Title: A simple and portable add-on converter module for communication and measurements

Authors: Dinesh Kumar Rayaroth; Majo Mary Mathew; Madhusoodanan Kottarathil Naduvil

Addresses: Cochin University of Science and Technology, Cochin, Kerala, 682022, India ' SFO Technologies (JKHT Centre), Plot #43A, Cochin, Kerala, 682037, India ' Cochin University of Science and Technology, Cochin, Kerala, 682022, India

Abstract: This paper presents the development of a new versatile portable add-on converter module which can be used for analysing mobile communication and cable TV networks. Present testing techniques required separate test equipment for characterising electrical and optical networks. Here, we develop a new system work as an add-on module for electrical frequency domain reflectometer which can perform measurements in electrical as well as optical cable networks. Using this technique, millions of electrical cable analyser currently in use all over the world can be converted into the optical analyser. The same system can also be configured as a bidirectional communication system for a wide variety of applications like fibre to the antenna/fibre to the home, cable TV applications. We also show that the developed system has wideband performance over a frequency range from 800 MHz to 2.5 GHz and a dynamic range of 45 dB.

Keywords: converter module; electrical frequency domain reflectometer; EFDR; radio over fibre; single-mode fibre; multimode fibre.

DOI: 10.1504/IJMC.2020.108289

International Journal of Mobile Communications, 2020 Vol.18 No.4, pp.373 - 385

Received: 30 May 2018
Accepted: 14 Jan 2019
Published online: 08 Jul 2020 *

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