Fiber Optic Based Distributed Mechanical Vibration Sensing

The distributed long-range sensing system, using the standard telecommunication single-mode optical fiber for the distributed sensing of mechanical vibrations, is described. Various events generating vibrations, such as a walking or running person, moving car, train, and many other vibration sources, can be detected, localized, and classified. The sensor is based on phase-sensitive optical time-domain reflectometry (phi-OTDR). Related sensing system components were designed and constructed, and the system was tested both in the laboratory and in the real deployment, with an 88 km telecom optical link, and the results are presented in this paper. A two-fiber sensor unit, with a double-sensing range was also designed, and its scheme is described. The unit was constructed and the initial measurement results are presented.