Your source for the most up-to-date terms, definitions, and acronyms for and about internet service providers.
Search for an ISP term
OTDR
Last modified: Tuesday, May 29, 2001
Short for Optical Time Domain Reflectometer, an instrument that analyzes the light loss in an optical fiber in optical network trouble shooting. An OTDR injects a short, intense laser pulse into the optical fiber and measures the backscatter and reflection of light as a function of time. The reflected light characteristics are analyzed to determine the location of any fiber optic breaks or splice losses.