FOTAS (Fiber Optic Based Acoustic Sensing System): requirements, design, implementation, tests and results

In this paper, a fiber optic based acoustic sensing system (FOTAS) is presented. Utilizing such cables as hundreds of acoustic movement detectors has become a novel approach for many security applications. Developed for securing critical infrastructures via utilizing both buried and fence-mounted cables, phase OTDR system FOTAS’s requirements, design, development, test and analysis modules are outlined. The detected movement type, location, magnitude are conveyed to the user via a user-friendly interface. Associated hardware, software, and utilized fiber optic network characteristics are presented. Detailed information about developed novel signal processing and artificial intelligencebased movement detection studies are provided. Real world data indicate that preliminary threat detection performance is more than 90%.