Bin Lu

Ultra-broadband phase-sensitive optical time-domain reflectometry with a temporally sequenced multi-frequency source.

A phase-sensitive optical time-domain reflectometry (Φ-OTDR) with a temporally sequenced multi-frequency (TSMF) source is proposed. This technique can improve the system detection bandwidth without the sensing range decreasing. Up to 0.5 MHz detection bandwidth over 9.6 km is experimentally demonstrated as an example. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first time that such a high detection bandwidth over such a long sensing range is reported in Φ-OTDR-based distributed vibration sensing. The technical issues of TSMF Φ-OTDR are discussed in this Letter. This technique will help Φ-OTDR find new important foreground in long-haul distributed broadband-detection applications, such as structural-health monitoring and partial-discharge online monitoring of high voltage power cables.

Precision and broadband frequency swept laser source based on high-order modulation-sideband injection-locking

A precision and broadband laser frequency swept technique is experimentally demonstrated. Using synchronous current compensation, a slave diode laser is dynamically injection-locked to a specific high-order modulation-sideband of a narrow-linewidth master laser modulated by an electro-optic modulator (EOM), whose driven radio frequency (RF) signal can be agilely, precisely controlled by a frequency synthesizer, and the high-order modulation-sideband enables multiplied sweep range and tuning rate. By using 5th order sideband injection-locking, the original tuning range of 3 GHz and tuning rate of 0.5 THz/s is multiplied by 5 times to 15 GHz and 2.5 THz/s respectively. The slave laser has a 3 dB-linewidth of 2.5 kHz which is the same to the master laser. The settling time response of a 10 MHz frequency switching is 2.5 µs. By using higher-order modulation-sideband and optimized experiment parameters, an extended sweep range and rate could be expected.

High spatial resolution phase-sensitive optical time domain reflectometer with a frequency-swept pulse

A high spatial resolution phase-sensitive optical time domain reflectometer (ϕ-OTDR) with an optical frequency-swept pulse (FSP) is proposed, and the experimental results are presented in the Letter. The FSP ϕ-OTDR uses optical pulses with linear frequency modulation with higher pulse energy for longer sensing fiber and uses matched filter in the receiver to compress the processed pulse width. Thus, the contradiction between spatial resolution and the working distance in ordinary ϕ-OTDR is relaxed. A spatial resolution of 30xa0cm, a sensing distance of 19.8xa0km, and a signal-to-noise ratio of 10xa0dB for vibration sensing were obtained experimentally. To our best of our knowledge, this is the first time that a sub-meter spatial resolution over such a long sensing range has been reported in ϕ-OTDR sensors.

Brillouin Frequency Shift of Fiber Distributed Sensors Extracted from Noisy Signals by Quadratic Fitting

It is a basic task in Brillouin distributed fiber sensors to extract the peak frequency of the scattering spectrum, since the peak frequency shift gives information on the fiber temperature and strain changes. Because of high-level noise, quadratic fitting is often used in the data processing. Formulas of the dependence of the minimum detectable Brillouin frequency shift (BFS) on the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) and frequency step have been presented in publications, but in different expressions. A detailed deduction of new formulas of BFS variance and its average is given in this paper, showing especially their dependences on the data range used in fitting, including its length and its center respective to the real spectral peak. The theoretical analyses are experimentally verified. It is shown that the center of the data range has a direct impact on the accuracy of the extracted BFS. We propose and demonstrate an iterative fitting method to mitigate such effects and improve the accuracy of BFS measurement. The different expressions of BFS variances presented in previous papers are explained and discussed.

Pulse compression phase sensitive optical time domain reflectometer with sub-meter resolution

We propose and experimentally demonstrate a pulse compression phase sensitive optical time domain reflectometer (φ-OTDR) with sub-meter resolution. Principle and theoretical analysis on the spatial resolution, the feasibility to obtain the phase information are provided. This technique can break the tradeoff between spatial resolution and measurement range in the traditional φ-OTDR. As example, our verifying experiment achieves 30cm spatial resolution and 20km measurement range, and the signal to noise ratio (SNR) reaches 10dB. To our knowledge, this is the first time that such a high spatial resolution over such a long sensing range is reported in φ-OTDR-based distributed vibration sensing.

Novel railway-subgrade vibration monitoring technology using phase-sensitive OTDR

High-speed railway is being developed rapidly; its safety, including infrastructure and train operation, is vital. This paper presents a railway-subgrade vibration monitoring scheme based on phase-sensitive OTDR for railway safety. The subgrade vibration is detected and rebuilt. Multi-dimension comprehensive analysis (MDCA) is proposed to identify the running train signals and illegal constructions along railway. To our best knowledge, it is the first time that a railway-subgrade vibration monitoring scheme is proposed. This scheme is proved effective by field tests for real-time train tracking and activities monitoring along railway. It provides a new passive distributed way for all-weather railway-subgrade vibration monitoring.

Vehicle tracking by Φ-OTDR used in safety monitored areas

This paper proposes two algorithms, dynamic frequency-space image and threshold sieving to deal with signal of vehicles moving in Φ-OTDR. Satisfactory results of field experiments for tracking of single car and multiple cars are presented, indicating Φ-OTDR is suitable for vehicle tracking.

Narrow-linewidth laser source with precision frequency tunability for distributed optical sensing applications

We demonstrate a narrow-linewidth laser source for high spatial resolution distributed optical sensing by utilizing the high-order modulation sidebands injection locking. A pair of phase-locked lasers with arbitrary frequency offset from 5 GHz to 50 GHz is generated. Meanwhile, a linearized frequency sweep covering range of 15 GHz in 6 ms with frequency errors of 240 kHz from linearity is also achieved using the same scheme, the instantaneous linewidth of the frequency-swept laser is measured to be ~2.5 kHz.