‘Critical infrastructure’ fibreoptic monitoring launched

The solution includes ‘distributed temperature' sensing, ‘simultaneous temperature and strain’ sensing and ‘distributed acoustic sensing’. It uses remote fibre test heads - commonly known as ‘interrogators’ - to monitor fibreoptic cable/fibre-enabled infrastructure. 

According to the company, alerts are generated by the detection of a range of threats. These include “human interference,” “vehicle movement”, “digging operations” and “fishing nets or ship anchors encroaching on valuable assets.”

Discussing the rationale for the product – known as NITRO –, a spokesperson for the company said: “Operators face challenges in protecting and optimising their critical infrastructure. The costs associated with damage to critical assets often dwarf initial investment. 

“Hence, swift detection, localisation and prevention of external threats help minimise damage and outages, leading to lower total cost of ownership. In addition, optimising operation helps ensure that production targets are met.”

Viavi VP Kevin Oliver said: “As a leader in fibre monitoring, Viavi is trusted to monitor millions of miles of fibre, with thousands of test heads around the world. As the use of fibre optic cables increases to enable accurate, resilient monitoring, our broad portfolio serves each customer’s unique needs.”