Distributed fiber-optic intrusion sensor system

Abstract

A distributed sensor system for detecting and locating intruders based on the phase-sensitive optical-time-domain reflectometer (/spl phi/-OTDR) is described. The sensing element is a cabled single-mode telecommunications fiber buried along the monitored perimeter. Light pulses from a continuous-wave Er:fiber Fabry-Pe/spl acute/rot laser with a narrow (/spl ap/3 kHz) instantaneous linewidth and low (few kilohertz per second) frequency drift are injected into one end of the fiber, and the backscattered light is monitored with a photodetector. The effect of phase changes resulting from the pressure of the intruder on the ground immediately above the buried fiber are sensed by subtracting a /spl phi/-OTDR trace from an earlier stored trace. In laboratory tests with fiber on reels, the effects of localized phase perturbations induced by a piezoelectric fiber stretcher on /spl phi/-OTDR traces were observed. In field tests, people walking on the ground above a buried fiber cable induced phase shifts of several-/spl pi/ radians.