A variable-frequency light source is configured to emit a light beam and modulate a frequency of the light beam. A fiber optic cable is attached to the variable frequency light source. The fiber optic cable is configured to receive the light beam at an inlet and pass the light beam to an exit. Multiple optical detectors are attached to the fiber optic cable. Each of the optical detectors is configured to detect a specified frequency of light that is backscattered through the fiber optic cable. An actuation mechanism is attached to the fiber optic cable. The actuation mechanism is configured to deform the fiber optic cable in response to a stimulus.

An optical fiber includes multiple optical cores configured in the fiber including a set of primary cores and an auxiliary core. An interferometric measurement system uses measurements from the multiple primary cores to predict a response from the auxiliary core. The predicted auxiliary core response is compared with the actual auxiliary core response to determine if they differ by more than a predetermined amount, in which case the measurements from the multiple primary cores may be deemed unreliable.

An optical fiber includes multiple optical cores configured in the fiber including a set of primary cores and an auxiliary core. An interferometric measurement system uses measurements from the multiple primary cores to predict a response from the auxiliary core. The predicted auxiliary core response is compared with the actual auxiliary core response to determine if they differ by more than a predetermined amount, in which case the measurements from the multiple primary cores may be deemed unreliable.

A frequency modulation demodulator based on fiber grating sensor array comprises: a laser, radio frequency signal source, acousto-optic modulator, delay fiber pair, Mach-Zehnder modulator, optical filter, optical amplifier, optical isolator, circulator, fiber grating sensor array, photodetector and data acquisition card. By the cooperation of delay fiber pair and the fiber grating, the reflected optical pulses of the two gratings (the front grating and the back grating) are overlapped in the time domain to form interference, and thereby achieving multi-point array interference demodulation.

Example embodiments add an optical amplifier to an multi-channel, continuously swept OFDR measurement system, adjust amplified swept laser output power between rising and falling laser sweeps, and/or utilize portions of a laser sweep in which OFDR measurements are not typically performed to enhance the integrity of the OFDR measurement system, improve the performance and quality of OFDR measurements, and perform additional measurements and tests.

Example embodiments add an optical amplifier to an multi-channel, continuously swept OFDR measurement system, adjust amplified swept laser output power between rising and falling laser sweeps, and/or utilize portions of a laser sweep in which OFDR measurements are not typically performed to enhance the integrity of the OFDR measurement system, improve the performance and quality of OFDR measurements, and perform additional measurements and tests.

A system and method for determining an object characteristic from a timed sequence of measured characteristics wherein the object characteristic is determined based on a comparison of a current measured characteristic against a variable reference characteristic. The variable reference characteristic is selected by iterating through the timed sequenced and determining a separate quality metric for the current measured characteristic against each earlier measured characteristic and selecting the variable reference as a function of the determined quality metrics. In one embodiment, iteration continues only until an earlier measured characteristics is found with a quality metric that meets or exceeds a threshold value. In another embodiment, iteration continues through a plurality of earlier measured characteristic (perhaps all) and the variable reference is selected as the earlier measured characteristic with the highest quality metric. The measured characteristics may include OFDR measurements.

Example embodiments add an optical amplifier to an multi-channel, continuously swept OFDR measurement system, adjust amplified swept laser output power between rising and falling laser sweeps, and/or utilize portions of a laser sweep in which OFDR measurements are not typically performed to enhance the integrity of the OFDR measurement system, improve the performance and quality of OFDR measurements, and perform additional measurements and tests.

A variable-frequency light source is configured to emit a light beam and modulate a frequency of the light beam. A fiber optic cable is attached to the variable frequency light source. The fiber optic cable is configured to receive the light beam at an inlet and pass the light beam to an exit. Multiple optical detectors are attached to the fiber optic cable. Each of the optical detectors is configured to detect a specified frequency of light that is backscattered through the fiber optic cable. An actuation mechanism is attached to the fiber optic cable. The actuation mechanism is configured to deform the fiber optic cable in response to a stimulus.

A distributed fiber-optic acoustic sensing system and a signal processing method. The distributed fiber-optic acoustic sensing system is based on a high spatial resolution distributed fiber-optic acoustic sensor. The interval between adjacent sensing units is centimeter or millimeter level. Through specific digital signal processing, signal enhancement can be realized, noise in the system and environment are suppressed, at the same time, problems such as interference fading is solved, and the sensor signal-to-noise ratio of subunits can be increased by two to three orders of magnitude. Each subunit can serve as an independent high-sensitivity sensor for sensing. The multiple subunits can form one or more new sensor arrays. The azimuth estimation and spatial orientation of signal sources can be realized by the array signal processing method.