Abstract
Recently, Rayleigh scattering-based distributed fiber sensors have been widely used for measurement of static and dynamic phenomena such as temperature change, dynamic strain, and sound waves. In this review paper, several sensing systems including traditional Rayleigh optical time domain reflectometry (OTDR), Φ -OTDR, chirped pulse Φ -OTDR, and optical frequency domain reflectometry (OFDR) are introduced for their working principles and recent progress with different instrumentations for various applications. Beyond the sensing technology and instrumentation, we also discuss new types of fiber sensors, such as ultraweak fiber Bragg gratings and random fiber gratings for distributed sensing and their interrogators. Ultimately, the limitations of Rayleigh-based distributed sensing systems are discussed.
Highlights
Infrastructure, such as buildings, roads, and highways, are critical to the day to day lives of people around the world
This paper reviews the recent advancement in Rayleigh scattering-based optical time domain reflectometry (OTDR), phase-sensitive OTDR using standard single mode fiber, ultraweak fiber Bragg grating (FBG), and random fiber grating array for distributed fiber sensors in temperature, strain, and vibration measurements, as well as phase OTDR application to measure laser linewidth and phase noises, chirped pulse-based phase-sensitive OTDR technology, and challenges for Rayleigh-based OTDR and optical frequency-domain reflectometry (OFDR) sensors
The layout of this paper is arranged as follows: the introduction to distributed sensing is presented in Section 1, the theory and working principle of spontaneous Rayleigh scattering and their mechanisms for measuring strain and temperature are presented in Section 2, the Rayleigh scatteringbased OTDR and OFDR system performances are detailed in Sections 3 and 4, Section 5 will summarize application needs for distributed sensors, and Section 6 is the conclusion
Summary
Infrastructure, such as buildings, roads, and highways, are critical to the day to day lives of people around the world. Coherent phase OTDR to recover temperature-, strain-, or vibration-induced phase changes at higher precision than telecom fiber-based OTDR sensors [5] Another Rayleigh scattering-based approach is the optical frequency-domain reflectometry (OFDR) with the frequency scanning, in which the probe signal is a continuous frequency modulated optical wave instead of a pulsed signal as in OTDR [6]. This paper reviews the recent advancement in Rayleigh scattering-based OTDR, phase-sensitive OTDR using standard single mode fiber, ultraweak FBGs, and random fiber grating array for distributed fiber sensors in temperature, strain, and vibration measurements, as well as phase OTDR application to measure laser linewidth and phase noises, chirped pulse-based phase-sensitive OTDR technology, and challenges for Rayleigh-based OTDR and OFDR sensors. The layout of this paper is arranged as follows: the introduction to distributed sensing is presented in Section 1, the theory and working principle of spontaneous Rayleigh scattering and their mechanisms for measuring strain and temperature are presented in Section 2, the Rayleigh scatteringbased OTDR and OFDR system performances are detailed in Sections 3 and 4, Section 5 will summarize application needs for distributed sensors, and Section 6 is the conclusion
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