iDSS™ Distributed Strain Sensor

Distributed Strain Sensing

Introducing a step-change in long-term monitoring by delivering the finest resolution distributed static strain measurements.

Intelligent distributed strain sensor (iDSS™), Silixa’s latest cutting-edge innovation, is a versatile fibre optic sensing system that measures absolute static strain along a singlemode or multimode fibre optic cable down to the micro-strain resolution level.

The interrogator acquires a complete strain profile with every laser shot, meaning low noise strain data can be collected with sub-second averaging times. This transformative performance is achieved by using a high-precision interferometric optical architecture, built upon Silixa’s class-leading Carina® Sensing System, the precision-engineered distributed acoustic sensor.

The strain data can be used for numerous applications, either independently or combined with the output from one of Silixa’s other distributed sensors — for example, acoustic signals, at the picostrain level, from Silixa’s iDAS™ or Carina Sensing System, or temperature with 0.01°C resolution using Silixa’s ULTIMA™ DTS (Distributed Temperature Measurement) or XT-DTS™.

Although used primarily as a strain sensor, the iDSS can also be used for temperature measurements in an environment where the strain profile is known. Normally a DTS is the preferred choice for temperature measurement, but iDSS is more suitable for extremely long-range measurements, which may be further extended using remote optical amplification.

Simultaneous acquisition with iDSS and a Silixa DTS allows an optimum temperature correction for accurate simultaneous strain and temperature measurements in an environment subject to unknown temperature and strain variations.

High precision distributed static strain, with resolution finer than 1με

  • Subsidence
  • Slopes
  • Infrastructure

Absolute strain measurements with fast response time

  • Risers
  • Cables
  • Fine resolution, high speed, absolute strain measurement
  • Data fusion and temperature correction, when used with a Silixa DAS or DTS
  • Strain resolution: < 1με
  • Sampling resolution: from 10cm
  • Variable spatial resolution: from 60cm
  • Shortest measurement time: 0.1s (10Hz)”
  • Range: > 50km

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