FiberLens User Manual

FiberLens opens OTDR trace files (.sor / .msor, Bellcore/Telcordia SR‑4731), shows the trace and its events, lets you measure with A/B markers, concatenate several sections into one combined link, and certify the link with built‑in calculators. It runs natively on macOS and iPhone/iPad.

Platform note: where the experience differs, Mac uses the menu bar, toolbar and a right‑hand inspector; iOS uses the bottom tabs (Analyze · Tools · Settings) and the ••• menu. Differences are called out below.

1 · Opening & managing files

• Open one or more .sor / .msor files. Each opens in the Open Files sidebar with its own color.
  • Mac: click + in the sidebar, or File ▸ Open (⌘O).
  • iOS: tap +.
• Recent files — reopen a previously used trace.
  • Mac: File ▸ Recent Files. iOS: the Recent Files list in the sidebar.
• Click a file to view its trace, events table and summary.
• Remove a single file: right‑click it ▸ Remove from List (Mac) or swipe (iOS).
• Mac: File ▸ Close All Open Files (⌘⌥W) closes everything.

2 · The summary bar

Above the chart, FiberLens shows the headline figures for the selected trace:

• Wavelength · Length · Total Loss · Attenuation · ORL
• The Attenuation value is color‑coded green / orange / red against the fiber‑type limits (see Settings ▸ Attenuation). The fiber type is read automatically from the file.
• With A/B markers on, the bar reports the values measured across the A–B span instead of the whole fiber.

3 · The chart

• Zoom & pan
  • Mac: drag a selection with the left mouse button (or use the zoom buttons, top‑right) to zoom into a range. Hold Space and drag to pan while zoomed.
  • iOS: pinch to zoom the distance axis; drag with one finger to pan when zoomed in.
• Read any point — hover (Mac) or drag (iOS) across the chart to see the distance and power (dB) at that spot.
• Jump to an event — click a row in the events table to mark that event on the chart; while zoomed in, the chart scrolls to center it.

4 · A/B measurement markers

• Turn on two draggable markers, A and B.
  • Mac: the ruler button in the toolbar, or View ▸ Toggle A/B Markers (⌘⇧M).
  • iOS: the ruler button.
• Drag either marker along the trace. While dragging, a label shows its distance and signal level. The readout (top‑right of the chart) shows A, B, the A–B distance, loss and attenuation.
• Markers are per file — each open trace keeps its own A/B (or none). A small orange ruler badge in the sidebar marks the files that currently have markers set.

5 · Events table

Each event row shows its number, type, distance, loss, reflectance, cumulative loss and a status badge.

• Status is rated against your thresholds:

  Badge	Meaning
  🟢 OK	within the OK limit
  🟠 Medium	between OK and High
  🔴 High	between High and the disaster point
  🟣 Disaster	above the High limit

  Reflective events use the connector thresholds; non‑reflective events use the splice thresholds (see Settings ▸ Thresholds).
• Show/hide the table: Mac — View ▸ Toggle Events Table (⌘⇧T). iOS — the ••• menu.

6 · Combined traces (joining sections)

Measure a long link in sections, then join them into one continuous trace.

1. Select files — open the Combined trace area at the bottom of the sidebar and tap Select files. Tick two or more files. Only same‑wavelength traces can be combined — mismatched files are disabled.
2. View it — the Combined trace entry becomes active; select it to see the joined link. Each section is drawn in its source file's color.
3. Usable fiber — each file contributes its A–B segment if markers are set; otherwise the usable fiber is auto‑trimmed (the launch dead‑zone and end‑of‑fiber reflection are removed) so the sections join cleanly.
4. Connections — click the sliders icon on the Combined row to set the connection at each join: Connector or Splice, and its loss (dB). The loss is drawn as a bold step (connector = red, splice = purple) and added to the totals.
5. Readout — hover anywhere on a combined trace to read each file's original measured dB (sections are shifted to join, but the readout reports the real value). The launch/receive cable zones and the dB scale are hidden in this view, since absolute power differs per section.

To start over, use Close in the Combined area to clear the combination (you'll be asked to confirm).

7 · Calculators

Link Budget — enter Transmitter Power, Receiver Sensitivity, Expected Link Loss and Safety Margin. Link Current Loss is filled from the trace (or the A–B segment) and can be overridden. The verdict, gauge and breakdown show how much headroom remains.

• Mac: open it from the gauge button in the toolbar — it docks in the right panel beside the chart and updates live as you move the A/B markers.
• iOS: open it from the Tools tab.

Fiber Color Codes — pick the standard and fibers‑per‑tube, enter a fiber number, and it shows the tube and strand colors (as a fiber cross‑section) plus the full color sequence.

• Mac: Help ▸ Fiber Color Codes (opens in its own window). iOS: the Tools tab.

8 · Settings

• General — Distance unit (m, km, mi, ft, kft), applied everywhere instantly; and Launch / Receive cable lengths (shaded gray on the chart and excluded from the link under test).
• Thresholds — Connector and splice loss limits (OK / Medium / High) that drive the table's status badges.
• Attenuation — per fiber type (G.652 – G.657) OK / Critical attenuation limits for 1310 and 1550 nm; these color the summary bar's Attenuation reading for the file's auto‑detected fiber type.
• Link Budget — the default Tx / Rx / Expected loss / Safety margin used by the Link Budget calculator.

9 · Exporting

• Export PDF — an A4 report with the summary, chart, events table and file metadata.
• Export Excel — the summary and events as a spreadsheet.
• Mac: File ▸ Export ▸ Export PDF / Export Excel. iOS: the ••• menu, then share or save.

10 · Keyboard shortcuts (Mac)

FiberLens reads OTDR .sor / .msor files (Bellcore SR‑4731). Trace parsing validated against pyOTDR. Not affiliated with any OTDR manufacturer.