Distributed Brillouin scattering optical fiber strain sensor technology

The distributed sensing technology based on Brillouin optical time domain analysis (BOTDA) has been widely used in optical fiber sensing and real-time online monitoring with high precision and high spatial resolution. This paper studies principles of the BOTDA technology and the strain sensing methods. Then the advantages and disadvantages of different strain sensing technologies and their effects on the performance were analyzed in detail. Next the commercialization process and key development directions of strain sensors are introduced. Finally, a new method of strain sensing based on Brillouin scattering is addressed to enhance the sensing performance.