US Patent 10969302 Optical time-domain reflectometers and related methods

A method of testing an optical network with an optical time-domain reflectometer includes determining a reference power of the optical time-domain reflectometer based on a power level of a reflected light pulse reflected from an optical reflector. After determining the reference power, the method includes connecting the optical time-domain reflectometer to one end of the optical network and connecting the optical reflector to an opposite end of the optical network. The method also includes determining a return power through the optical network based on a power level of a reflected light pulse reflected through the optical network from the optical reflector to the optical time-domain reflectometer. The method further includes determining a loss of the optical network based on the reference power and the return power.