This part of IEC 61280 provides uniform methods of measuring polarization mode dispersion
(PMD) of single-mode installed links. An installed link is the optical path between transmitter
and receiver, or a portion of that optical path. These measurements may be used to assess
the suitability of a given link for high bit rate applications or to provide insight on the
relationships of various related transmission attributes. The principles of this document are
aligned with those of the optical fibre and optical fibre cable test method, IEC 60793-1-48 (see
Bibliography), which focuses on aspects related to the measurement of factory lengths.
Instead, this document focuses on the measurement methods and requirements for measuring
long lengths that might be installed - and that might also include other optical elements, such
as amplifiers, DWDM components, multiplexers, etc.