Abstract

The Optical time domain reflectometry based on spectrum technique, COTDR, has been developed for more than ten years.^1–3 However, the spatial resolution, the most important parameter of an OTDR, has not been fully researched. To simplify the analysis the most common approximation is to consider the measured fibre to consist of discrete sections with each section length corresponding to the spatial length of one bit, L. From this assumption the spatial resolution of a COTDR is believed to be L. Our work suggests that this is incorrect if the continuity of the fibre is taken into consideration.

© 1995 IEEE