Lesson 9: Fiber Inspection & Testing
1: Welcome To This Lesson.
Welcome to Lesson 9, Fiber Inspection and Testing.
Copyright © 2018 CommScope Inc and Cabling Science Ltd. All rights reserved.
2: Causes for Network Failures.
Fiber optic communication most commonly works in duplex transmission by transmitting light to
a receiver in one direction on a fiber and receiving transmitted light back to a second receiver on
the second fiber. Most technicians can understand that and also the fact that anything in that
light path will degrade the amount and quality of light, but fail to appreciate how easy it is for that
path to become contaminated. Contamination of connector end-faces can have a significant
impact on network performance, as applications that run over fiber have a power budget which
becomes smaller the higher the speed of the application, such as 10G Ethernet. This graph
highlights a study that was undertaken by NTT, where they polled various network installers and
owners and asked them what the primary cause of fiber network failures are, so when 98
percent of the installers responded that it was down to contamination on the end-faces of the
fiber, it came as no surprise.
Copyright © 2018 CommScope Inc and Cabling Science Ltd. All rights reserved.
3: Fiber Cleaning Equipment.
Clean connectors are essential throughout the channel and if you are working with fiber
termination or even basic fiber patching, understanding the need for this cleanliness is critical.
Basic equipment should consist of lint free wipes or fiber stick cleaners, which are currently the
most efficient dry cleaners available on the market. Stick cleaners have a small reel of cleaning
tape inside them, and when the stick is compressed against the end-face of the connector, or in
a bulkhead, the cleaning tape inside runs over the end-face, cleaning it. These are available for
most connector styles, LC, ST or SC, or there are stick cleaners designed with dual heads to
clean patch cords. An ideal tool for a technician working when patching fiber cords. An
alternative is to clean the connectors with dry wipes, but it is quite common to see technicians
wiping back and forth against the end of the connector. The correct way to clean a connector is
to clean it in one direction on the wipe, then move it to another part and again wipe in the same
direction, otherwise dirt will be put back on the end-face. Two other items that should be in an
technician's kit for advanced cleaning are as follows: Fiber optic cleaning fluid: This is preferred
over Isopropyl Alcohol as it dries faster and with less residue. And cleaning sticks (like high
grade cotton buds) in different sizes for 'wet' cleaning bulkhead connectors.
Copyright © 2018 CommScope Inc and Cabling Science Ltd. All rights reserved.
4: Fiber Cleaning Equipment.
Cleaning of connectors is essential but there also needs to be a method of viewing the end-
faces. A manual scope with at least a magnification of 400 times would be acceptable, but there
is an ever-increasing range of electronic scopes too. This offering here from EXFO allows a
mobile phone via an app to be used as the viewer while using a wireless probe to inspect the
connectors.
Copyright © 2018 CommScope Inc and Cabling Science Ltd. All rights reserved.
5: Fiber Cleaning Equipment.
These viewers can also do the same and most electronic versions can analyze and store the
results. This is an example of a certification report showing the results of a link, including the
condition of the end-faces and loss over the link. From an installation and warranty perspective,
a record of the installed and tested end-faces proving they were clean will help you with
maintenance and warranty submission, especially if your customer intends to get their staff to
connect patch cords without having the necessary equipment to inspect them first.
Copyright © 2018 CommScope Inc and Cabling Science Ltd. All rights reserved.
6: Illustration of Particle Migration.
Let's look at cleanliness as it's not only contamination on the fiber core that is important. Debris
elsewhere can also cause problems because when two connectors are mated together, the
particles, especially larger ones, are very likely to 'explode' as the pressure is applied to them.
This graphic shows a picture of a connector using a 400x microscope that had some fairly large
pieces of debris on it. Watch what happens as the connection is made and then re-mated
several times. A lot of the debris is spread everywhere like shrapnel on each mating. There is
no pattern to where it's moved, but notice that debris at the beginning was not on the core,
however it now shows up on the core where it will prevent the transmission of light. In addition
large particles can create barriers or air gaps between the connectors that prevent contact and
therefore affect performance. Small particles also tend to embed themselves into the fiber
surfaces, creating damage to the connector end-face.
Copyright © 2018 CommScope Inc and Cabling Science Ltd. All rights reserved.
7: Inspect, Clean, Inspect, & Go!
The best way to test fiber is to assume that the connectors are dirty before starting. The test
procedure should go like this: Inspect, Clean if necessary, Inspect and then Connect.
Remember, this also includes brand new patch cords out of a packet. Before connecting the
fiber cord, the connectors installed in the fiber shelf or outlet must also be inspected. If they are
dirty they must be cleaned, then re-inspected before connecting. If testing a fiber panel, it would
make sense to inspect the complete panel before starting testing. This may seem long winded,
but at least this way it will make the testing thorough and give good results.
Copyright © 2018 CommScope Inc and Cabling Science Ltd. All rights reserved.
8: Wet Cleaning Fiber Connectors.
Sometimes there may be a requirement to 'wet' clean a fiber connector. As mentioned earlier,
alcohol if allowed to dry by itself, will leave stains behind on the end-face. Fiber prep fluid
doesn't do this and is safe on glass, ceramic, metal, plastic, optical fiber, will remove uncured
epoxies, is non flammable and kind to the environment. Perhaps it's time to upgrade your fiber
optic cleaning kit? If cleaning a patch cord connector, use a lint free wipe, moisten it with fiber
cleaning fluid and clean the end of the connector. The connector can then be dried with a stick
cleaner or using a 'tex' wipe or lint free cloth. Wet cleaning connectors in fiber shelves or
cassettes where they cannot be removed easily, can be achieved using fiber cleaning sticks.
These are available in two sizes, 1.25mm for LC connectors and 2.5mm for ST or SC
connectors. Again these are made using special materials so do not attempt to use a standard
cotton bud. Cotton buds are very hairy! Moisten the tip of the cleaning stick with fiber cleaning
fluid (do not allow it to be dripping as this will cause problems) and insert it into the coupler of
the shelf/cassette. Rotate the cleaning stick gently, as it is quite a tight fit, then remove it and
discard, as you do not want any dirt removed to be put back on to the next connector. Dry the
connector with another cleaning stick or a dry stick cleaner and check with a scope before
continuing!
Copyright © 2018 CommScope Inc and Cabling Science Ltd. All rights reserved.
9: Industry Standards.
Inspection and cleaning is something that the industry has recognized and issued standards for
people to reference. The standard that is most prevalent in the industry is the IEC61300-3-35.
This is designed to verify the insertion loss and return loss performance. Most electronic testers
provide a pass fail criteria of the results in line with this. There are three principles of a good
connection which are proper core alignment, physical contact and a pristine end-face. The IEC
standard enables technicians to refer to and adhere to processes that help the third variable, the
pristine end-face. It is also used as a condition for accurate testing of components. The TIA-
568.3 cabling standard references the IEC61300 standard to ensure proper testing.
Copyright © 2018 CommScope Inc and Cabling Science Ltd. All rights reserved.
10: Common Contaminants.
Here are some examples of typical problems found during inspection. These dust particles are
typical of a connector having been brushed against an item of clothing or dropped on a floor.
Fingerprints are the culprit here cause by the resultant grease or sweat typically. Natural
moisture from skin will leave a nice layer of contaminants on the end-face and is caused by
careless handling of the connectors. These two images are taken using a different style of
viewer and the complete end of the ferrule can be seen. These are badly contaminated and look
more like a culture you might find in a laboratory. Any sort of sweat or grease from the finger will
develop into images such as this, and if dried as they will do in a warm communications room,
the resultant contaminants might need wet cleaning to remove. Where Isopropyl Alcohol has
been used incorrectly, it can cause more problems. This is a typical dried alcohol stain. So
cleaning, if not done correctly, will also cause problems.
Copyright © 2018 CommScope Inc and Cabling Science Ltd. All rights reserved.
11: IEC 61300-3-35 Sets Requirements for Connector Quality.
Let's take a closer look at what the IEC standard includes. It refers to the end-face of the fiber
connection as a series of concentric circles. Think of it like a target where the closer you get to
the bulls-eye, the higher impact problems will have. In this case the bulls-eye is the core of the
fiber. Each of these concentric circles is called a zone. Each of these zones has specific
attributes for how clean it needs to be, calling out both attributes for scratches and also defects,
or in other words debris. The example shown is one of the standards for a single-mode UPC
connector end-face, the core should have no scratches or defects. The core is the zone with
radius of 0 to 25 microns from the center. The next zone is called the cladding zone which is
zone B, that is 25 to 120 microns from the center. In this zone there are some requirements for
scratches and defects which are dependent on the debris particle size. For example, the scan
can have defects that are less than two microns, but any defect that is larger than two microns
there starts to be some specific criteria. For example, there should be no defects larger than five
microns, but in the middle range of two to five microns, up to five are allowed. The standard
recommends the criteria for an allowable tolerance in each zone. The standard also
recommends the process for compliance as well, specifically how to test, and how to check the
quality objectively. This is an image of a fiber viewed through a microscope. Does the connector
pass or fail? It would really be hard to tell. By viewing the fiber through an objective inspection
tool, which are devices that take the guesswork out of inspection, it will run analysis and test
according to the standard at the press of a button. By looking at the fiber end-faces objectively
using the right tools, you can assess whether a particle or defect is actually a problem. This
allows the data to be documented, saved and shared to show that a thorough analysis of the
end-face has been completed.
Copyright © 2018 CommScope Inc and Cabling Science Ltd. All rights reserved.
12: Multimode Fiber Inspection.
Here are some examples of field installed connectors that should have been failed at the
inspection stage. This one has been damaged with a heavy cleave, while this second one has a
shattered fiber caused by the termination. The fiber is broken inside the ferrule and this
connector should be discarded and is not repairable. This end-face has a chipped fiber, but
would transport light through it as the chip is outside the immediate core area. It is polished
cleanly though and a poor cleave is the most likely cause. Lastly, here is over-polished fiber
end, but it looks fairly good at first glance. On closer inspection though it has a number of heavy
scratches across the core area, most likely caused by over-polishing on the first of a two-part
polishing process. It could possibly be repaired with a repair paper but is indicative of a poor
polishing process by the technician.
Copyright © 2018 CommScope Inc and Cabling Science Ltd. All rights reserved.
13: Inspection of Fiber.
We have just been looking at multimode connectors but when evaluating the end-face quality of
single-mode connectors it is easy to see the difference. Here are a single-mode and multimode
connector side by side. The single-mode is backlit, allowing the 8 micron core to be seen, while
with the multimode connector the backlit core can just be made out. The main difference
between a single-mode and a multimode connector is the connector tolerance, and to some
extent the cladding tolerance. Both connectors have a fiber cladding of 125 microns. However
the alignment for a single-mode 8-micron core is critical as a micron of movement will impact
the amount of laser light lost at the interface. For a multimode fiber this is not so critical, as it
has a relatively large core area for light to excite and a few microns of alignment either way will
not have the same impact. Surrounding the cladding is a layer of epoxy glue which holds the
fiber in the ferrule. With the single-mode connector this can hardly be seen but is clearly visible
in the multimode connector and shows the fiber is also marginally offset. This is why a single-
mode connector is more expensive than a multimode one. If the single-mode fiber was used in
the multimode connector and was fully offset, the 8 micron core would be offset by up to 4
micron, having a disastrous effect on the light transmission. This shows the importance of using
single-mode connectors on single-mode fibers.
Copyright © 2018 CommScope Inc and Cabling Science Ltd. All rights reserved.
14: Reminder!
To summarize, there are three different areas where lack of care and process results in down-
time. End-face condition: This is the main cause of Tier 1 loss result failures and is recognized
by installation technicians, data center owners and the industry in general. Secondly, lack of
inspection: This is the main cause of damage to fiber end-faces resulting in remedial cleaning
and potential re-termination. Lastly, while loss testing fiber links this is another opportunity to
damage end-faces AND to ruin expensive test reference cords. Ensure your technicians
understand this and have the appropriate equipment available to them. Please review the
videos in the download section of this lesson, that cover the cleaning of simplex and multi-fiber
connectors.
Copyright © 2018 CommScope Inc and Cabling Science Ltd. All rights reserved.
15: That Completes This Lesson.
QUIZ
Question 1:
What was the minimum magnification suggested for a manual microscope that is used
on site?
Answers:
A
1000x
Incorrect Answer: This would be great but was not the minimum recommended
magnification!
B
100x
Incorrect Answer: You would struggle to see very much through this!
C
200x
Incorrect Answer: You would struggle to see very much through this!
D
400x
Correct Answer: This is the minimum magnification you would require for a manual
microscope on site.
Question 2:
When connecting brand new fiber patch cords into a patchpanel, switch or any device,
is there anything you need to do first?
Answers:
A
Yes. All fiber patch cords from any manufacturer need to be cleaned before use.
Incorrect Answer: Some might not be dirty!
B
No. CommScope Patch cords come sealed in a bag with dust-caps, a certificate of
performance showing accurate loss details and are covered by the CommScope 25
year warranty and because of this they can be used straight from the bag saving time.
Incorrect Answer: CommScope patchcords are excellent, but this is not the correct
answer!
C
No. All major manufactured fiber patch cords have to comply with the standards so
providing they have test documentation with them they can be used out of the packet.
Incorrect Answer: The test documentation doesn't mean a lot if the connector is dirty!
D
Yes. All fiber patch cords should be examined using a scope to ensure they are clean
prior to use.
Correct Answer: All fiber patch cords from any manufacturer including CommScope
should be inspected and then cleaned if necassary before use, as static can cause dirt
to be attracted to the ferrule of the connector. A dirty patch cord is guaranteed to give
you problems.
Question 3:
Which is the relevant standard for fiber optic connector end face inspection?
Answers:
A
IS11801
Incorrect Answer: IS11801 is the generic Ccbling for customer premises standard
B
TIA 862
Incorrect Answer: TIA 862 is Structured Cabling Infrastructure Standard for Intelligent
Building Systems
C
TIA 569
Incorrect Answer: TIA 569 is the Telecommunications Pathways and Spaces Standard
D
ISO/IEC61300
Correct Answer: The IEC-61300-3-35 covers fiber connector end face quality
Question 4:
When wet cleaning MPO connectors inside cassettes or through inaccessible bulkheads
which of the following selections of tools are recommended?
Answers:
A
Fiber Cleaning Sticks. Fiber Optic Prep Fluid. Canned Air. MPO Pump Stick Cleaner
Incorrect Answer: These are not the recommended items used for cleaning MPO
connectors inside cassettes or through inaccessible bulkheads.
B
Cotton Buds, Fiber Optic Prep Fluid, MPO Pump Stick Cleaner
Incorrect Answer: These are not the recommended items used for cleaning MPO
connectors inside cassettes or through inaccessible bulkheads.
C
Iso-propyl Alcohol. Cotton Buds, MPO Pump Stick Cleaner. Canned Air
Incorrect Answer: These are not the recommended items used for cleaning MPO
connectors inside cassettes or through inaccessible bulkheads.
D
Fiber Cleaning Sticks. MPO Pump Stick Cleaner. Fiber Optic Prep Fluid.
Correct Answer: These three items are the recommended items used for cleaning MPO
connectors inside cassettes or through inaccessible bulkheads.
uestion 5:
Which of these cleaning aids is the odd one out?
Answers:
A
Iso-propyl alcohol
Correct Answer: Fiber optic prep fluid is preferred over ISO -propyl alcohol as it in non-
flammable and doesn't leave stains when it dries
B
Pump stick cleaner
Incorrect Answer: Please review the other answers and try again
C
Cleaning sticks
Incorrect Answer: Please review the other answers and try again
D
Fiber prep cleaning fluid
Incorrect Answer: Please review the other answers and try again
