Novel FBG interrogation technique for achieving 70 km

Due to the development of Fibre Bragg Grating sensors for the measurement of temperature, strain and pressure many markets can benefit from optical technology. These markets are the oil and gas industry, structural and civil engineering, rail and aerospace to name a few. The advantages of using optical sensing technology are that high accuracy measurements can be performed with a passive optical system. By running one fibre along the structure or down the well, multiple points along the fibre can be tested to measure strain, temperature and pressure. Of importance with these systems is the reach that can be obtained while maintaining accuracy. A major problem with long reach system is the back reflection due to SBS and Rayleigh scattering processes which reflect part of the laser light back into the receiver which affect the sensitivity of system. This paper shows a technique to enable a reach of >70km by using a tunable laser and receiver. Techniques for the suppression of receiver noise from SBS and Raleigh scattering are implemented. In addition polarisation dependence of the FBG is considered and results of techniques to limit the effect of polarisation at long and short reaches are shown.