A3.4 9th International Conference on Insulated Power Cables A3.
An introduction to fibre optic Intelligent Distributed Acoustic Sensing
(iDAS) technology for power industry applications
Michael MONDANOS, Silixa, UK,
[email protected]ABSTRACT passive point based transducers that are designed to
provide the quantification of a measurand (temperature,
This paper provides an explanation of the general strain, displacement, sound, gas concentration etc.), and
principles of operation of the Intelligent Distributed through interconnecting fibre optic cables, communicate
Acoustic Sensing technology and focuses on the current
areas of interest and applications of this technology within that quantity to a remote sensor control unit. Generally the
the industry. Currently the technology is mainly used for sensor control unit will convert that optical signal to a
perimeter monitoring of utility assets and third party digital or analog value, to be further processed within the
intervention monitoring on buried pipelines. In the oil & control system. Such systems have been successfully
gas sector distributed acoustic measurements are used in deployed with the electric industry for monitoring
vertical seismic profiling and flow allocation applications related to transformers, busbars, generators,
measurements. The paper explores some of current switchgear etc.
applications of this technology. This paper also explores
and provides information that will enable the potential for With distributed sensors on the other hand, an optical
future applications. fibre core with a fibre optic communication cable, is the
distributed transducer. There are no additional
KEYWORDS transducers within the optical path. The sensor control
DAS, DVS, DTS, Smart Grid. unit in this case will tend to interrogate the fibre optic
cable using laser pulse sequences, and records the
response due to naturally occurring light scattering
AUTHOR NAMES & AFFILIATIONS phenomena within the fibre. Responses can be taken
Chris CONWAY; BEng (Hons) Electronic Systems, continually along the entire length of the optical path.
University of Ulster, MIEEE PES ICC, London, UK. Such fibres tend to utilise standard multimode and
singlemode fibre optics used in data communications
Michael MONDANOS; PhD, Optical Fibre Sensing, applications and are currently deployed to quantify a
Imperial College, University of London, MIEEE, London number of measurands e.g. sound, vibration, temperature,
UK strain etc. As such, there is the potential to utilise existing
fibre optic network infrastructure and so may provide the
INTRODUCTION opportunity for retrofit type applications.
The application of new technologies to the existing and Classically, point sensors, which typically have a higher
future electric transmission and distribution network, with signal to noise ratio than distributed sensors, have been
real-time knowledge of current and possible future used where high precision, fast measurements are
demand, status of present infrastructure is coined by the needed; with distributed sensors favoured where
term Smart Grid. Running in parallel to this complex extensive coverage is needed, with a compromise made
changing network demand structure we see that on either measurement time or resolution/accuracy. Here
technology is changing at a rapid pace. Increasing we report on a new type of intelligent Distributed Acoustic
computing processing power and ability to communicate Sensor [1], which achieves both the precision of a point
with a variety of network infrastructures has enabled new sensor with the wide coverage of a distributed sensor.
possibilities and applications to enhance the electric This system measures the true acoustic signal at every
industry’s demand for real-time monitoring. point along an optical fibre. By using digital signal
processing, the acoustic response along the fibre can be
Changes in the distributed optical sensing area are combined to enhance the detection sensitivity, thereby
happening fast with ever improving capabilities in terms of exceeding the sensitivity of point sensors, as well as
distributed temperature measurement and interpretation achieving highly directional information, facilitating super
of the immense amount of data such systems produce resolution imaging. Here we report on different array
into meaningful user friendly data. We see this through processing techniques which can be effectively used for
the active deployment and integration of DTS and DCR seismic applications using the new sensor.
technologies. The introduction of tried and proven
distributed fibre optic acoustic sensing technology may Raman and Brillouin Systems
help to provide further capabilities in terms of real-time
monitoring and could have potential to be retrofitted into At the core of each of these technologies is the
existing network infrastructure. technology known as Optical Time Domain Reflectometry
(OTDR) technology. This technology was originally
developed for the telecommunications industry as an
POINT AND DISTRIBUTED SENSORS effective means to determine the optical losses within a
Firstly however let us define what we mean by distributed fibre optic circuit and produce a loss profile for that circuit.
and point sensors in terms of optical fibre based sensing With OTDR technology a light signal is launched into the
technologies. Fibre optic point sensors are generally fibre and transmitted along its entire length. The OTDR
Jicable'15 - Versailles 21-25 June, 2015 1/6
A3.4 9th International Conference on Insulated Power Cables A3.4
essentially uses precise timing to measure the quantity of DVS
scattered reflected light in the fibre over time. The timing
of received light signal is used to determine the actual Distributed Vibration Sensors (DVS),[2] have been used
position along the fibre length. The intensity of the for intrusion detection as they provide vibrational
received light signal is used to determine the actual loss sensitivity together with electromagnetic interference
profile within the fibre circuit. The major part of the immunity. The idea is based on the interferometric
scattering occurs at the transmitted Rayleigh wavelength demodulation of back scattered Rayleigh signals from the
and these losses are used to calculate the actual loss optical fibre. The sensor can identify optical path changes
profile within the fibre circuit. due to disturbances in the environment that strain the
fibre. Sensitivity in DVS is limited by phase fading and a
The scattered light radiation also comprises Raman and highly non-linear amplitude response.
Brillouin reflections which each consist of two
components, namely Stokes and Anti-stokes light. Stokes A major limitation of such disturbance sensors is that they
light is at a longer wavelength to the incident Rayleigh are incapable of determining the full acoustic field –
wavelength and Anti-Stokes is at a shorter wavelength to namely the amplitude, frequency and phase – of the
the same Rayleigh wavelength. Sensor control units for incident signal. Commonly, however, these disturbance
Raman and Brillouin systems measure the intensity of the sensors are described as Distributed Acoustic Sensors
light in their respective Stokes and Anti-stokes wavelength (DAS), although the acoustic field cannot be reassembled
bands and use this data, combined with the OTDR fully.
technique, to determine a measurand profile. The techniques described here can only be achieved
The Raman scattering comes for the molecular vibrations using a sensor capable of full acoustic measurements
within the fibre optic core occurring along its entire length. with a high dynamic measurement range (which we
The measure of the molecular vibrations, a result of the differentiate here by referring to as iDAS). The difference
fibre’s natural kinetic energy, is directly related to between various sensing systems is based on
temperature. By being able to quantify the measure of fundamental variations of the hardware architecture of the
Anti-Stokes and Stokes energy received, in combination interrogator and the processing of the backscatter light.
with the OTDR principle, enables a complete temperature We will show here that using the new measurement
profile across the entire optical path to be determined on a technique embodied in the iDAS, we can use this full
continuous basis. This is the core principle at the centre of acoustic field to accurately detect and identify events in
Raman based DTS technology. intrusion detection applications and produce both surface
and downhole seismic profiles.
In contrast, the wavelength and frequency of the Brillouin
wave reflections are affected by both strain and iDAS offers a true acoustic response with a fully-
temperature events. The Brillouin wavebands are much representative detection of the acoustic field at typically
closer to the incident Rayleigh wavelength and, although every metre along a length of fibre. The iDAS system is
their intensity is relatively greater than that of Raman, it is the true analogue to a synchronised microphonic array,
more difficult to filter the Brillouin bands from the incident and so can be used for beamforming (the phase-shifted
Rayleigh signal due to their close proximity. Coupled with addition of acoustic fields measured at different sensing
the combined effects of both temperature and strain points).
events on the signal strength, this leads to further
challenges in being able to determine temperature events
from strain events at any location along the fibre optic iDAS
path. It may be relatively easy to demonstrate a Brillouin
The iDAS is using the same underlying principle as that of
systems ability in a controlled laboratory or Factory
the DTS and OTDR. The acoustic field exerts tiny
Acceptance Test (FAT) environment, however we should
pressure/ strain changes onto the fibre. The iDAS utilizes
review what may happen in an actual installation when
novel optoelectronics modules that uniquely measure
completing a Site Acceptance Test (SAT). As a relevant
local axial strain changes along the fibre. As
example, a fibre optic cable may be either attached to the
backscattered light is generated, the system builds a
outer surface or possibly with the fibre embedded within
dynamic profile of the strain along the entire fibre length.
the power cable structure. There is no guarantee that the
The iDAS measures these pressure changes at a rate of
particular fibre optic cable will exhibit the same loss profile
up to several tens of kilohertz and so can be used to
as that provided in the FAT, simply on the grounds that it
measure the acoustic field. The system digitally records
is commonly a different fibre optic cable, although may
both the amplitude and phase of the acoustic fields at
have the same cable standard. On site the fibre optic
every location and hence can “listen” to every point. The
splices will normally be of varying loss along the fibre
fibre acts as an acoustic antenna which can be deployed
length and not as per FAT conditions. The ability of a
in multi-dimensional configurations to enhance its
system to calibrate for these differences between FAT
sensitivity, directionality and frequency response.
and SAT conditions is fundamentally important.
When a pulse of light is launched into an optical fibre, a
Some have concluded that their preferred option is to use
small amount of the light is naturally scattered. The
Raman based DTS measurements in parallel with
scattered light is carried back to the sensor unit. By
Brillouin temperature and strain monitoring, and use the
analysing these reflections, and measuring the time
independent Raman distributed temperature
between the laser pulse being launched and the signal
measurement to further qualify the distributed strain or
being received, the IDAS can measure the seismic signal
temperature measurement.
at all points along the fibre, tens of kilometres long.
DVS and iDAS Typically the spatial resolution obtained with such a
distributed fibre sensor is about one metre. The principle
Jicable'15 - Versailles 21-25 June, 2015 2/6
A3.4 9th International Conference on Insulated Power Cables A3.4
of distributed sensing is well known from the distributed Figure 1: iDAS time-amplitude and power spectrum from a
temperature sensor (DTS) which uses the interaction of single measurement point with 50kHz sampling, for a
the source light with thermal vibrations (Raman scattering) 300Hz sine wave excitation. The -45dB level harmonic
to determine the temperature at all points along the fibre. distortion is expected to be dominated by the source
Because the returning light level is very weak this response rather than the sensor response.
measurement typically requires a few minutes averaging
to get a reasonable signal-to-noise ratio.
Light in an optical fibre travels at about 0.2 m/nsec. That
means that a 10-nanosecond pulse of light occupies
about 2 metres in the fibre as it propagates and that each
10 nanoseconds of time in the optical echo-response can
be associated with reflections coming from a 1-meter
portion of the fibre.By generating a fresh pulse every 100
µsec and continuously processing the returned optical
signal, one can, in principle, interrogate each meter of a
10 km fibre at a 10 kHz sample rate. Local changes in the
optical backscatter due to changes in the environment of
the fibre can thus become the basis for using the fibre as
a continuous array of sensors. In particular, when
components of the local acoustic field are coupled by
friction or pressure to local strain on the fibre, the fibre can
become a distributed acoustic array with thousands of
channels and nearly continuous sampling in both space
and time. Recent advances in opto-electronics and
associated signal processing have enabled the Figure 2: iDAS time-amplitude and power spectrum from a
development of a commercial distributed acoustic sensor single measurement point excited simultaneously by
(DAS) that actualizes much of this potential. Unlike tones at 300Hz and 320Hz. The -30dB side bands are
disturbance sensors [3], the iDAS measures the strain on expected to be mostly attributed to the performance of the
the fibre to characterise the full acoustic signal. audio amplifier/speaker used to excite the fibre.
With the iDAS system, measurements can be done at a The system can be calibrated to absolute strain rate. The
rate of up to 100kHz, (with a bandwidth from 8mHz to response of the iDAS to a fibre stretcher at 1 kHz is
50kHz), opening up possibilities for seismic shown in fig3.
measurements. The iDAS measures from one end of a Present systems can process up to 40,960 sensing points
single mode, standard telecoms fibre, without any special simultaneously, typically with a 1m to 2m spatial
components, such as fibre gratings, in the optical path. It resolution and a sampling resolution down to 25 cm. The
can even be used on existing cables, although custom fine spatial resolution achieved is significant in that it is
cables will give a better response. both technically challenging to achieve a spatial resolution
below 10m, and because a fine resolution is required for
advanced imaging applications. Silixa has demonstrated
The technically most challenging aspect of the iDAS signal-to-noise ratios sufficient for beam forming
design specification is the ability to faithfully record the applications for fibre lengths up to 82 km using a
acoustic signal, rather than merely record an bidirectional erbium doped fibre amplifier (EDFA) chain. In
approximation of the signal. The signal fidelity can be principle, it may well be the EDFA chain can be increased
determined by subjecting a section of the fibre to a known to extend the range up to the 320km achieved in ODTR
signal, the most convenient being a sine wave. The iDAS systems, and so form a massive sensing system.
acoustic signal and the FFT of this signal can then be
used to calculate the degree of any harmonic distortion
(Figure 1). Additionally, the intermodulation distortion
response can be tested by subjecting the sensing fibre to
Figure 1:Calibrated response of iDAS at a fixed
modulation of a 1 kHz sine wave excitation.
two tones simultaneously (Figure 2).
Jicable'15 - Versailles 21-25 June, 2015 3/6
A3.4 9th International Conference on Insulated Power Cables A3.4
CURRENT AND POTENTIAL APPLICATIONS some reservation on the amount of power coupled to the
FOR iDAS cable, etc.) Beamforming allows us to find the position of
acoustic sources relative to the cable, and selectively
Pipeline Monitoring listen to different points in the acoustic field. The iDAS
system has a wide dynamic range and we can accurately
Integrity monitoring of oil and gas pipeline pipelines measure the waveform amplitude and phase for small
requires that a system be able to quickly identify a leak or acoustic as well as for large vibration signals. A cost
third party intrusion event. An effective and appropriately function is computed over possible distances and speeds
implemented monitoring system can easily pay for itself to estimate the distance of the source simultaneously with
through reduced product loss, potential consequential the speed of sound through the medium between the
losses and an increase in public confidence. source and the fibre.
Integrity monitoring is offered using both DTS and iDAS Production Monitoring and well Integrity
technology. Additional features are also possible to
monitor flow at discrete locations and to track other A significant number of wells have been instrumented with
maintenance services such as pigging. optical fibres to allow for the tracking of steam flood where
enhanced recovery of heavy oil is required. The high
Distributed optical fibre sensing offers a pipeline temperatures experienced as a result of steam injection
monitoring system that is not available with any other have led to a combination of high temperature cable
technology. Distributed optical fibre sensing is the only construction as well as methods of injecting high
method to monitor for leaks continuously in both distance temperature fibres into capillary tubes in a repeatable way
and time. Early detection of a leak or intrusion together such that fibres can be retrieved and replaced without the
with the accurate identification of the location allows time need for well work-over.
for either safe shutdown or rapid dispatch of assessment
and clean-up crews. With optical fibres in place it is possible to use the
temperature and acoustic attributes of the well to
Intrusion detection operates by using the fibre as a determine where fluid inflows and outflows are occurring
microphone array and by listening to the activity in the as well as tracking the fluid movements that are indicative
proximity of the cable. By employing acoustic recognition of well integrity failures such as leaking packers or poor
it can classify the activity taking place and hence warn the cemented isolation.
operator of threats, both deliberate and accidental, before
they interrupt the operation of the pipeline. The same Where is it practical to place optical fibres across a
techniques used to identify external threats to pipeline producing interval, such as a series of perforations or
integrity can also be used to provide acoustic based leak slotted production liner, it becomes possible to
detection. For intrusion detection threats such as digging characterize the inflows/outflows at given intervals by
and vehicular activity, events can be detected many means of relationships linking the temperature and/or
metres away from the pipeline and can be positioned to acoustic response to flow rates and fluid types. This
within 10m along the full pipeline route. Many method is further enhanced by the application of unique
simultaneous threats can be identified, classified and array processing methods capable of quantifying fluid
alarms raised. speed of sound and flow speed from the true acoustic
field achievable from the iDAS. With sound speed and
Detection works by energy comparison; put simply, it flow speed parameters the production engineer can define
compares energy of current sample with energy of the fluid types and zone-by-zone production rates as well as
noise floor. If the energy increases certain threshold, establishing fluid fractions in two-phase flow scenarios.
detection is triggered. The information achievable from an optical fibre across
the production interval can be likened to the answers
taken from a conventional production log and allow the
user to manage the well performance for optimum
recovery by making informed decisions about remediation
such as produced water control.
The applicability of optical fibres to the harsh conditions
encountered in the oil and gas borehole have also led to
growing use of distributed sensing as a monitoring
solution for hydraulic fracturing of hydrocarbon bearing
shales. Placement of the optical fibre cable across the
Figure 4. Waterfall showing a digging event. The region to be fractured allows the operator, through the
waveform for a single sampling point is also shown. gathering of temperature and acoustic data, to monitor the
placement of frack water and proppant so that they can
Classification extracts features of interest from the understand the effectiveness of the fracturing process and
acoustical data and then a classifier (e.g. neural network) adjust practices are necessary. The immediate benefits of
makes a decision based on these features. The the technology in this application can be to limit the
differentiation will be done in classification: all the events quantities of frack water required to effectively stimulate
will be detected and tracked and classification will tell the shale and ultimately to improve the per-well-recovery
which is which. Depending on the traffic and coupling of of shale exploitation. Interest in the micro-seismic
vibration waves to the pipeline we would expect saturation application of distributed acoustic sensing aims to target
of the system. It is possible to raise the detection the characterization of fracture growth as a method to
threshold for that region of the pipeline since usually car assure against damage to aquifers or otherwise to the
signal power is lower than that of digging or walking (with
Jicable'15 - Versailles 21-25 June, 2015 4/6
A3.4 9th International Conference on Insulated Power Cables A3.4
environment. applying such technology.
The iDAS has been used in many seismic acquisitions, By utilising existing fibres within buried and subsea power
encompassing vertical seismic profiling, in both flowing cable iDAS potentially offers operators additional data
and non-flowing wells, CO2 storage wells and surface which could be utilised to manage buried cable
seismic. The use of iDAS was facilitated by the intervention events. Such events may be due to local
deployment of a modular borehole monitoring (MBM) ground excavation works and as such assist in cable
package on production tubing under the Citronelle carbon reliability and reduce the need for spontaneous repair
sequestration and storage project. The chosen monitoring works. The cable to a mapped cable route as illustrated
well included multiple fibre-optic cables and an 18-level below may assist with pinpointing the event with an
clamping geophone string (information available at operator’s network.
http://www.co2captureproject.org/reports.html). The fibre
was included in metal tube which was itself part of a
multiconductor cable clamped to the production tubing, in
the fluid–filled annulus between tubing and casing to a
depth of almost 3 km. Data acquisition was sufficiently
successful to move forward with work on improving
acquisition and planning.
Figure 6. Example user interface for iDAS system
For subsea cables involving free spans and towed cables,
it may be possible to utilise such technology for solutions
related to vortex induced vibrations (VIV) [4]. These
Figure 5. Comparison between the iDAS response and vibrations are important because a cable can develop an
geophones. increased drag coefficient and therefore increases the
The iDAS response is a local average of strain rate of static loading [5], [6]. In addition these excitations can
fibre core, continuously sampled in space and time. The produce large dynamic loads at the forcing frequency,
relationship between iDAS signal and the seismic reducing the cable’s fatigue life. Full-scale studies reveal
vibration field depends on coupling between fibre core that the vibrations are characterized by a spectrum
and environment. More stacking is required than for containing several frequencies, often dominated by strong
standard geophones; however, the vast increase in beating oscillations [7]. At the present time such
channel count more than compensates in terms of applications for VIV monitoring in subsea cables are
efficiency. largely theoretical, and further full scale analysis and
testing are required in order to the determine practical
iDAS Power Industry Applications solutions regarding the application of iDAS technology for
this particular application.
Other potential applications for iDAS technology may
Transmission and distribution assets are viewed globally imply its application to OPGW and OPPC infrastructure.
as asset of critical national security in much the same way Utilising this technology may help determine the location
as any other energy transfer infrastructure. Here we shall of lightning strikes, corona events and possible contact
explore some current applications and also take a view to with ground vegetation by analysing differences between
some further potential applications for iDAS technology the normal audio and vibration spectra. One significant
with a view to providing utilities with additional capability in inherent limiting attribute of the technology is the systems
terms of reliability and security. It is not intended to be a response to the audio and vibration bandwidth with
comprehensive and exhaustive list but we hope it may respect to distance. The bandwidth of the received
provide some food for thought and indeed, there may be response is inversely proportion to the distance along the
many other applications for such technology in the future fibre path. The audio bandwidth maybe capable of
that are yet realised. detecting an audio band up to 50kHz at short distances
The inherent long term reliability and passive nature of (<1km), but this bandwidth is significantly reduced (<
fibre optic based acoustic sensing makes iDAS a worthy 1kHz) at distances beyond 20km.
technology for many power industry applications. The
most advanced DAS technologies may be deployed
CONCLUSIONS
through existing fibre optic infrastructure making the iDAs technology is capable of determining the full acoustic
technology ideal for retrofit applications. However it is field – namely the amplitude, frequency and phase – of
important to note the physical location and medium in the incident signal. iDAS technology is currently being
proximity of the fibre optic cable with respect to the cable utilised within the power industry for effective intervention
asset and the particular desired design achievement on of and intrusion monitoring. The system structure enables its
Jicable'15 - Versailles 21-25 June, 2015 5/6
A3.4 9th International Conference on Insulated Power Cables A3.4
integration within utility SCADA network and can also
capitalise on the existing fibre optic infrastructure within
the network. However there are limitations with regard to
its audio bandwidth versus distance. With further
application experience, and development of processing
hardware and software, iDAS technology has a promising
future for the electric power industry.
REFERENCES
For a Conference citation:
[1] Farhadiroushan, M., Parker, T.R. and Shatalin, S.,
2009, " Method and Apparatus for Optical Sensing",
WO2010136810A2
[2] Shatalin, S.V, Treschikov, V.N. and Rogers, A.J.
1997 “Interferometric optical time-domain
reflectometry for distributed optical-fiber sensing”,
Applied Optics, 37, 5600-5604
[3] Shatalin, Sergey et al., “Interferometric optical time-
domain reflectometry for distributed optical-fiber
sensing”, Applied Optics, Vol. 37, No. 24, pp. 5600 -
5604, 20 August 1998
[4] R. Svoma, R. Kluth, K. Singh, “Application of
Temperature sensing and dynamic strain monitoring
to subsea cable technology”, 2007, Jicable
proceedings
[5] Every,M.J, King,R.& G. Riffen, 1981, “Hydrodynamic
loads on flexible marine structures due to vortex
shedding. In Proceedings ASME Winter Annual
Meeting ,Washington DC, USA
[6] Sarpkaya,T. 1978 Fluid forces on oscillating cylinders
. ASCE Journal of Waterway Port, Coastal and
Ocean Division , 104 , 275 – 290
[7] Yoerger,D.R., Grosenbaugh,M.A Triantafyllou, M.S .&
Burgess, J.J . 1991 Drag forces and flow-induced
vibrations of a long vertical tow cable—Part I :
Steady-state towing conditions . ASME Journal of
Offshore Mechanics and Arctic Engineering 113 , 30
– 36
GLOSSARY
DVS: Distributed Vibration Sensing
DTS: Distributed Temperature Sensing
DCR: Dynamic Cable Rating
OTDR: Optical Time Domain Reflectometer
DAS: Distributed Acoustic Sensing
iDAS: Intelligent Distributed Acoustic Sensing
FAT: Factory Acceptance Test
SAT: Site Acceptance test
FFT: Fast Fourier Transform
MBM: Modular Borehole Monitoring
OPGW: Optical Path Ground Wire
OPPC: Optical Path Phase conductor
Jicable'15 - Versailles 21-25 June, 2015 6/6
