LONG DISTANCE, ALL-OPTICAL TELEMETRY FOR FIBER OPTIC SENSOR USING REMOTE OPTICALLY PUMPED EDFAS

摘要

An optical sensor architecture receives an input optical signal (502) from asignal source (500) and outputs a perturbed optical signal (510) from at leastone sensor (508) to a receiver (520). An optical amplifier (516) is positionedalong a return fiber (512) at an optical distance at least 10 kilometers fromthe receiver (520), with the optical amplifier (516) amplifying the perturbedoptical signal (510) propagating to the receiver (520). If only one opticalamplifier (516) is used, the optical distance between the amplifier (516) andthe receiver (520) may be between about 10 km and about 80 km, and an opticaldistance of between about 10 km and about 150 km may separate the sensor (508)and the receiver (520). If additional optical amplifiers (544) and dedicatedpump distribution fibers (540, 552) are used, the optical distances may becorrespondingly greater. Alternatively, increasing the number of sensors (508)necessitates a reduction in the optical distance separating the sensors fromshore.