Characterisation Of The Optical Fibre Drawing Process

Optical fibres, together with light sources and detectors, play a key role in telecommunication systems. One of the factors affecting the transmission losses of the fibre and its tensile strength, is the diameter uniformity which is directly related to the drawing process. A high degree of diameter uniformity in the fibre drawing process is achieved by an appropriate construction of the drawing machine and by applying an optimal system for the control of the diameter. In this paper, a nonparametric characterisation of the drawing process has been made, based on a priori information obtained by mathematical modelling and simulation.