkeun
• Format: Final Year Project
• Language: English
• Published: Nanyang Technological University 2020
• Subjects: Engineering::Electrical and electronic engineering
• Online Access: https://hdl.handle.net/10356/136929
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

Since its discovery, optical communication has become the backbone of modern telecommunications. Due to the nature of optical fibres, optical communication system has proved to be the best way to transmit data over long distance with minimal loss. With increasing demand of the use of optical fibres in long distance transmissions, losses in optical fibre has become an intensively researched topic. In this Final Year Project, various parameters that lead to attenuation loss in the different types of optical fibres, namely Step-Index Single Mode, Step-Index and Graded-Index Multimode were discussed. In addition, bending loss was also examined since optical fibres are commonly wrapped in communication systems, which results to additional propagation losses. It was discovered that such loss increases rapidly when the bend reaches the critical bend radius. An experiment was set up to find the critical bend radius for each type of optical fibre and results obtained are analysed, classified and included in this report. In summary, this project hopes to help define new standards when designing optical communication systems in modern telecommunications.