Exploitation of Deployed Telecommunication Fiber Infrastructures for Sensing Applications

• Published in: 2020 22nd International Conference on Transparent Optical Networks (ICTON) pp. 1 - 4
• Main Authors: Boffi, P., Di Luch, I., Ferrario, M., Rizzelli, G., Gaudino, R.
• Format: Conference Proceeding
• Language: English
• Published: IEEE 01-07-2020
• Subjects: fiber sensors; interferometric sensors; metro networks; Optical fiber cables; Optical fiber networks; Optical fiber sensors; Optical fibers; Vibrations
• ISSN: 2161-2064
• DOI: 10.1109/ICTON51198.2020.9203016

The optical fiber infrastructure deployed in our cities to support the metropolitan area networks is exploited for sensing applications, where the optical sensing signals co-propagate together with the telecom traffic. Thanks to a coherent interferometric approach, structural monitoring of buildings can be achieved in deployed passive optical networks based on fiber-to-the-home structure. Moreover, the same technology is experimented in urban fibre ring networks to detect and localize mechanical vibrations or dynamic perturbation.