Arden Photonics is distributing the ModCon mode controller, which meets the requirements of the recently-approved IEC 61280-4-1 standard. The standard gives new target and tolerance values for the source modal launch conditions required to measure loss in installed cable plant.
The controller is designed to ensure that whatever source is used to test the loss and bandwidth of a multimode optical fibre network, LED, laser, OTDR or white light, the same distribution of modes is launched into the fibre. As a result one can eliminate the variations due to the widely different modal characteristics of the sources commonly used in fibre optic measurements and networks.
The standard ModCon is available in 50um and 62.5um core graded index fibre, with either FC, SC, ST or LC connectors. Other variants are available for aerospace launches (Llmited phase space) as well as multi-channel and ruggedised controllers.