Single-mode fiber optic splice loss standard
To be able to judge whether a fiber optic cable plant is good, one does a insertion loss test with a light source and power meter and compares that to an estimate of what is a reasonable loss for that cable plant. The estimate, called a "loss budget" is calculated using typical component losses for. Mechanical splices are available for both multimode and single-mode fiber types and can be either temporary or permanent. The loss is high to allow prepolished/splice connectors which have higher loss than adhesive/polish connectors because the connectors include both a connection loss and a splice loss. These standards specify the maximum allowable loss that can occur at a splice point in an optical fiber network.
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