What are insertion loss and return loss?

In the figure below, how much insertion loss and return loss do you think will cause? In other words, whether such a connection can guide fiber light to pass normally.

In fiber optic communications, insertion loss and return loss are two important indicators for evaluating the quality of the termination between fiber optic equipments (such as fiber optic connectors, fiber jumpers and pigtails).

What is insertion loss?
Insertion loss is mainly refers to measuring the optical loss between two fixed points in the fiber. It is the optical power loss caused by the intervention of optical devices in the optical fiber link. Its unit is dB.
Calculation formula: IL=-10 lg(Pout /Pin), Pout is the output optical power, Pin is the input optical power.

The smaller the value of insertion loss, the better the performance. For example, the insertion loss is 0.3dB better than 0.5dB. Generally, the difference in attenuation (less than 0.1 dB) between fusion splicing and manual connection is smaller than the difference in attenuation between fiber optic connectors. Here is some recommended maximum dB loss for data center fiber cabling: LC multimode fiber connector is maximum 15dB; LC single mode connector is maximum 15dB; MPO/MTP multimode fiber connector is maximum 20dB; MPO/MTP single mode fiber connection is maximum 30dB.

What is return loss?
When optical fiber signals enter or leave optical equipment components (such as optical fiber connectors), discontinuities and impedance mismatches will cause reflections or echoes. The power loss of the reflected or returned signal is the return loss (abbreviated as RL). Insertion loss is mainly the signal value measured when the optical link encounters loss, and return loss is the loss value of the reflected signal measured when the optical link encounters component access.
Calculation formula: RL=-10 lg (P0/P1), P0 represents the reflected optical power, and P1 represents the input optical power.

The return loss value is expressed in dB and is usually a negative value, so the larger the return loss value, the better. Typical specifications range from -15 to -60 dB. According to industry standards, the return loss of Ultra PC polished fiber optic connectors should be larger than 50dB, and the return loss of bevel polished is usually larger than 60dB. The PC type should be larger than 40dB. For multimode fiber, the typical RL value is between 20 and 40 dB.

What causes the IL/RL?
The quality and cleanliness of fiber endface
The defects of fibe endface (such as scratches, pits, cracks) and particle contamination will directly affect the performance of the connector, resulting in poor IL/RL. Even tiny dust particles on the core of a 5 micron single-mode fiber may eventually block the optical signal, resulting in signal loss.

The fiber is disconnected or the connection is poor
Sometimes, although the fiber is damaged, it can still guide the light through. In this case, it also leads to bad IL or RL. As shown in the picture at the beginning of this article, the APC connector is connected to the PC connector, one is at an angle of 8° and the other is the grinding angle of the micro-arc. When the two are connected, light may pass through in a short time. But at the same time, this will also result in greater insertion loss and lower return loss, which may also result in the two fiber end faces not being accurately docked, and the light cannot pass normally.

Exceeding the bending radius
Fibers can be bent, but too much bending can also cause a significant increase in optical loss and can also directly cause damage. Therefore, when it is necessary to wind the fiber, it is recommended to keep the radius as large as possible. It is generally recommended not to exceed 10 times the diameter of the jacket. Therefore, for a jumper with a jacket of 2 mm, the maximum bending radius is 20 mm.

10 Best practices to follow in your Software Testing Projects

Choose the right test strategy

Every software project is unique in its own way as there can be numerous factors apart from the project requirement itself that makes a software project unique. These factors can be – budget and time constraints, the resources available, their experience and expertise, etc. So, based on all these factors, a right test strategy needs to be developed that considers each aspect of the software project like – how many and when should be the resources allocated to the project, should automation be introduced in the project or not, etc.

Start Testing As Early as possible

Traditionally software testing was performed as a separate activity after the coding or implementation phase. But with the growing complexity of software applications and with the evolution of testing, it is advised that testing should be done as soon as possible. Sooner, we start the testing activities including requirement validation, test plan, test case creation, etc the more will be the probability of better quality software.

Write effective test cases

The success of the testing phase depends majorly on the test case developed. The testing team should aim at creating clear and concise test cases that should have good test coverage and at the same time avoid redundancy using the efficient test design techniques, so that test execution can be reduced without compromising the testing coverage.

Have the right combination of test automation and manual testing

Many times automation is introduced in the software project without actually considering its need and evaluating its ROI. Based on the type of software project, testing should be automated but only for the part where it adds value to the testing process.

Have the right test environment

Having the right test environment is very vital for the success of the testing process. The test environment should closely simulate the production environment and access to the backend and build deployment should ideally be with the test team only.

Prioritization of testing activities

Based on the criticality and the time/budget constraints, the testing activities should be prioritized. The decisions like when to stop testing, how much testing of a module is enough, etc should be taken only with correct prioritization of the different test activities.

Have specialists for performance and security testing

Testers with the right knowledge and approach to testing can easily perform the different types of manual testing – UI testing, usability testing, accessibility testing, negative testing, etc.

Even someone with decent programming language knowledge can learn automation by going through the Selenium tutorial or other automated tool’s tutorials. But there are some software testing types like – performance and security testing that are very critical for the success of any project. For projects related to online transactions, sensitive data, healthcare, etc, these testing types have even more critical.

So, these should ideally be performed by specialists who have the right domain knowledge and expertise of the different concepts and tools for carrying out these types of software testing.

Following CI-CD

Nowadays, frequent smaller releases are preferred over major releases that used to happen once a month, quarterly or even half-yearly. Sometimes code is pushed multiple times a day also.

In order to support this process, Continuous Integration and Continous Deployment/Delivery approach is used. This approach not only helps with frequent releases but it also helps in better utilization of the testing efforts.

Perform sanity on production

No matter how similar we have the test environment with the production environment and how confident we are with the quality of testing and the deployed build still sanity on production is always required. It can be either automated or performed manually.

Retrospection and Documentation of learnings

It always helps to document the learnings and learn from past mistakes. In this ever-changing software industry, it is better to keep on evolving the processes and practices. The same goes for testing, the testing phase needs to be constantly improved by learning from past mistakes and the same is possible when the learnings are well-documented.

This completes our article on the top practices to follow in your software testing projects. I hope you can employ some of these practices in your projects and have a successful release.

An Ultimate Bundle of Ethical Hacking Training in 2020

Hacking has always had a negative reputation. In times like today, when most of the data has gone online and the system is highly vulnerable to attack, we need systems that will help in securing the data while making the system more efficient. You would not want your company’s data to be accessed by your competitor, and hence it is essential for you to have cybersecurity professionals working for you. Many companies are currently investing in cybersecurity training certification for their employees so that they can maintain the security of data of their company. One of the ways to make this happen they are going to an ethical hacking course for employees. You would have heard about white hat hackers. These are being actively involved in cybersecurity teams, thus ensuring the formulation of techniques that eventually help in the safety of data.

Before you go ahead to understand details about ethical hacking training, it’s essential that you must know about the basics of hacking and why it’s extensive for companies to invest in hiring the certified white hat hackers.

Basically, hacking is getting access to the digital device, computer systems in an unauthorized way. There are different tools of the same, while phishing and data hacking are the malicious ones; white hackers are involved in protecting the data of the company. The work of hackers is to exploit the weak points and vulnerabilities of the software and devices and rectify the same. They usually work under close association with senior management of the company.

Why ethical hacking becomes essential?

Malicious hacking can be tragic for any organization. As per the reports of the US Council of Economic Advisories, due to hacking the US economy suffered a loss of $109 billion in 2016. A data infringement can cause a loss of $3.86 million for companies; this study was for the year 2018. And we can only look forward to this number to grow for the companies.

Why should you do white hat hacking certification?

If you are looking to make a career that is going to give you great growth in the future, then you must look for a white hat hacking certification. There are many online platforms like Global Tech Council providing ethical hacking training and cybersecurity certifications training. This training will help you to develop skills and best techniques about security that will help you create path-breaking solutions for cyber attacks. White hacking is an important part of cyber securities in a professional way, and the Global Tech Council is laying special attention on creating Certified White Hat Hackers.

How to become a certified white hat hacker?

Becoming a Certified White Hat Hacker is a great career option to grow in the future. As per the Bureau of Labor Statistics state that, the white hat hacker’s job chances are going to grow around 18% between 2014 and 2024.

As per the US Department of Labor, the technology sector is going to see meteoric growth in the time to come and with this, there is going to be a rising demand for cybersecurity professionals and network security engineers and so ethical hacking training, cybersecurity training certification is going to be a great way to upskill yourself.

If you want to become a certified white hat hacker, then you must know about the flair of the trade; the easiest way is to get enrolled for a certified white hat hacker certification program. To enroll in this program, you must know about IT and networks. You can either go for a cybersecurity certification program in the same, or there are institutes that are providing bachelors and PhDs in cybersecurity.

What does a white hat hacker do?

As a certified white hat hacker, you are needed to set up quick-fix against hacking. They fight against the vulnerabilities of the system using the same methods as a white hat hacker. These methods include:

Social engineering
Viruses
Worms
Trojans
Network Enumeration
SQL Injection
Denial of Service
Brute Force Hacking
They get into the system using essential cyber-attack tools, or they create their own techniques to get into the system. With this, they troubleshoot the problem of the system which is making it inadequate to work well.

Concluding thoughts – Do you want to become a certified white hat hacker or work as a cybersecurity professional? If yes, then you must enroll for cybersecurity training certification or ethical hacking training. These training modules by the Global Tech Council have been made by the world’s Experts in a standard way. These training modules are available online, and you can easily enroll in this program.

Cyber society is the need of the hour, with more and more people now indulging in the digital world, there is a need for systems and techniques that will help in combating the vulnerabilities of the system. And hence, there is a need for certified white hat hackers and network security engineers who can provide their services and make the system infallible. If you are willing to become a certified white hat hacker, then you must connect and go with the Global Tech Council today, it has the ultimate training courses.