Industrial Consultancy & Sponsored Research (IC&SR) , IIT Madras

Methods of Distributed Acoustic Sensing Based on Rayleigh Scattering in Optical Fibers

Technology Category/Market

Technology: DAS in an optical fiber

Industry: Infrastructure (Hardware), Oil, Gas, Power & Utility,  & etc.

Market: The global Distributed Acoustic Sensing (DAS) market is projected to grow at a CAGR of 11.58% during the forecast period from 2022 to 2030.

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Problem Statement

  • Distributed Acoustic Sensing (DAS) based on Rayleigh scattering in optical fibers is attractive for perimeter sensing as well as civilian applications including oil/gas/water pipeline monitoring, environment monitoring, & structural health monitoring.
  • Several versions exist in prior literature, but they are not preferred due to requirement of costlier equipment (high-speed digitizer), low signal to noise ratio & fading issues.
  • The present innovation aims to address the above issues.

Technology

  • Present invention describes a method of distributed acoustic sensing in an optical fiber based on low noise and machine learning
  • The method includes launching a pulse into an optic fiber from either end which is connected in a loop configuration.
  • Backscattered signals from the optical fiber are fed to an optical receiver through an optical circulator.
  • The phase signals are extracted by mixing the backscattered signals from the fiber with signals from a laser light source in a mixer, thereby performing a correlation operation.

Key Features/Value Proposition

Technical Perspective:

  1. Perturbations to the optical fiber are identified by observing phase changes in the backscattered signal as shown in Fig. 2.
  2. In the embodiments, detector comprises a machine learning module to sense perturbations or improve resolution or both

Industrial Perspective:

  1. Enhanced spatial resolution & improved signal to noise ratio (SNR) leading to accurate detection of events.
Questions about this Technology?

Contact for Licensing

Research Lab

Prof. Balaji Srinivasan

Prof. Deepa Venkitesh

Department of Electrical Engineering.

Intellectual Property

  • IITM IDF Ref. 2057;
  • Patent Application No: 202041024381

Technology Readiness Level

TRL- 3

Proof of Concept ready, tested;

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