Distributed fibre-optic sensors-ten years on

The authors review the evolution of the measurement principles, of the design and performance of the instrumentation and of the applications for this new technology. They point out that the temperature measurement technique based on reflectometry in optical fibre has matured to the point where tens of thousands of points can be monitored by a single instrument on just a few optical fibres. The resolution 1 m, and range, 10 km, of present instrumentation is sufficient for solving measurement problems in a wide variety of industrial applications