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Comprehensive Report on Global Market for Portable Optical Time Domain Reflectometers

Oct 3 2014

Research and Markets has announced the addition of the "Global Portable OTDR Market 2014-2018" report to their offering.

The Global Portable OTDR market to grow at a CAGR of 12.89% over the period 2013-2018

An Optical Time Domain Reflectometer (OTDR) is an electronic-optical instrument, a combination of a laser source and a detector, which is used to characterize optical fiber. An OTDR accesses only one end of the fiber and makes multiple measurements which are used to reveal defects, faults, and also determine the amount of signal loss at any point in the single optical fiber or complete network.

OTDRs are widely used by network constructors, service providers, and operators to characterize each component of the link, pinpoint a potential problem with the fiber or to find fault with the network. OTDRs use mainly two types of reflections namely "Rayleigh backscattering" and "Fresnel reflection". Rayleigh backscattering is used to calculate the level of attenuation in the fiber as a function of distance while Fresnel reflection is used to detect physical events along the fiber link. OTDRs are broadly classified into three categories depending on their design: Portable/Handheld, Rackmounted, or Benchtop.

One of the major emerging trends in the market is an increased demand for add-on, supplementary OTDR modules. A supplementary OTDR module provides technical upgrade to an existing OTDR module and enhances its operational capacity.

According to the report, one of the main factors driving the market growth is the increased deployment of fiber-optic links in cable TV networks to cater to consumers' growing voice, data, and video demands.

Further, the report states that one of the main challenges in this market is the high switchover cost. The overall cost of upgrading network architecture involves huge CAPEX by companies, which threatens their liquidity position.

The Global Portable OTDR market can be segmented into four divisions: