Optical time-domain reflectometer performance improvement using complementary correlated Prometheus orthonormal sequence

The authors deal with the pulse spreading approach using complementary correlated Prometheus orthonormal sequence (CCPONS) to enhance the performance of the optical time-domain reflectometer (OTDR). The approach has the advantage of reduced measurement time when compared with the OTDRs designed using the conventional or Hadamard derived codes. Also, it offers an improved dynamic range when compared with the conventional OTDR. We have demonstrated experimentally a high performance OTDR based on a CCPONS coding scheme and using a low-power Fabry Perot-laser diode. Using a 64-bit CCPONS coding, a one-way signal-to-noise ratio improvement of 3.7 dB was achieved over a conventional OTDR under the same measurement conditions, that is, for the same measurement time (20 000 averages) and same peak power (100 µW).