IEC TR 63367-2021 Fibre optic interconnecting devices and passive components – Summarising results of round robin on connector end face scratch recognition and verification by automated microscopes

IEC TR 63367-2021 Fibre optic interconnecting devices and passive components – Summarising results of round robin on connector end face scratch recognition and verification by automated microscopes. This document summarises the results of a round robin on connector end face scratch recognition and verification by automated microscopes. The prime objectives of the study were: • determine the amount of variability (repeatability and reproducibility) when different state- of-the-art inspection systems are assessed against IEC 61 300-3-35:201 5; • evaluate any system-to-system variation in the quantity of reported scratches; • provide recommendations to improve the repeatability and reproducibility of fibre optic inspection systems. 2 Normative references There are no normative references in this document. 3 Terms and definitions No terms and definitions are listed in this document. ISO and IEC maintain terminological databases for use in standardization at the following addresses: • ISO Online browsing platform: available at https://www.iso.org/obp • IEC Electropedia: available at http://www.electropedia.org/ 4 Round robin procedure The round robin workflow consisted of the following steps. a) Specimen preparation (see Clause 5): Multimode and single-mode single-fibre and multifibre test specimens were produced. An image of each end face was captured by high resolution microscope, attenuation and return loss were measured for each fibre, and endface geometry was determined to verify that the specimens met the IEC interface requirements. b) Circulation initiation: Measurement procedure and results template (see Annex A) were developed and approved by the group. The order of participants for specimen circulation was agreed. c) Measurements: Specimens were circulated among round robin participants. Every participant performed measurements and collected image data according to the agreed procedure. d) Analysis of results: The results were gathered from all participants. Data analysis was performed, and the synthesis report was composed. 5 Specimen preparation 5.1 General The round-robin test specimens were fabricated to consider various interface configurations and conditions. Specimens were arranged into both cylindrical ferrule single fibre (1 ,25 mm zirconia material) and rectangular ferrule multi-fibre types (1 2-fibre MT with polyphenylene sulphide [PPS] material). Both multimode (50 µm core diameter) and single-mode specimens were produced. 5.2 Multimode specimens The multimode specimens were further organised into categories that had pristine fibre end- face surface quality, and ones with low-level, light scratches (produced with a 1 µm diamond film) which still meet functional performance criteria. Furthermore, specimens were created with 1 to 3 heavy scratches (produced with a 5 µm diamond suspension), as...