Distributed shape detection for an acoustic sensitive optical cable with DAS

Acoustic sensitive optical cables (ASOCs) and their shape detection are vital in underwater acoustic monitoring, and a distributed ASOC shape detection method is demonstrated with distributed acoustic sensing (DAS) technology. The accurate three-dimensional (3D) position of each ASOC unit is obtained from DAS signals and the prior position information of auxiliary acoustic sources by using a proposed adaptive peak allocation algorithm. Preliminary work has demonstrated single-point 3D localization and distributed ASOC shape detection, and the error is 6.53 cm. To the best of our knowledge, it is the first time that distributed ASOC shape detection is achieved with DAS. This method will promote the development of ASOC applications, such as underwater target detection and towed array correction.