Beyond DAS: Advances

in Distributed Rayleigh
Sensing

Dr Gareth Lees
gareth.lees@apsensing.com
 Presentation Overview

Introduction
AP Sensing
Products and Services

Technology
DAS Concept
DAS Terminology
Phase vs Amplitude

Case Study
Enhanced DTS

2
 Company History

1939 Hewlett-Packard (HP) started as a test and

measurement company.

1959 HP establishes its first production site outside

of the US in Boeblingen, Germany.

1999 The measurement business from HP is spun off

into Agilent Technologies.

2007 The fiber optic monitoring business is spun off

to create AP Sensing.

3
 Global Presence
Headquarters

Basingstoke Boeblingen
UK Germany
Seoul
Korea

Houston
USA Shanghai
Bahrain China
Mexico

Singapore

4
 Established Markets

Power Cable Monitoring

LNG Monitoring

Fire Detection

Pipeline Monitoring

5
 Established Markets

Well & Reservoir Monitoring

Train & Rail Monitoring

Geo- and Hydrological

Perimeter Security

6
 Innovative Technology Company
R&D % of Revenue
Intel 20%
AP Sensing 17%
Google 13%
Siemens 6%
Samsung 6% DAS C
Apple 3.5% DAS B
DVS
DAS A 70km SM
24 channel 10x speed
4x speed 70km MM
Safety tester
RTTR -40°C Hibernation Mode
HD relays SmartVision 3.x
ATEX Modbus IEC-104 Integrated Modbus
Configurator 50km SM
Dual-Ended OPC / DNP3
Single receiver 8 & 12 channel UL521 30km SM
Low power 8 km 12 km DDW MultiSensorBoard 50km MM
GeoDTS 40km MM RTTR 10.0
Code Correlation Outdoor VdS SmartVision 1.0
SIL 2 RTTR 7.0

2004 2006 2008 2010 2012 2014 2016 2018

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 AP Sensing Solutions
Instruments Enclosure Rack Solutions

DTS

Wall Mount

DAS ATEX
- Redundant Systems
- Networking
- UPS
- Backup Solutions
Low Temperature - Operator Displays

8
 AP Sensing Solutions

RTTR
(DCR)
Engine

Insight Asset
View™ View™
Data Server
& Smart
Capture™
Modbus
IEC 60870
Multi Protocol
DNP3
Client Interface
IEC 61850
OPC
Smart
Alarm™

9
 Powerful Analysis and Configuration Tools

Machine
Rules
Learning

Fibre
Configuration

10
 SmartVision MapView
• Live data can be displayed either
on satellite image or conventional
schematic representation
• Train data including position,
velocity and length can be
displayed
• Cars at road crossings and
pedestrians can also be
monitored and displayed

11 Confidential
 Technology
DAS Measurement
DAS is an OTDR based
technology. The position of
the acoustic/vibration event is
determined by measuring the
arrival time of the returning
light pulse, similar to a radar
echo.

The coherent Rayleigh effect is stimulated

by minute strain changes in the fiber as a
consequence of thermal, acoustic,
vibration or strain effects. The returned
signals are analyzed and presented in the
form of frequency and amplitude of
disturbance.

12
 Terminology
Coherent Fading Noise 1984
Coherent Rayleigh Noise
Coherent OTDR 1987
f-OTDR 1988 [7]
1991 [6]
Distributed Acoustic Sensing 2005
Distributed Vibration Sensing 2008
Amplitude DAS
Phase DAS

Distributed Rayleigh Sensor

13
 Technology

Fleischer-Reumann, M., and Sischka, F. “A High-Speed

Optical Time-Domain Reflectometer with Improved Dynamic
f Range.” Hewlett-Packard Journal. 1988
f Fiber
f under test
Light Pulse
Source Generation
Optical
Amplifier Backscatter
Signal.

Data Acq. Receiver

Processing
P. Healey, “Fading in heterodyne OTDR,”
Electron. Lett., vol. 20, no. 1, p. 30, 1984.

AP Sensing N5000 (2015).

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 Technology
Output Signal
Interference
Transfer Function
Constructive

Input Signal

Destructive

The transfer function is

actually varying depending
on the local scattering

Hartog, A. (2017). An Introduction to Distributed

Optical Fibre Sensors (First). CRC Press. P.237

15
 Technology
• Acoustic signal generates a
disturbance in the 1D
speckle
• Disturbance has a random
sensitivity and direction
• Good for locating events but
not suitable for reproducing
applied signal

Amplitude Measurement

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 Technology

Dual Pulse Technique

Carrier Frequency Df
Gauge Length

f f+Df
Fiber
f under test
Pulse
Laser
Generation
Optical
Amplifier Backscatter
Signal.

Data Acq. Receiver

Processing

17
 Technology

Transfer Function

Input Signal Output Signal

Change in Phase

Input Signal

The output is proportional to

the input

18
 Technology
• Acoustic signal generates a
disturbance in the 1D
speckle
• Disturbance has a known
and repeatable sensitivity
and polarity

Phase Measurement
Differential Phase Measurement

19
 Signal Repeatability

20
 DAS Performance Comparison
Amplitude DAS Differential Phase DAS

@25 km @49 km

60m 10m

• Conventional DAS Technology

• Non-linear signal response over distance and acoustic intensity
• Can suffer from fading

• 2P Squared DAS
• High SNR over 70 km measurement range
• Linear response over distance & signal strength
• Reduced Fading

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 Signal Linearity SEAFOM - DAS Parameter Definitions and
Tests (August 2018)

Self-phase Noise
Dynamic Range / Linearity

Spatial Resolution

22
 Advanced Signal Processing
The linear transfer between applied signal and the instrument output provides a
much more robust prediction of events.

Prediction of class is based on proximity to the centroid of each class in different

hyperplanes
Feature A

Most likely Blue Event

Feature B

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 Distributed Rayleigh Sensing
Lower Noise
Improved Dynamic
Range

Frequency Spectrum (Hz)

10-4 10-3 10-2-2 10-1-1 1000 1011 1022 1033 1044 1055 1066
VSP Acoustic
Temperature Rock Acoustic Emission
Earthquakes Microseismic Emissions (Rock)
Strain Movement
Movement (Metals)
Leaks Sand Detection

Physical Audible

DC Conventional DAS Measurements

Extending DAS Applications

Current Established

Value

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 Case Study
Enhanced DTS (eDTS)
Distributed Temperature Sensors based on
Raman scattering provide reliable, robust
measures of the absolute temperature of the
optical fiber

Distributed Rayleigh Sensors can provide a

measure of the changes in temperature of
the fiber in short periods of time

Combination of Raman DTS and DAS

produces a system with improved
performance both in response time and in
temperature resolution

25
 Visualisation .. DAS Configurator

Standard FBE Output DTGS Temperature Output

Pulsed
FBE Analysis Temperature
Heat

Hot Plate

Test set up – with one fiber

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 Integration .. Enhanced DTS Measurement

27
 Acoustic vs Temperature .. Amplitude

Number of Samples (Normalised)

<0.03degC
0.05
Two key factors
0.04
- Temperature changes are slow Car Signals (pk-pk)
0.03
- Phase changes due to temperature are
large – generally much larger than acoustic 0.02
signals 0.01
0

0
0.4
0.8
1.2
1.6
2
2.4
2.8
3.2
3.6
4
4.4
4.8
pk-pk Phase (radians)

Number of Samples (Normalised)

0.07degC/s <0.3degC
1
0.8
Train Signals (pk-pk)
0.6
0.4

100Hz 0.2
20nStrain 0

0.0
2.8
5.7
8.6
11.4
14.3
17.2
20.1
23.0
25.8
28.7
31.6
34.5
pk-pk Phase (radians)

Examples of signal magnitudes from

Machine Learning Library Data
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 Enhanced DTS
Temperature Resolution

Improved temperature
resolution and reduced
measurement time at 69km

Spatial Resolution 2degC

Measurement Time 30mins
Range 69km
SmartVision

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 Enhanced DTS
Measurement Time
45
eDTS Measured Temperature [°C]

43
41
39
37
35
DAS provides fast response
33 Each data point is 10seconds
31
29
27
25
12:00:00 12:02:53 12:05:46
Time
eDTS @ 69.5 km
75
eDTS Measured Temperature [°C]

70
65
60
55
50 Temperature [°C]
45
40
35
30
25
11:45:36 11:52:48 12:00:00 12:07:12 12:14:24 12:21:36 12:28:48 12:36:00 12:43:12

Time

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 Summary

• DAS terminology can be very confusing

• Not all DAS systems are the same
• Performance of a DAS where the output is linear and repeatable with the
input offers significant advantages
• The low frequency output of the DAS is predominantly temperature and can
be used to enhance the Raman DTS measurement to provide either an
improved temperature resolution or a faster measurement output

• Exciting and evolving field with many advances to come

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 Questions?
References
[1] Muanenda, Y.; Oton, C.; Faralli, S.; Nannipieri, T.; Signorini, A.; Pasquale, F. Hybrid distributed acoustic and temperature sensor using a
commercial off-the-shelf DFB laser and direct detection. Opt. Lett. 2016, 41, 587–590.
[2] Y. Koyamada, Y. Eda, S. Hirose, S. Nakamura, and K. Hogari, “Novel Fiber-Optic Distributed Strain and Temperature Sensor with Very
High Resolution,” IEICE Trans. Commun., vol. E89–B, no. 5, pp. 1722–1725, 2006.
[3] K. Miah and K. D. Potter, “A Review of Hybrid Fiber-Optic Distributed Simultaneous Vibration and Temperature Sensing Technology and
Its Geophysical Applications,” Sensors, vol. 17, no. 11, pp. 1–25, 2017.
[4] M. Karrenbach et al., “DAS Microseismic Monitoring and Integration With Strain Measurements in Hydraulic Fracture Profiling,” in
Proceedings of the 5th Unconventional Resources Technology Conference, 2017.
[5] M. M. Molenaar, D. J. Hill, P. Webster, E. Fidan, and B. Birch, “First Downhole Application of Distributed Acoustic Sensing ( DAS ) for
Hydraulic Fracturing Monitoring and Diagnostics,” in SPE Hydraulic Fracturing Technology Conference, 2011, pp. 1–9.
[6] Taylor, H. F., & Lee, C. E. (1991). Patent No. US 5194847. https://doi.org/10.1145/634067.634234.
[7] Dakin, J., & Lamb, C. (1988). Patent No. GB2222247A. United Kingdom.
[8] Hartog, A. (2017). An Introduction to Distributed Optical Fibre Sensors (First). CRC Press.

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