Significant progress in the distributed fiber strain monitor project

[ Instrument Network Instrument Development ] The national key R&D plan led by ZTE Corporation, the “Special Scientific Instrument and Equipment Development” key project “Distributed Optical Fiber Strain Monitor” project has broken through the high spatial resolution technology after nearly two years of efforts. The key technologies of ultra-long-distance measurement technology and high-precision Brillouin signal processing have developed a prototype of distributed fiber strain monitor. Recently, the project successfully passed the mid-term inspection organized by the High Technology Center of the Ministry of Science and Technology.

Distributed optical fiber sensing uses optical fiber as the sensor. Its measurement parameters include strain and temperature, which can realize continuous measurement in space. The monitoring point can reach one million, and the measuring distance can reach 100 kilometers. It is incomparable with traditional point sensor. The advantage is the most effective technical means for large-scale infrastructure structure health monitoring and large-scale geological disaster monitoring. At present, domestic high-performance distributed optical fiber sensor monitors mainly rely on foreign imports, and domestically, it is unable to achieve ultra-high spatial resolution of centimeter-level and ultra-long-distance products of 100 kilometers.

The project uses a differential pulse pair technology and dual-frequency laser scanning technology to develop a distributed optical fiber strain monitor for engineering applications with centimeter spatial resolution and 100 km measurement distance. It has been successfully applied to oil and gas pipelines and high speed. In the fields of railways, high-voltage transmission lines, large bridges and landslide monitoring, the scientific and technological achievements of the China Highway Society have identified that the overall technology of the project has reached the international leading level. The research on the autonomousization of distributed optical fiber strain monitors is of great significance for improving the safety monitoring capability of large-scale infrastructure, large-scale structural equipment and geological disasters in China, improving public safety levels, and reducing economic losses and social impacts.

In the next step, the project will strengthen the miniaturization design of the instrument, improve the engineering use flexibility of the product, and further accelerate the work of engineering application demonstration and industrialization promotion.