Application and Development Trend of OTDRs

In these days, the development of optical fiber sensor technology is so remarkable that it can measure various physical and chemical quantities ranging from a few millimeters to over several kilometers. In addition, it is attempted to assess the structural integrity of the state of the advanced technologies and existing structures such as ships, aircrafts, and bridges. This paper introduced the case histories of the measuring technology of optical fiber applied on structures such as roads and tunnels. The case history using OTDR (Optical Time Domain Reflectometery) was also introduced in this paper. Measurement of the pre-convergence of a tunnel is essential to assess the safety of a tunnel and understand the geological conditions ahead of an advancing tunnel. Therefore, the pre-convergence measuring technology using OTDR is expected to substitute conventional measuring techniques.