June 10, 2005 Germantown, MD and Chicago, IL -- Acterna has added a handheld return loss meter, the ORL-55, to its SMART line of handheld optical field instruments.
The company says its ORL-55 SMART optical return loss meter is a high-performance, easy-to-use instrument for the field as well as for in lab and production environments. The company says the device allows customers to use two or three lasers as well as high precision fiber couplers to test reflected signals. The instrument supports three modes with its "one button" test feature: return loss meter, optical power/loss meter, and laser source. Return loss is measured at up to three wavelengths simultaneously by using sophisticated digital signal processing, according to the company. With its USB interface, the unit can be networked with other Acterna optical handheld instruments to establish an optical measurement system for lab or production applications. The device also has an internal memory that can store more than 1,000 results.
"As with all of our SMART optical handhelds, the ORL-55 helps maintain our aggressive strategy to provide the market with universal handheld tools for the entire network lifecycle - from the lab, to the deployment and maintenance of optical networks and systems," asserts Enzo di Luigi, general manager for Acterna's fiber optics and systems division. "Optical return loss is a fundamental test process in the deployment of FTTx and PONs, and the ORL-55 is developed to be future-proof, while meeting our customers' requirements today."
According to the company, key features of its SMART handheld product line include a USB interface, allowing for remote control and report generation and analysis via laptop/desktop; a three-year calibration interval; a power supply management system that uses either standard dry or rechargeable batteries, offering fast charging times and long battery life, with batteries that can be charged using any 12-volt power source; an extended number of calibration wavelengths; rugged design; the straightforward SMARTStar graphical user interface (GUI); traceable measurements to international standards for confidence in accuracy; quick-start operation (no warm up required, thus decreasing testing times); and TWINtest and TRIPLEtest functions for simultaneous measurements at either two or three wavelengths, which significantly decreases testing times, according to the company.
The company says its SMART optical handheld testers are designed for FTTx/PON, DWDM, CWDM, 40-Gbit/sec, Ethernet, and Gigabit Ethernet applications (both multimode and singlemode). According to the company, the testers are identified by their product names: OLA (variable optical attenuator), OLP (optical power meter), OLS (optical light source), OLT (optical loss test set), OMK (optical measurement kit), and ORL (optical return loss meter).
The new product was introduced at this week's Supercomm 2005.