TDR Fingerprint on long Land and Submarine Power Cables

TDR (time domain reflectometry) has proven to be a very useful tool for preventive maintenance as well as for fault location. This paper points out the limitations of TDR techniques for very long cables, and illustrates how, with professional expertise, good results can be achieved even with very long cables, despite high pulse attenuation and dispersion and low pass effect. The paper highlights for the first time how accurate TDR distance measurements can be attained on very long cables despite the non-linear pulse propagation speed. This is particularly important in regards to the precise fault location on extra-long cables.