US Patent 10211920 Latency based chromatic dispersion estimation methods

Optical communication systems include optical time domain reflectometers that are coupled to link fibers to determine link fiber lengths. After length measurement, chromatic dispersion associated with the measured length is estimated. In some examples, the estimated chromatic dispersion is compensated. A single OTDR can be used to assess a pair of link fibers coupling first and second network nodes by injecting a probe pulse at a common end of the link fibers or by routing the probe pulses from a remote end of one link fiber into a remote end of a second fiber.