Product category:
Sensors and Data Acquisition
News Release from: Anritsu (UK)
Edited by the Electronicstalk Editorial
Team on 12 March 2004
NPL project aims for Internet-enabled
calibration
Anritsu is playing a key role in a DTI main-funded project at NPL to develop Internet-enabled metrology.
Anritsu is playing a key role in a DTI main-funded project at NPL to develop Internet-enabled metrology Anritsu has loaned an MW9076B portable OTDR to NPL for the project, and is supplying technical support
This article was originally published on Electronicstalk on 4 Aug 2008 at 8.00am (UK)
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The aim of the iOTDR project is to demonstrate the ability to calibrate an OTDR via the Internet, a process that provides highly accurate calibration and characterisation of customer's equipment, at any time of day, anywhere in the world.
With Internet-enabled metrology, equipment does not have to be booked in to the calibration laboratory in advance - the calibration is done at the customer's convenience, within the environment that an instrument is used, rather than under unrealistic controlled laboratory conditions.
Equipment does not have to be sent away for calibration, minimising down time on equipment to around an hour, and avoiding the validity issues associated with shipping calibration equipment to and from site.
The calibration records are housed on the NPL server - with access via account and password - and can be accessed at any time.
This reduces the file storage required by the customer and minimises the quality records required in-house.
Three main artefacts provide calibration for attenuation, attenuation uniformity, chromatic dispersion, return loss and absolute distance.
These artefacts can be purchased for those companies requiring calibration of many OTDRs many times throughout the year, or rented for the period of the calibration, reducing the cost of in-house calibration.
The artefacts are housed in a small frame electronic rack for portability.
The OTDR is controlled using NPL supplied software over the Internet and all data is manipulated and managed by NPL.
The uncertainty of measurement is calculated after each calibration, also by the software.
The software can be controlled through a PC with hardwired telephone access, mobile phone or the newer GPRS PCI card, and provides an easy to use procedure manual for quality assurance purposes - the customer is only required to connect up the OTDR to the PC and the artefacts and then proceeds via instructions from the software to carry out the calibration.
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