Data Reduction in Phase-Sensitive OTDR with Ultra-Low Sampling Resolution and Undersampling Techniques

Area of Science:

• Optical Engineering
• Signal Processing
• Data Science

Background:

• Long-term monitoring with phase-sensitive optical time-domain reflectometry (Φ-OTDR) systems generates substantial data, posing storage challenges.
• Efficient data management is crucial for the practical application and scalability of Φ-OTDR systems.

Purpose of the Study:

• To propose and validate a novel data-reduction approach for heterodyne Φ-OTDR systems.
• To significantly decrease data storage requirements without compromising vibration signal integrity.

Main Methods:

• Implementation of ultra-low sampling resolution and undersampling techniques tailored for heterodyne Φ-OTDR.
• Experimental verification across diverse sensing configurations to assess method efficacy.
• Reconstruction of vibration signals from highly undersampled 1-bit data.

Main Results:

• Accurate reconstruction of vibration signals from undersampled 1-bit data was achieved.
• A remarkable data space saving ratio of 98.75% was demonstrated.
• 128 MB of raw data was compressed to 1.6 MB, representing 268.44 ms of sensing time.

Conclusions:

• The proposed data-reduction method offers a viable solution for managing large datasets in Φ-OTDR.
• This approach enables more economical data acquisition and storage for long-term monitoring applications.
• The findings suggest a new direction for optimizing Φ-OTDR data handling and system design.