Sensing solutions for fibre optic cables and fibre-enabled critical infrastructure

VIAVI Solutions Inc. has launched NITRO Fiber Sensing, an integrated real-time asset monitoring and analytics solution for critical infrastructure, including oil, gas, and water pipelines, electrical power transmission, border/perimeter security, and data centre interconnects.

Operators face challenges in protecting and optimising their critical infrastructure. The costs associated with damage to critical assets often dwarf initial investment. Hence, swift detection, localisation, and prevention of external threats help minimise damage and outages, leading to lower Total Cost of Ownership. Also, optimising operations helps ensure that production targets are met.

Comprising Distributed Temperature Sensing (DTS), Simultaneous Temperature and Strain Sensing (DTSS) and Distributed Acoustic Sensing (DAS) technologies, NITRO Fiber Sensing supplies the critical intelligence required to identify and pinpoint threats quickly.

The solution uses remote Fiber Test Heads (FTH), commonly known as interrogators, to monitor fibre optic cables or fibre-enabled infrastructure. By performing real-time distributed fibre optic sensing, FTH can measure temperature and strain along a fibre or detect acoustic vibrations close to a fibre. Deployed at strategic locations, including along power cables and pipelines, FTH provides valuable infrastructure health data that can be employed to drive proactive maintenance and prevent downtime. Alerts notify operators of potential threats from human interference, vehicle movement, digging operations, fishing nets or ship anchors encroaching on valuable assets. These alarms include precise location information for maintenance, response or repair teams.

“As a leader in fibre monitoring, VIAVI is trusted to monitor millions of miles of fibre with thousands of test heads around the world today. We take fibre monitoring to the next level with the NITRO Fiber Sensing solution,” said Kevin Oliver, vice president and general manager, Fiber and Access Solutions, VIAVI. “As the use of fibre optic cables increases across various industries to enable accurate, resilient monitoring while complying with security regulations, our broad portfolio serves each customer’s unique needs.”