Skip to content

Distributed Acoustic Sensing (DAS) and Its Future Opportunities for Pipeline Monitoring

DAS for pipeline monitoringFiber optic products are progressively being deployed in many upstream and midstream applications. Nowadays fiber optic equipment is regularly used to provide high bandwidth telecommunications and infrastructure for SCADA (Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition) and is being used more and more to sense pressure, temperature, and strain along buried onshore and subsea pipelines and downhole. Pipeline leakage and intrusion detection continue to be a difficult issue because existing leak detection methods and the traditional methods of guarding pipelines have proven inadequate in the prevention of leaks and deferring third-party intrusion into pipelines and plant facilities.

Distributed Acoustic Sensing (DAS) systems based on fiber optic products are actively used for both sensing and telemetry. Each of the 4,000 independent, simultaneously sampled channels, of which the above systems consist, can be used to detect and locate activity within the vicinity of the pipeline. Also, that channels can be used to classify the type of activity through sophisticated acoustic signal processing.

Distributed Acoustic Sensing systems are very simple systems for providing total monitoring protection over large distances. DAS utilizes sensing cables, that are based on standard fiber optic cables, to obtain a measurement profile along the entire length of the sensing cable at intervals ranging from 3-10 m, depending on the physical size of the system. There is no specialized sensing point required.

There are three basic types of DAS systems utilized for fiber optic measurements:

  • Rayleigh-based systems
  • Raman-based systems
  • Brillouin-based systems

Depending on the frequency of the signal that is derived, this nomenclature is analyzed. DAS systems are ideally suited to monitoring pipelines for the third-party intrusion. Recent developments in the fiber optic products field have also highlighted the ability of the system to track pig runs, provide seismic data during earthquakes, and detect gas leaks in buried pipelines.

Optromix is a fast-growing seller of such products from the fiber Bragg grating (FBG) line of products: fiber Bragg grating sensors, FBG interrogators and multiplexers, and, of course, Distributed Acoustic Sensing Systems (DAS). Our major goal is to deliver the best quality of fiber-optic sensors to our clients. Optromix creates and supplies a broad variety of excellent fiber-optic solutions for the monitoring of various facilities all over the world. The use of Distributed Acoustic Sensing technology in downhole applications (all using the same optical fiber cable) gives a continuum of benefits that are distributed to the flow profiling and the condition monitoring. Distributed acoustic sensing systems can be retrofitted to existing installations of permanent in-well fiber optics-based monitoring systems with the addition of surface equipment. New installations of DAS systems are also possible and have already been performed.

If you are interested in DAS systems and want to learn more, please contact us at info@optromix.com