Potential of Optical Frequency Domain Reflectometry fiber-based sensors for distributed temperature measurements during vacuum thermal cycling of satellites

In the present investigation we evaluate the potential of the Optical Frequency Domain Reflectometry (OFDR) for distributed temperature measurements during vacuum thermal cycling of satellites. In detail, we studied for several types of optical fibres the dependence of their Rayleigh signature, through the Rayleigh spectral shift, on temperature in the [-40°C: 120°C] range as well as their packaging. The optical fibres have been fixed on three different materials widely used on the satellites. On each of those materials we have fixed these optical fibres with aluminized adhesive tape or glue. We observed that after two thermals treatments from -40°C to 120°C, the thermal coefficient of the fibre used as the sensitive element of the OFDR sensor is stabilized and the quality of the temperature measurement is improved. Moreover, the study demonstrates that the OFDR is able to spatially discriminate the different points of fixation along tens of meters of optical fibres.