WATER SENSING METHOD WITH OTDR AND OPTICAL SENSOR FOR NON-PRESSURIZED OPTICAL-FIBER CABLE SYSTEM

We describe a new water sensing system for optical fiber cable networks. This system consists of optical fibers, water sensors and an OTDR (Optical Time Domain Reflectometer). The water sensor contains material which swells on contact with water and bends the optical fiber. The OTDR monitors the optical loss increase caused by this fiber bending and determines its location. In this system it is very important to determine the loss increase caused by the water sensor in terms of the OTDR performance. Therefore, we clarified the relationship between the water sensor structure and the increase in loss. Based on this study, we fabricated a sensor which causes a 5 dB loss increase. The measured value is very close to the calculated value.