OptaSense distributed acoustic sensing (DAS) system for the power network ? integrated SMART-sensing real time monitoring

Today´s power cable monitoring solutions are limited in their ability to rapidly detect and accurately locate faults. Distributed Acoustic Sensing (DAS) which has revolutionised the protection of Oil & Gas assets provides a real time monitoring profile of the buried cable accurate to 10m. This technology allows the operator to optimise the usage and reduce repair downtime in the cables, whilst maximising the network lifetime and minimising cost. This paper discusses the application of OptaSense^® DAS within the power network to monitor issues such as short-circuit detection and localisation and compares DAS with traditional methods.