Optical Fiber Technology 16 (2010) 100–109

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Optical Fiber Technology

www.elsevier.com/locate/yofte

Performance enhancement of BOTDR fiber optic sensor for oil and gas
pipeline monitoring
Si Zhi Yan a,*, Lee Sheng Chyan b
a
Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS, Bandar Seri Iskandar, 31750 Tronoh, Perak Darul Ridzuan, Malaysia
b
Department of Electronic Engineering, Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman, Jalan Universiti, Bandar Barat, 31900 Kampar, Perak Darul Ridzuan, Malaysia

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: Distributed fiber optic sensor which based on Brillouin scattering has become increasingly popular due to
Received 28 February 2009 its unprecedented advantage of simultaneously measuring temperature and strain. The Stimulated Brill-
Revised 11 June 2009 ouin Scattering (SBS) threshold, sensing distance, signal-to-noise ratio and spatial resolution are critical
Available online 11 February 2010
parameters to the performance of Brillouin Optical Time Domain Reflectometry (BOTDR) sensor. This
technical paper presents the result of simulations as well as theoretical discussions on suppressing unfa-
Keywords: vorable fiber optic nonlinearity, SBS by using a statistical approach which is design of experiment (DOE).
Fiber optic sensor
Due to the fact that there are a number of SBS threshold factors, there is a high possibility that multiple
Pipeline monitoring
Simplex coding
strong interactions exist among these factors. Conventional methods of plugging each factor one-at-a-
SBS suppression time are not efficient as interactions between factors are totally ignored. The result had shown SBS sup-
BOTDR pression by 11 dB to achieve the maximum sensing distance of up to 110 km. Besides, a 3-bit simplex
coding is employed when launching the laser pulses to enhance the SNR at the receiver. Simulation
results demonstrated a 1.38 gain in SNR and a higher SBS threshold.
Ó 2010 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction
Pipeline monitoring is important both from the economic and
security points of view. With a proper monitoring system, the
structural health information can be gathered to give early warn-
ings of degradation that might lead to a catastrophic failure such
as pipeline explosion, leakage and corrosion in the future [1]. The
typical cost savings estimate are the reduction in maintenance/
inspection cost which is due to automated monitoring, the reduc-
tion in downtime, and the reduction in the potential for cata-
strophic failure. The length of oil and gas pipelines can easily
exceed several hundreds of kilometers. A widespread monitoring/
inspection system is needed to provide real-time, distributed infor-
mation along the length of the pipeline to detect internal and
external corrosion, forming of hydrates and other effects which
can lead to pipeline leakage and explosion [1].
A good fiber optic sensor can be evaluated from its accuracy,
spatial resolution and backscattered power level [2]. Due to the
weak backscattered signals in Brillouin scattering mechanism, var-
ious techniques have been proposed to increase the Stimulated
Brillouin Scattering (SBS) threshold power to ease off the nonlinear
effect which leads to degradation of the sensor performance [3].
* Corresponding author.
E-mail addresses: eszy23@gmail.com (S.Z. Yan), sclee@utar.edu.my (L.S. Chyan).
With a lower SBS threshold power, a higher input power level
can be injected into the sensor to return a higher backscattered
power level without incurring nonlinear effect especially Stimu-
lated Brillouin Scattering which will degrade the accuracy as well
as the maximum range of the sensor. Previous suppression tech-
niques have been centered around on a single suppression tech-
nique based on experience and theoretical justification [4–7].
However, there are a number of factors contributing to the
occurrence of SBS. There is a very high possibility that strong inter-
actions exists between these SBS threshold factors. Thus, a statisti-
cal approach to increase the SBS threshold power is needed. Due to
the fact that the sensor performance is critical to the usefulness of
the sensor, improvements need to be done to maximize the sens-
ing distance, suppressing fiber nonlinearity, improving receiver’s
signal-to-noise ratio and if possible, improving the spatial resolu-
tion of the sensor.
The interest of this project is to apply spontaneous Brillouin
scattering in Fiber Optic Sensing for pipeline monitoring. The
objectives are: (1) to design and simulate a Brillouin Optical
Time Domain Reflectometry (BOTDR) sensor based on spontane-
ous Brillouin scattering mechanism using OptiSystem which
accurately modeled the system, (2) to increase the stimulated
Brillouin Scattering (SBS) threshold power by using Design of
Experiment (DOE) method, (3) to maximize the sensing distance,
and (4) to implement a 3-bit simplex coding scheme for signal-
to-noise ratio (SNR).

1068-5200/$ - see front matter Ó 2010 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.yofte.2010.01.001
 S.Z. Yan, L.S. Chyan / Optical Fiber Technology 16 (2010) 100–109
2. Approach and methods
2.1. A new approach
Fiber optic nonlinearity, SBS is suppressed to increase the
threshold level. When the SBS threshold is increased, higher power
can be launched into the sensing fiber and thus, a greater sensing
distance can be achieved. The SBS suppression fiber parameters
are optimized using Design of Experiment (DOE) method to
achieve the highest SBS threshold. Design of Experiment (DOE) re-
fers to experimental methods used to quantify indeterminate mea-
surements of factors and interactions between factors statistically
through observance of forced changes made methodically as direc-
ted by mathematically systematic tables [8].
DOE is an organized method used to determine the relationship
between the different factors (Xs) affecting a process and the out-
put of that process (Y). DOE allows a simultaneous investigation on
all of the identified SBS factors by looking into the dominant effects
and the interactions among each factor. Firstly, a number of factors
influencing the SBS threshold power are theoretically selected.
A set of experiments are designed by varying each factors system-
atically. Each experiment is carried out according to the designed
set of experiments to obtain the output. Then, the outputs are ana-
lyzed to identify optimal conditions, main factors that most influ-
ence the output and other factors that do not. These analyses are
done in statistical software with tools like main effects plot, inter-
action plot and contour plot.
A main effects plot is a plot of the means at each level of a fac-
tor [9]. A main effect is identified when the mean response
changes across the levels of a factor. The comparison of relative
strength of the effects across factors is done using the main ef-
fects plot. An interaction plot is a plot of means for each level
of a factor with the level of a second factor held constant [9].
An interaction between factors occurs when the change in re-
sponse from the low level to the high level of one factor is not
equal the change in response at the same two levels of a second
factor. Simply put, interaction exists when the effect of one factor
is dependent upon a second factor. Besides, existence of interac-
tions and synergies between factors can also be identified. A con-
tour plot shows how a response variable relates to two factors
based on a model equation [9].
This is the first attempt to use DOE for SBS suppression fiber de-
sign to the best of the authors’ knowledge. 3-bit simplex coding is
deployed in simulation software, OptiSystem for receiver’s SNR
enhancement [9]. By using DOE and simulation, it is cost effective
and time saving because the optimized parameters of a SBS sup-
pression fiber can be determined beforehand to achieve the maxi-
mum SBS threshold possible even before the fabrication of the SBS
suppression fiber.
2.2. SBS suppression factors
In general, the SBS threshold can be evaluated approximately
using the following equation [10]:
KAeff
PSBS ffi 21
g B Leff
where PSBS is the SBS threshold power that we wish to increase. K is
the polarization factor and Aeff is the effective core area of the sens-
ing fiber. gB is the Brillouin gain constant which is about
5  1011 m/W for fused silica glass [11]. Leff is the effective length
which is defined by using a fiber attenuation coefficient, a and
length, L given by the following equation [10]:
1  eaL
Leff ¼
a pulses into the fiber. The aim of simplex coding is to enhance the
101
where a is the fiber attenuation coefficient and L is the length of the
fiber.
Thus the SBS threshold power, PSBS depends on the following:
 Polarization factor, K.
 Effective core area, Aeff.
 Brillouin gain coefficient, gB.
 Length of fiber, L.
 Effective length of fiber, Leff.
 Fiber attenuation coefficient, a.
2.2.1. Research on SBS suppression techniques
It is found that one of the fiber optic nonlinear effects, namely
the Stimulated Brillouin Scattering (SBS) can greatly degrade the
performance of the sensor in terms of sensing range and backscat-
tered power level [3]. Thus, the theory of SBS is imperative to be
covered to investigate the effects of SBS on fiber optic sensor per-
formance. Since SBS is identified as the major nonlinearity affect-
ing the sensor performance, various SBS suppression techniques
are studied. Studies on these suppression techniques are con-
ducted so that they can be applied in the simulation. Factors lead-
ing to lower SBS threshold power are identified. These factors are
investigated and its effects are reduced to suppress the nonlinear
effect.
2.2.2. Verification on SBS threshold definition
There are variations of SBS threshold definition [10,12,13].
These definitions will be investigated theoretically and through
the use of simulation software. The best definition will be em-
ployed by the constructed sensor to represent an accurate inter-
pretation of the SBS threshold value. Evaluation of SBS threshold
is critical to the accuracy of the simulation result because a com-
parison of before and after SBS threshold value is needed. Litera-
ture review is carried out to verify and to choose the most
accurate SBS threshold definition that correctly describes the sim-
ulation result.
2.2.3. DOE feasibility studies and implementation
DOE was carried out by statistical software, Minitab [9] to pro-
vide a preliminary insight into the interactions of three factors
investigated earlier in the project, namely the temperature, input
power and fiber length. Due to the fact that the sensor performance
is affected by several factors with interaction between each of the
factors, trial-and-error based simulations are not ideal to optimize
the sensor performance.
DOE makes efficient use of experimental material. It simulta-
neously tests many factors and estimates effects based on all the
data for each factor. Furthermore, DOE can assess interactions
which mean that it does not fall into the trap of one-at-a-time
experimentation. DOE provides a statistically accurate strategy
for simulation to determine the optimal settings for the con-
structed sensor.
2.3. SNR enhancement using simplex coding
Simplex coding is demonstrated to show the signal-to-noise ra-
ð1Þ
tio enhancement of the Brillouin sensor. Besides, increasing the
SNR at the receiver of the sensor, Simplex Coding effectiveness in
suppressing the SBS threshold power will be investigated theoret-
ically and through simulations. Journals and papers are reviewed in
order to employ a 3-bit simplex coding at the launched power for
SNR enhancement. The implementation of simplex coding will be
based on simulation. Theoretical calculations are done to verify
the accuracy of the simulation result. A 3-bit simplex coding based
on Hadamard transform is employed when launching the input
ð2Þ
102 S.Z. Yan, L.S. Chyan / Optical Fiber Technology 16 (2010) 100–109
SNR at the receiver by reducing noise. Thus, the temperature reso-
lution of the BOTDR sensor can be improved. Besides, due to the
fact that simplex coding utilizes a lower input power, SBS effect
is reduced. Consequently, SBS threshold power is increased by
employing a 3-bit simplex coding.
2.4. Results comparison and analysis
After the simulation was carried out, results were analyzed
thoroughly. The optimized parameters obtained from DOE and
the settings of 3-bit simplex coding were utilized in the simulation
program. The simulation results were referred to the theoretical
calculation for verification. Reasoning and explanation were pro-
posed for the results obtained.
2.5. Tools and equipments
Software is used to simulate and model the sensor to give an
estimated result of a Brillouin scattering based fiber optic sensor.
Genuine fiber optic simulation software capable of simulating
the Brillouin Scattering Effect based Fiber Optic Sensor had been
obtained. A considerable amount of works has been put into
understanding the simulation software and the components avail-
able. The functions and features of the simulation software had
been explored by completing the software tutorials. The parame-
ters of each components used in the sensor had been determined
thoroughly in order to obtain a correct result.
Software used throughout the research:
 OptiSystem.
 Minitab.
 Microsoft Excel.
Fig. 1. The constructed BOTDR sensor in simulation.
2.5.1. OptiSystem
The simulation software is required to design a fiber optic sen-
sor based on Spontaneous Brillouin Scattering. OptiSystem 6 which
is developed by Optiwave is selected as the simulation software as
Brillouin scattering effect is included in its bidirectional optical fi-
ber model [10].
2.5.2. Minitab
Minitab is a statistical software used to solve engineering and
mathematical problems. The software is utilized to create Design
of Experiment (DOE) in order to optimize the settings of the con-
structed sensor. Background study was done to identify the factors
contributing to the increment of SBS threshold power. These fac-
tors were then used in Minitab and design of experiment was car-
ried out.
3. Results and discussion
3.1. Simulating the BOTDR sensor
The sensor based on spontaneous Brillouin scattering is con-
structed in the simulator as shown in Fig. 1. A Continuous Wave laser
‘‘CW Laser_1” with frequency of 193.1 THz (1550 nm region) and
source power of 0 dBm (1 mW) is chosen to be the laser source for
the sensor. An electroabsorption modulator ‘‘Electroabsorption
Modulator_1” is connected to the laser source to provide a pulsed
source. For the modulator to work properly, a pulse generator
‘‘NRZ Pulse Generator_1” which is connected to a ‘‘Pseudo-Random
Bit Sequence Generator_1” is connected to the modulator. The
pulsed light is launched into the bidirectional optical fiber termed
as ‘‘Bidirectional Optical Fiber_1” with a length of 10 km and a
temperature of 300 K. At the other end of the optical fiber, three
 S.Z. Yan, L.S. Chyan / Optical Fiber Technology 16 (2010) 100–109
visualizers, the ‘‘Optical Power Meter_1”, ‘‘Optical Spectrum Ana-
lyzer_3” and ‘‘Optical Time Domain Visualizer_3” are connected to
the output of bidirectional optical fiber to check the propagated
power and frequency shift.
An optical null is connected to the other input to make the con-
nection complete since this sensor is based on spontaneous Brillouin
scattering. Thus, only one end of the bidirectional optical fiber needs
to be accessible. The backscattered signals are analyzed by three
visualizers. The optical power meter is used to measure the back-
scattered power. The optical spectrum analyzer is used to plot the
backscattered power versus the backscattered frequency.
The backscattered power is 2.938 lW or 25.320 dBm. Compar-
ing to the propagated power, 2.514 dBm, the backscattered power
is rather low due to the fact that the backscattered signal in sponta-
neous Brillouin frequency is extremely weak. The backscattered
power is 25.320 dBm.
The source frequency is compared to the backscattered fre-
quency: The propagated signal is 193.1 THz and as shown in Fig. 2,
the backscattered frequency is 193.089 THz. Thus the frequency
Shift is 193.1 THz  193.089 THz = 11 GHz. 11 GHz is equivalent to
the Brillouin Frequency Shift [14]. Thus, the simulated result had
accurately shown the effect of Brillouin scattering on frequency shift
and power level.
3.2. SBS threshold definition
There are a number of variations on the definition of Stimulated
Brillouin Scattering threshold power. According to the original refer-
ence [10] cited by Agrawal [3], the SBS threshold power is defined by
Smith as the input power at which the backward stimulated Stokes
power at the entrance equals the input pump power. Other possible
definitions are explored by Shimizu et al. [4].
The reason of such discrepancies in defining the SBS threshold
power can be dated back to the Smith’s analysis of SBS threshold
power back in 1972 [12]. In his paper [10], the numerical factor
Fig. 2. The backscattered frequency.
103
of 21 was used in his Brillouin threshold equation, which was
quoted by Agrawal [3]. This numerical factor is dependent upon
fiber properties, including the fiber loss and therefore pump wave-
length. In Smith’s equation, he calculated the threshold for a loss of
20 dB km1, which was appropriate back then. However, the fiber
loss today is as minimal as 0.2 dB km1. Thus, the final result is
severely affected. Three definitions used in Shimizu’s work [4]
were used to find the closest theoretical results matching the sim-
ulation results. The definitions investigated through simulations
include:
 PSBS – Traditional definition [10], the input power at which the
backscattered power is equal to the transmitted power.
 PSBS1% – As pointed out by Bayvel and Radmore [15] that the
transmission characteristics are degraded when the Stokes con-
version reaches 1% of the input power.
 PSBSFIT – As shown in Fig. 3, the transmitted power increases pro-
portionally to increment of the input power at the lower level.
As the input power continues to increase, the transmitted power
becomes almost independent of the input power at the higher
input level. PSBSFIT is considered as the input power at which
the two fitting lines of the transmitted power at the lower and
higher input power region cross, as what have been used in Shi-
mizu’s work [4].
Using the configuration of the simulation software’s reference
[16] and the SBS threshold power definitions above, the results
are evaluated in Fig. 3. The configuration of the simulation soft-
ware’s reference is used to determine the SBS threshold power
because the constructed sensor used throughout the simulations
is based on the configuration of the reference paper [16]. Thus,
to obtain the same SBS threshold power as the reference paper,
it is important to use the same configuration for the simulated
sensor. This SBS threshold power value will be the base value
for future improvements.
104 S.Z. Yan, L.S. Chyan / Optical Fiber Technology 16 (2010) 100–109
Fig. 3. Various SBS threshold power definitions used.
 PSBS = 5.4 dBm (dotted blue arrow).
 PSBS1% = 5.0 dBm (dotted green arrow).
 PSBSFIT = 3.4 dBm (dotted red arrow).
The SBS threshold power can be obtained from Fig. 4. SBS
threshold power is defined as the highest input power that can
be injected into the fiber without a rapid increase in the backscat-
tered power level and saturation of the transmitted power level
[4]. Above the SBS threshold level, the backscattered and transmit-
ted power level will begin to saturate and this will cause the Brill-
ouin Power Change Coefficient to decrease. Thus, when the input
power exceeds the SBS threshold power level, the accuracy which
is also the Brillouin Power Change Coefficient of the fiber optic sen-
sor will drop. From Fig. 4, the SBS threshold is determined as the
input power where the Brillouin Power Change Coefficient starts
to degrade, which is at 0 dBm.
Note that the SBS threshold power measured in the reference pa-
per is 0 dBm [16]. Fig. 4 is used to determine if the measured SBS
threshold power used in the reference paper matches the SBS thresh-
old power of the simulated sensor using the same configuration of
the reference paper [16]. The measured SBS threshold power value
from the reference paper agrees with the SBS threshold obtained
from Fig. 4 since the configuration of the simulated sensor mirrors
the configuration provided in the reference paper. In Fig. 3, none of
Fig. 4. SBS threshold power definition using temperature power change coefficient.
the evaluated definitions fit the simulation result as proven in
Fig. 4, including the traditional definition from Smith. A more suit-
able definition of SBS threshold would be the input power for which
the Brillouin backscatter is equal to the Rayleigh backscatter at the
input face [12]. Backscattered power with value higher than the Ray-
leigh backscatter is considered as the Stimulated backscattered
power. To obtain the correct Rayleigh backscattering power level,
the Rayleigh backscatter coefficient is 0.0004786, calculated from
the Rayleigh backscattering reflectance of 33.2 dB which is ob-
tained from [17]. As shown in Fig. 5, the SBS threshold level is defined
at the intersection between the Brillouin backscatter power and the
Rayleigh backscatter power [12].
Thus, the SBS threshold power is defined as the input power for
which the Brillouin backscatter is equal to the Rayleigh backscatter
at the input face [12]. The value of the SBS threshold power for the
initial configuration of the sensor is 0 dBm.
3.3. SBS suppression
3.3.1. Importance of SBS suppression
Stimulated Brillouin Scattering is the dominant fiber optic non-
linearity for BOTDR sensor because it occurs at a very low input
power. Stimulated Brillouin Scattering is harmful for BOTDR sensor
because it can seriously degrade the performance of the sensor [3].
If the injected light has a power higher than the Stimulated Brillou-
in Scattering threshold power, the propagated signal will become
saturated and thus, not all of the signals will propagate through.
This will shorten the sensing distance of BOTDR sensor. Since the
injected input power must not exceed the Stimulated Brillouin
Scattering threshold level and the higher the input power, the
longer the sensing distance, Stimulated Brillouin Scattering thresh-
old should be increased to achieve a longer sensing distance.
There are many ways in suppressing the Stimulated Brillouin
Scattering. Since there are a number of factors leading to the incre-
ment of Stimulated Brillouin Scattering threshold, the simulation is
run based on Design of Experiment (DOE) method. Design of exper-
iment allows simultaneous investigation of multiple factors. This
method can save a lot of money and time trying to optimize the fi-
ber optic cable because the conventional method of optimizing the
cable has been to plug in factor one-at-a-time. This conventional
method cannot fully optimize the fiber optic cable for SBS suppres-
sion as there might be interactions among each of the factors.
3.3.2. The definition of sensing accuracy
Temperature sensing accuracy is represented as the Brillouin
Power Change Coefficient with the unit of %/K, where % is the
Fig. 5. New SBS threshold power definition.
 S.Z. Yan, L.S. Chyan / Optical Fiber Technology 16 (2010) 100–109 105

percent change of Brillouin backscattered power and K is Kelvin,

the unit used for temperature. The Brillouin Power Change Coeffi-
cient can be regarded as the sensing accuracy because it is calcu-
lated by measuring the percent change of the backscattered
Brillouin power caused by the difference in temperature. The high-
er the Brillouin Power Change Coefficient, the higher the amount of
power percent change that can be detected per 1 K change of tem-
perature and thus, the higher the sensing accuracy. Table 1 shows
that the power percent change are calculated using the backscat-
tered power of temperature 300 K which is used as the reference
temperature. The reference temperature can be of any desired val-
ues as long as it is fixed throughout the calculation of the Brillouin
Power Change Coefficient.
The first calculation of power change for temperature of 290 K
is shown below: Fig. 6. Calculation of Brillouin power change coefficient.

1:340  1:396
 100% ¼ 3:319% ð3Þ Table 2
1:396 Seven factors to suppress SBS.
Power change for the rest of the temperature values are calcu- 7 Factors to suppress SBS
lated using the method above, with 300 K as the reference temper-
Polarization factor, K
ature and 1.386  106 W as the reference backscattered power. Effective core area, Aeff
The power change (%) as tabulated above and temperature (K) Brillouin gain constant, gB
are plotted in a graph to calculate the Brillouin Power Change Coef- Effective length of sensing fiber, Leff
ficient (%/K). The value of Brillouin Power Change Coefficient can Fiber attenuation coefficient, a
Length of sensing fiber, L
be obtained from the slope of the fitted line. As shown in Fig. 6, Laser pulse width, Dvp
the Brillouin Power Change Coefficient or the sensing accuracy is
0.332%/K.
to 3  1011 m/W and to 5  1011 m/W. The effective core area is
3.3.3. Results from DOE varied in three levels from 80 lm2 to 90 lm2 and to 100 lm2.
Firstly, seven factors leading to the increment of Stimulated From Fig. 7, it is obvious that as the fiber attenuation coefficient
Brillouin Scattering were identified as shown in Table 2. Compared is increased, the accuracy of the sensor almost increases linearly.
to the factors in Section 2.2 which were derived from Eq. (1), laser Small Brillouin gain constant is preferable for higher sensor accu-
pulse width, Dvp is identified as the additional factor since pulse racy. However, the decrease of Brillouin gain constant from
coding is being considered in Section 3.4. Laser pulse width is a 3  1011 m/W to 1  1011 m/W does not implies an expected in-
SBS suppression factor when pulse coding is employed. Pulse cod- crease in sensor accuracy. Thus, a Brillouin gain constant of 3 
ing results in lower optimum input power levels compared to sin- 1011 m/W is sufficient to give a good accuracy of Brillouin Power
gle pulse case, avoiding the use of optical pulse amplification [18]. Change Coefficient at 0.30%/K. Brillouin gain constant of 3 
Pulse coding is discussed in Section 3.4. 1011 m/W is much easier to fabricate compared to Brillouin gain
Subsequently, seven factors Design of Experiment was per- constant of 1  1011 m/W because the nominal Brillouin gain con-
formed using Minitab and the simulations were done in OptiSys- stant is at 5  1011 m/W. As for the third factor, the larger the
tem 6.0. Two levels of value are selected for each factor. A full effective area, the higher the accuracy of sensor and thus, the
factorial design is selected yielding a 128 experiment runs. From higher the SBS threshold will be. From Fig. 8, it is apparent that as
the seven factors DOE, four dominant factors were selected based long as the fiber attenuation coefficient of fiber remains at above
on the main effects plot and interaction plot. From the four factors 0.5 dB/km, the difference of Brillouin gain constant between
DOE, three factors were selected to undergo the final design of 1  1011 m/W and 3  1011 m/W does not really give a big impact.
experiment before the optimized values of the fiber parameters
are determined. Three levels of value are selected for each of the 3.3.4. DOE result analysis
three factors. The three factors are fiber attenuation coefficient, As shown in Fig. 9, the SBS threshold is 11 dBm after DOE has
Brillouin gain constant and the effective core area. There are a total been performed to optimize the parameters of the SBS suppression
of 27 experiment runs. Fiber attenuation coefficient is varied in fiber. Using the optimized settings from 3 factors DOE, a range of
three levels from 0.3 dB/km to 0.5 dB/km and to 0.7 dB/km. Brillou- input power from 0 dBm to 15 dBm is used to run simulations in
in gain constant is also varied in three levels from 1  1011 m/W order to confirm the SBS threshold. These values were obtained
by varying the input power from 0 dBm to 15 dBm in a step of
Table 1 1 dBm.
Calculation of power change (%).
There is an improvement of 11 dBm if compared to the initial
Temperature (K) Power (W) (006) Power change (%) SBS Threshold level of 0 dBm as shown in Fig. 9. DOE has success-
290 1.340 3.319 fully produced a set of optimized settings that is able to suppress
291 1.345 2.958 Stimulated Brillouin Scattering. With a higher SBS threshold, the
292 1.349 2.670 sensing distance can be extended.
293 1.354 2.309 The optimized settings are:
294 1.359 1.948
295 1.363 1.659
296 1.368 1.299  Polarization factor, K = 2.
297 1.372 1.010  Effective core area, Aeff = 100 lm2.
298 1.377 0.649  Brillouin gain coefficient, gB = 3  1011 m/W.
299 1.382 0.289
 Fiber attenuation coefficient, a = 0.5 dB/km.
300 1.386 0.000
 Length of fiber, L = 110 km.
106 S.Z. Yan, L.S. Chyan / Optical Fiber Technology 16 (2010) 100–109

Fig. 7. Main effects plot for three factors DOE.

Fig. 8. Interaction plot for three factors DOE.

maximum input power that can be injected into the sensing fiber
has been increased. Since the SBS threshold level has increased, a
higher level of input power can be launched into the fiber without
involving SBS which seriously degrade the accuracy of the sensor. A
higher level of launched input power allows a longer sensing dis-
tance. From Fig. 10, using 11 dBm input power, the sensing dis-
tance has been increased to 110 km from the conventional
sensing distance of around 30 km which uses 0 dBm input power.
This increment is caused by the change of fiber cable parameters
which have been optimized using DOE method for SBS suppres-
sion. Fig. 10 shows that using the optimized sensing fiber settings
and an input power of 11 dBm, the sensing accuracy achieved is
0.346%/K for 110 km of sensing length which is within the reported
range of 0.34–0.36%/K [11].

3.4. SNR enhancement using 3-bit simplex coding

Fig. 9. SBS threshold improvement after DOE.
By increasing the Stimulated Brillouin Scattering nonlinearity
threshold level from 0 dBm to 11 dBm using DOE approach, the
To enhance the temperature resolution and the strain resolu-
tion of the BOTDR sensor, it is essential to enhance the signal-to-
noise ratio (SNR) at the receiver. Conventional method uses data
averaging which is to take the average of a few repeated measure-
 S.Z. Yan, L.S. Chyan / Optical Fiber Technology 16 (2010) 100–109 107

fiber optic nonlinearity is the Stimulated Brillouin Scattering

Fig. 10. Sensing distance extended to 110 km after DOE.
ments. Conventional data averaging does not improve the SNR by a
large margin.
The use of Simplex coding which is based on Hadamard
transform will further increase the SNR at the receiver, and thus
improving the temperature and strain resolution [18]. Besides a
good SNR gain, simplex coding also allows the suppression of
nonlinearity in fiber optic cable [19]. In this case, the dominant
(SBS) which happens at only a few milli Watt. Stimulated Brill-
ouin Scattering is suppressed by using simplex coding because
a lower pulsed input power is injected into the cable for propa-
gation. Thus, the use of simplex coding not only enhances the
SNR at the receiver, but also helps to suppress the Stimulated
Brillouin Scattering [19]. The first set of pulses is launched based
2 3
1 0 1
on simplex coding [20]: 0 1 1 5 The 33 matrix is decom-
4
1 1 0
posed into three pulses with [1 0 1], [0 1 1] and [1 1 0] respec-
tively. These pulses are launched into the sensing cable one by
one as shown in Fig. 11.
After launching the above three pulses, the propagated signals
are traced at both the propagated and backscattered receiver as
shown in Fig. 12. OptiSystem 6.0 allows switching between overall
signal trace, signal only, noise only and so forth. Noise is present at

Fig. 11. First set of launched pulses.

Fig. 12. First set of noise measured at the receiver.

108 S.Z. Yan, L.S. Chyan / Optical Fiber Technology 16 (2010) 100–109
Fig. 13. Measured noise from signal averaging method.
Fig. 14. SNR gain from 3-bit simplex coding.
the receiver since noise is enabled at the receiver. 4096 data points
of noise were measured and extracted from OptiSystem to Micro-
soft Excel. All the 4096 points are recorded and summed up to
yield an average noise value.
To verify the advantages of using 3-bit simplex coding, the noise
of the conventional signal averaging method is obtained as shown
in Fig. 13. Signal averaging is done by averaging the sum of noises
of the three set of pulses.
The theoretical SNR gain of L = 3 (3-bit simplex coding) can be
determined by the formula [21]:
Lþ1
GCode ¼ pffiffiffi ¼ 1:15
2 2
The above calculation shows the theoretical SNR achievable.
The results of 3-bit simplex coding are shown in Fig. 14. The SNR
gain of 1.39 is obtained from dividing the error of the conventional
signal averaging of 5.11E16 by the error of 3-bit simplex coding
of 2.65E16.
When employing simplex coding in simulation, there is a SNR
gain of 1.387 employing the simplex coding to the BOTDR sensor
compared to the conventional data averaging method. Besides,
simplex coding can also be used to suppress the Stimulated Brill-
ouin Scattering nonlinearity. However, there is a difference be-
tween the calculated value of 1.15 and 1.39 SNR gain. The
simulated value is better than the theoretical calculation. This is
mainly caused by the approximation of noises used in the simula-
tion software.
4. Conclusion
This paper has presented both theoretical and experimental
work in the application of temperature sensing using spontaneous
Brillouin backscattering based fiber optic sensor. Brillouin Optical
Time Domain Reflectometry (BOTDR) which utilizes spontaneous
Brillouin scattering.
BOTDR has a weak backscatter power level. Sophisticated
detection method must be used to detect the weak reflection
signal. Thus, the suppression of Stimulated Brillouin Scattering
becomes mandatory and important. Work has been done to in-
crease the SBS threshold power to achieve a higher detectable
power, longer sensing range, less equipment cost and higher
sensing accuracy.
All the received results were compared with theoretical analysis
and calculation. Explanations were proposed to reason the decision
of the optimum settings. The Brillouin backscattered power coeffi-
cient, PB was calculated to be 0.35%/K which is very close to the re-
ported value, 0.36%/K [11]. The difference, 0.01%/K could be caused
by the optical fiber attenuation coefficient used. The SBS threshold
level has been improved from 0 dBm to 11 dBm. Thus, the sensing
distance has been extended to 110 km.
The proposed improvement of parameters to increase the SBS
threshold power can be achieved by fabricating the SBS suppres-
sion fiber using the Vapor-phase Axial Deposition (VAD) method
[13]. VAD is a method of fabricating graded-index optical fibers
in which fine glass particles of silicon dioxide and germanium
dioxide are synthesized and deposited. The SBS threshold is in-
creased due to the longitudinal change in the dopant concentration
of the core and cladding. When the dopant content is changed, the
Brillouin frequency shift changes along the fiber and this in turn re-
sults in a wide SBS gain bandwidth [22]. Thus, the proposed
improvement of parameters can be implemented. Due to the fact
that the proposed improvement of parameters can be first deter-
mined using the DOE method before fabricating the fiber using
the VAD method, the cost of fabricating the optimized fiber can
be reduced.
The use of 3-bit simplex coding achieves a SNR gain of 1.39
while helping to suppress SBS. With the SBS threshold increased,
pre-amplification of pulses before launching into fiber can be elim-
inated. Thus, the cost of amplifier, EDFA can be saved.
Acknowledgment
The author would like to thank Mr. Marcio Freitas from Opti-
wave for his sharing of knowledge towards this work.
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