On-line status monitoring and surrounding environment perception of an underwater cable based on the phase-locked Φ-OTDR sensing system
Xiaohong Chen, Ningmu Zou, Yiming Wan, Zhewen Ding, Chi Zhang, Shuai Tong, Yanqing Lu, Feng Wang, Fei Xiong, Yixin Zhang, Xuping Zhang
Abstract
A newly designed phase-locked (PL) Φ-OTDR system was proposed and instrumented. Field tests of water impact, anchor damage towing and tide diagnosing were carried out in a natural freshwater lake as well as the East China Sea. Personnel movement trajectory monitoring and ship flow monitoring were carried out by a buried cable along the floodplain of the Yangtze River. It proved that the proposed system can monitor the real-time status and sense the surrounding environment of existing underwater communication cables, which could be helpful for the maintenance of the cable itself as well as underwater information collection.