Distributed fiber Brillouin strain sensing by correlation-based continuous-wave technique: cm-order spatial resolution and dynamic strain measurement

Abstract

This paper describes a novel correlation-based technique for fiber optic distributed strain sensors using Brillouin scattering. Conventional Brillouin-based sensors utilize a pulsed-pump similar to that of OTDR and are capable of distributed strain sensing over large distances, but suffer an inherent spatial resolution limit of around 1m. In addition, unlike FBG-based strain sensors which are competent of measuring dynamic strain, the pulse-based Brillouin sensors have large measurement times of several minutes, making them inadequate for dynamic strain measurements. On the other hand, using the correlation-based continuous-wave technique, we have achieved static distributed strain measurements of up to 1cm spatial resolution, and dynamic strain measurements of up to 8.8Hz from a 5cm strained section.