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Optical Connector
Tuning and Testing
WHITE PAPER
With the ever-increasing demand for higher performance in the optical
network, there is a need for higher performance in optical connectors.
Connector performance is typically defined as a measurement of insertion
loss that occurs when the connector is mated to a reference connector.
Manufacturers use reference connectors for production testing of insertion
loss because they provide a repeatable reference point. For a connector with
a cylindrical ferrule, a reference connector is one selected for low insertion
loss when mated with another reference connector regardless of rotational
orientation. The low insertion loss indicates that the cores of the fibers are
highly concentric relative to the outside diameter of the ferrules.
In the real-life network, service providers are more concerned with the
insertion loss of randomly mated connectors. When randomly mated,
connector pairs can produce a greater insertion loss than the stated
specification of either connector to a reference connector. This occurs when
the slight coaxial misalignment of the fiber ends in the individual connectors
are in opposite directions and thereby create a greater total misalignment.
One of the primary ways to achieve a significant performance improvement
in randomly mated cylindrical ferrule connectors is tuning. Tuning decreases
insertion loss by improving the coaxial alignment of the fiber ends in
intermated connectors. The accuracy of the tuning process has a direct effect
on randomly intermated connector performance and is improved through an
automated process.
Optical Connector
Tuning and Testing
Optical Connector: Tuning and Testing
Page 3
Introduction
Transverse, longitudinal, and angular misalignments of
optical fibers are the sources of insertion loss in fiber
optic connections. Transverse insertion loss is caused by
lateral mismatching of the fiber optic core and increases
with the square of the distance between the centers of
the cores. Sources of transverse insertion loss include
ferrule, fiber and fiber through hole concentricity.
Longitudinal offsets occur in the axial direction of
the fiber and are a logarithmic function of endface
separation. Sources of longitudinal insertion loss include
high apex offset, fiber withdrawal in a ferrule, and
mechanical separation of ferrules under load. Angular
insertion losses are a small contributor to connector
performance, but if ferrule inside diameter runout
becomes large, angular insertion losses will occur.
One of the biggest challenges in optical connectorization
is the accurate alignment of the fiber ends in a mated
connector pair. Microscopic misalignment will produce
insertion loss that is measurable and of concern to the
end user. The final alignment is driven by the accuracy of
the components in the individual connectors and
the mating adapter. These components are held to
the tightest dimensional tolerances allowed by state of
the art manufacturing equipment and processes. Even
with these controls, individual components will produce
connectors that have fiber alignment that varies from the
nominal fiber end position, though the variation is on
the order of a micron. When graphed, this variation will
produce a gamma distribution.
The performance of a mated pair of connectors will
depend on which individual connectors happen to be
chosen out of a given population. Consider the following
example of four fiber pigtail cables terminated with SC
ultra physical contact (UPC) connectors in which the
lateral offset of each connector is within specification
according to insertion loss testing to a master cable. In
Figure 1, the fiber end position of each connector in
relation to the true center is shown. As stated earlier,
there is a direct correlation between lateral offset and
insertion loss. The insertion loss for connectors A, B, C,
and D is 0.13, 0.03, 0.16, and 0.07 dB respectively if the
connectors were tested at 1310 nm.
Figure 1. Lateral Offset
Connector
Fiber core offset
from nominal (Microns)
Fiber core offset
intermated (Microns)
Resulting insertion loss
A 0.8
0.1 (connector A and C together) 0.002 dB
C 0.9
B 0.4
1.0 (connector B and D together) 0.20 dB
D 0.6
Optical Connector: Tuning and Testing
Page 4
Connectors B and D have the least lateral offset from
nominal and would perform the best when tested with
a reference connector, but if B and D were intermated,
they would have a total lateral offset of 1.0 microns
which is equal to an insertion loss of 0.20 dB. This
creates a higher insertion loss than would be found when
connectors A and C were intermated with a total lateral
offset of 0.1 microns or an insertion loss of 0.002 dB (see
Figure 2).
The Tuning Process
From the previous example it can be seen that an
improvement in overall intermated connector fiber end
alignment can be achieved if the core position was
controlled in a single direction for all connectors. Tuning
is the aligning of the connector ferrule such that any
offset from nominal position of the fiber end is aligned
within an angular tolerance zone around a key feature
on the connector body (as defined by TIA Fiber Optic
Connector Intermateability standards). Therefore, this
offset would be in the same direction on all connectors,
and the insertion loss between connector pairs would be
minimized.
A tunable connector has a mechanism for rotating
the ferrule in the connector body and locking it into
a given position. Most tuned connector designs allow
for six or eight ferrule positions. During manufacturing,
the connector is mated with a special tuning cable
(adjustment cable) that has a fiber end that is deliberately
offset a large amount from the nominal position in a
specified orientation to the connector key. The mated
pair is then tested for insertion loss, rotated to the next
position in the connector housing, and tested again.
Once all the possible ferrule positions are tested, the
ferrule is rotated and locked into the position that had
the lowest insertion loss. The ferrule is now oriented such
that any fiber end offset is aligned with the offset in the
tuning cable (see Figure 3).
Figure 2. Intermated Insertion Loss
Figure 3. Aligning Fiber Core Offset
Optical Connector: Tuning and Testing
Page 5
When a tuned connector is intermated with any other
tuned connector, any offset of the fiber cores will be in
a common direction and sector. Therefore, the insertion
loss of the randomly intermated pairs is minimized. It
is important to note that the performance of a tuned
connector to a reference connector is typically no
better than a connector that is not tuned to a reference
connector. This is due to the fact that the distance
between the core and the true center has not changed.
The improved performance is only seen in randomly
intermated connectors. In Figure 4, a typical insertion loss
improvement for a population of connectors is shown
before and after tuning.
Figure 4. Tuning Results
Optical Connector: Tuning and Testing
Page 6
Automated Tuning
The final performance of a tuned connector ultimately
depends on the accuracy of the tuning process. Two
steps must be performed to tune a connector: first,
locate the connector under test core relative to a known
core position and second, rotate the core to the desired
pie shaped region. An automated process is necessary
to achieve the required tuning accuracy and eliminate
the possibility of human error in choosing the tuned
position of the ferrule. Locating the core manually is
very time consuming and has limited accuracy, since only
the lowest insertion loss out of a set of several readings
is used to determine the core position. An automated
system can take advantage of microprocessing to
perform a non-linear regression and fit the theoretical
sinusoidal curve to the data. Regression minimizes
measurement uncertainty and allows one to interpolate
to find the most likely core position. A typical example is
shown in Figure 5.
A manual tuning process would have had the 120° angle
chosen for the core position, but a curve fit reveals that
a better angle would be 150°. Connectors that have
fine tuning capability, like ADC’s 12 position tunable SC
connector, can therefore maximize tuning accuracy. A
non-linear regression analysis also provides numerous
statistics that can be used to determine if the connector
or test setup is in error. Another advantage
of an automated tuning process is that it eliminates the
possibility of any damage to the connector endface from
any movement of the connector’s ferrule while mated.
In a manual tuning process, there is a possibility that
the individual performing the tuning operation could try
to rotate the ferrule to the next position without fully
disengaging the ferrule, thereby damaging the connector
and the tuning cable.
An automated machine can reliably and quickly perform
the second step of the tuning process of rotating the
connector to the upper pie region and locking it into
place. Manual tuning relies on an operator to rotate
the connector in the proper direction and rotate it the
proper number of tuning increments. Some connectors
pose additional sources of error due to their locking
mechanism. For example, the operator is required to
press a key onto the FC connector to lock it in place. An
automated tuning process integrates this step into the
machine, which greatly eases the difficulty of tuning FC
connectors.
Figure 5. Curve Fit
Optical Connector: Tuning and Testing
Page 7
Summary
The performance of optical connectors when mated
to a reference connector is not a true test of how the
connectors will perform when randomly mated in a
service provider’s network. When randomly mated,
connector pairs can produce a greater insertion loss
than the stated specification of either connector to a
reference connector. This occurs when the fiber ends
of individual connectors are misaligned in opposite
directions from the nominal position and thereby create
a greater total misalignment. An automated tuning
process can significantly decrease insertion loss in paired
connectors by accurately aligning the fiber end offset of
each connector in a common direction. Therefore, when
a tuned connector is intermated with any other tuned
connector, the insertion loss of the randomly intermated
pair is minimized.
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Specifications published here are current as of the date of publication of this document. Because we are continuously
improving our products, ADC reserves the right to change specifications without prior notice. At any time, you may
verify product specifications by contacting our headquarters office in Minneapolis. ADC Telecommunications, Inc.
views its patent portfolio as an important corporate asset and vigorously enforces its patents. Products orfeatures
contained herein may be covered by one or more U.S. or foreign patents. An Equal Opportunity Employer
102257AE 3/06 Revision © 2002, 2006 ADC Telecommunications, Inc. All Rights Reserved
WHITE PAPER
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automated process.
Optical Connector
Tuning and Testing
Optical Connector: Tuning and Testing
Page 3
Introduction
Transverse, longitudinal, and angular misalignments. 0.8
0.1 (connector A and C together) 0.002 dB
C 0.9
B 0.4
1.0 (connector B and D together) 0.20 dB
D 0.6
Optical Connector: Tuning and Testing
Page 4
Connectors
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