Towards efficient real-time submarine power cable monitoring using distributed fibre optic acoustic sensors

Online condition monitoring of submarine power cables helps to avert failures and damages produced by mechanical impacts. We report, to our knowledge for the first time, on investigations regarding the feasibility of distributed fiber optic acoustic sensors based on C-OTDR, with the sensor fibres being embedded in the cable, to detect vibrations due to mechanical disturbances along the cable. We present first results of sensing experiments where acoustic signals are transmitted through water to simulate the corresponding submarine conditions. Furthermore, we show results evaluating the usefulness of fibre commonly embedded in existing power cable designs for our sensing purposes.