Fiber-optic distributed sensor based on phase-sensitive OTDR and wavelet packet transform for multiple disturbances location

A novel location scheme based on the wavelet packet transform (WPT) for the phase-sensitive optical time-domain reflectometry (OTDR) is proposed. The wavelet packet energy of the backscattered signal at a time interval over the sensing fiber is provided to discriminate the disturbances regions from other regions. It is insensitive to the frequency drift of the laser. The simultaneous measurement of two disturbances at 5 km and 7 km positions is achieved by the location technique based on the WPT over a 9 km monitored length with a 50 m spatial resolution even when a laser with a frequency drift rate of 230 MHz/min is utilized. During 100 times experiments the false alarm rate is only 2% and the maximum location error is 150 m.