Field testing of the route tracing method for fully dielectric optical cable

The article presents a method of underground dielectric optical cable route tracing using a distributed acoustic sensing based on recording and analyzing of the phase-sensitive optical reflectometer response to vibration-acoustic effects in the proposed tracing area. The peculiarity of the method is the use of pulsed impact for approximate determination of the cable laying area and the use of an acoustic source to determine the direction and clarify the location of the tracing route. The study outlines tracing algorithm and recommendations for choosing acoustic impact parameters. In accordance with the method elaborated, field tests were carried out on the section of a fiberoptic communication line made using a fully-dielectric optical cable. In result of the experimental testing, the possibility to determine a cable route tracing location under conditions of electromagnetic and acoustic interference with an error of not more ± 0.2 m was demonstrated.