Early-warning debris flow and avalanches detection system based on optical fiber polarization sensing

Landslides, avalanches and debris flows are the main hazards in the mountain environment, endangering people and infrastructures. The existing monitoring systems in the geotechnical field are often unsuitable for real-time applications, such as early-warnings of the aforementioned events. We present an optical fiber system able to give an alarm when some anomalous event is detected. Experiments have been carried on a reduced scale model of a slope of a mountain, showing that state of polarization monitoring is a reliable way to early-detect anomalous vibrations.