iDAS-MG™

intelligent Distributed Acoustic Sensor — Multi-Gauge length (iDAS-MG™)

iDAS-MG enables the operator to optimise measurements across diverse installations with the desired spatial resolution, sensitivity, and range – without compromising the stability and repeatability of the proven intelligent Distributed Acoustic Sensing technology.

iDAS-MG offers a selection of gauge lengths to provide the best instrument performance over both short- and long-range applications. The iDAS-MG offers fine measurement resolution, unique to the balanced interferometric measurement technique of iDAS, with a wide dynamic range. Data acquisition parameters can be selected to optimally record regions of interest within the wavefield, minimising subsequent processing and interpretation time.

iDAS-MG comprises several optical processors, embedded in a single interrogator unit. Longer gauge lengths offer better signal to noise performance over large-scale deployments, while shorter gauge lengths offer more precise small scale, high-frequency measurements. The same iDAS-MG interrogator can be deployed for sub-surface seismic imaging in oil and gas, carbon sequestration, geothermal and aquifer projects, as well as in near-surface active and passive surveys for infrastructure monitoring.

The iDAS-MG removes the ambiguity of complex signal processing, with on board data quality control and can be integrated with the Silixa Edge processing platform for continuous and time-lapse monitoring applications.

Noise

The class-leading noise floor performance of Silixa’s distributed sensing technology can now be optimised to your range of applications. Utilise a 30 metre gauge length to achieve measurements with a noise floor 20–100x lower than 3 m gauge length measurements. 

Spatial resolution

Easily modify settings within a simple data acquisition application to perform fine resolution characterisation of near-surface seismic signals or precise flow quantification with the 3 metre and 5 metre gauge length settings.

Application

Enjoy user-friendly and intuitive on-board control software. Our intuitive system set up wizard allows anyone to easily and quickly optimise the system for any gauge length.

Dynamic range

The option to select a finer gauge length allows you to measure larger strain signals. iDAS-MG enables acquisition of a much wider amplitude range of source signals.

MM and SM fibres

All the benefits of our class-leading iDAS interrogator, including equal performance on singlemode and multimode fibres.

Range

The ability to select a longer gauge length enables measurements over much longer fibre lengths. With iDAS-MG you can now easily monitor seismic activity on fibres over 50 km long.

From the measured light signal, the iDAS system demodulates dynamic strain events at every sampling location along the optical fibre. The iDAS measures, in a moving window centred on the sampling location, the relative strain between two sections of fibre separated by a gauge length. The iDAS response is linearly proportional to the fibre elongation over a gauge length, and the time varying dynamic output signal from the system is calibrated to true strain rate.

The choice of gauge length affects many performance characteristics. A longer gauge length allows the use of a longer laser pulse which means more light is put into the fibre. This generally gives a lower noise floor and better long-range performance but at the cost of poorer spatial resolution. The maximum sensing range of DAS depends on multiple factors including physical fibre length, optical losses along the fibre, background noise and signal amplitude. iDAS-MG offers flexibility to achieve fine spatial resolution for moderate ranges while also enabling measurement ranges of many tens of kilometres all while maintaining low instrument noise to achieve optimal SNR. This flexibility allows a single instrument application versatility for lab measurements, reservoir monitoring, or large N seismic arrays using existing fibre infrastructure.

Continuous or triggered modes of data acquisition with constant time synchronisation, accurate to within 40 ns of true UTC time, with use of either GPS or Precision-Time-Protocol (PTP).

Contained within a compact 4U, 19″ rack-mountable chassis, the iDAS also features 3.7 TB of on-board high-speed data storage capable of saving up to 250 MB/s.

Low operational power consumption of  215 watts.

Perform real-time quality control checks with the ability to view optical and acoustic data live.

Simple integration with external acquisition systems using in-built triggering functionality. iDAS can act as master or slave.

High-speed, high-volume data transfer ready achieved via 2x PCIx4 connections to conventional hard disk arrays or to a network location via 2x 10Gb SFP+ ethernet adaptors, both capable of 300 MB/s data rates.

Easy remote operation and control made possible with 2x 1 Gb ethernet adaptors.

Output raw data files in TDMS or PRODML (hdf5) standard format. 

Downloads

iDAS-MG spec sheet

TECHNOLOGY

iDAS™

iDAS-MG™

Carina® Sensing System

iDSS™

XT-DTS™

ULTIMA-DTS™

Heat Pulse System

Cables

Cable Orientation Beacon

TECHNOLOGY

iDAS™

iDAS-MG™

Carina® Sensing System

iDSS™

XT-DTS™

ULTIMA-DTS™

Heat Pulse System

Cables

Cable Orientation Beacon