The present invention relates to a system for testing the connection paths of a switch fabric by using a spontaneously emitted signal as a test signal. The system includes at least one first module and at least one second module, wherein each one of the second modules is associated to one of the first modules through a connection path in the switch fabric. Each of the first modules is capable of obtaining a respective first measurement of a characteristic of the spontaneously emitted signal supplied to the switch fabric, and each of the second modules is capable of obtaining a respective second measurement of the characteristic of the spontaneously emitted signal. The system further includes a processing module in communication with each of the first and second modules for determining a feature of the optical component based on the first and second measurements.