Importance

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Abstract

A lightwave communication monitoring system has a monitoring member to which are applied signals extracted from one or more fibers in a transmission system. The monitoring member detects the signal and applies a signal derived therefrom to a control or processing unit. When the strength of the derived signal is below a predetermined minimum, the control unit is adapted to activate a fault location member which applies a fault location signal to the fiber circuit in which the signal, or lack thereof, is transmitted. The system is capable of handling a plurality o fiber circuits simultaneously. In another embodiment of the invention, a test signal is launched on the first fiber, or, simultaneously launched on a plurality of first fibers of fiber pairs, and the test signal is simultaneously extracted from one or more of a plurality of corresponding second fibers of the fiber pairs. The system also includes means for measuring the strength of the transmission signals, which are at a different frequency from the test signal.

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First Claim