Distributed Optical Fiber Sensing Technology

Dear Colleagues,

Distributed optical fiber sensors (DOFSs) have attracted tremendous attention since the 1980s after low-loss optical fiber was successfully manufactured. Via the Rayleigh/Raman/Brillouin backscattered light or forward transmission light in the optical fiber, DOFS is able to perceive external physical perturbations along the whole fiber such as temperature, strain, acoustic vibration, and pressure. Benefiting from the state-of-the-art optoelectronic devices and advanced modulation methods, DOFS has demonstrated significant advantages in sensing range, spatial resolution, sensing resolution, etc. Furthermore, the intrinsic distribution sensing capability and passive feature endow the DOFS with great resilience in harsh environments where conventional electronic sensors struggle to survive, and even the electronic counterparts are absent.

Nowadays, DOFS is still the subject of highly active research and has been widely used in numerous fields. Researchers worldwide have proposed various schemes to continuously advance the performance of DOFS. Meanwhile, data-driven machine learning and AI techniques have become a trend to enhance the perception applicability of DOFS. Moreover, new interdisciplinary investigation is emerging as DOFS is regarded as the routine tool in many scientific research and industry areas such as geophysics, oil and gas industry, and structure health monitoring.

We are pleased to invite you to share your latest research progress in this Special Issue organized by Photonics. We hope all of these efforts can accelerate the development and application of the DOFS.

This Special Issue aims to publish high-quality papers focusing on original scientific research as well as valuable applications of DOFS.

In this Special Issue, original research articles and reviews are welcome. Research areas may include (but are not limited to) the following:

• Distributed temperature sensor based on Raman scattering (DTS);
• Distributed temperature and strain sensor based on Brillouin scattering (DTSS);
• Distributed acoustic/vibration sensor based on Rayleigh scattering (DAS/DVS);
• Distributed optical fiber sensor using optical time-domain reflectometry techniques (OTDR);
• Distributed optical fiber sensor using optical frequency-domain reflectometry techniques (OFDR);
• Distributed optical fiber sensor using optical correlation-domain reflectometry techniques (OCDR);
• Distributed optical fiber sensor using forward transmission light;
• Novel modulation and demodulation scheme of DOFS;
• Enhanced optoelectronic devices and optical fibers for high-level DOFS;
• Performance analysis and optimization of DOFS;
• Advanced signal processing algorithms of DOFS data including machine learning and AI;
• Instrumental development of DOFS;
• Application report and result analysis of DOFS;
• Integrated optical sensing and communication.

We look forward to receiving your contributions.

Dr. Fei Liu
Dr. Yi Shi
Guest Editors

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