Fiber optic technology has advanced significantly since its early deployment in telecommunications more than forty years ago. When innovators first employed fiber optics to monitor event signatures along the cable path (what we refer to as sensing), they of course did so by using standard telecommunications fiber as this was readily available and relatively cost-effective. As a result, these traditional or first-generation sensing technologies – notably Distributed Acoustic Sensing (DAS) and Distributed Temperature Sensing (DTS) – typically rely on backscatter principles for signal propagation. The signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) limitations of backscatter-based interferometry are well known, resulting in sensing performance that is inherently limited by the nature of the fiber itself.
Although these first-generation approaches continue to serve many applications adequately, for the reasons noted above they fundamentally lack the data quality required for detecting low-energy events such as pinhole leaks or subtle, slow-moving strain with the necessary confidence to support monitoring of critical infrastructure
High-Fidelity Distributed Sensing (HDS) addresses these shortcomings by employing custom-engineered cables designed to dramatically improve reflectivity and signal integrity. As a result, HDS achieves an orders-of-magnitude improvement in SNR coupled with superior signal stability, opening the door for innovative breakthroughs in the field of infrastructure monitoring.
Strengths and Limitations of Traditional Fiber Optic Systems
Traditional fiber optic sensing technologies, including DAS and DTS, have proven to be reasonably effective for some basic monitoring applications. They leverage the same telecommunications fiber used for data transmission, making them widely available, robust and cost-effective. The low cost and ubiquitous nature of telecom fiber allowed early innovators to adapt these cables for sensing applications with limited upfront investment.
Despite these benefits, the sensing performance of conventional backscatter-based systems is fundamentally bound by the poor reflective characteristics of telecom fiber. A relatively low signal strength translates into reduced sensitivity for small or gradual events, leading operators to compensate by tightening detection thresholds. While this approach may help to capture low energy events in certain scenarios, in reality it often leads to a high frequency of false alarms (this is a well-known limitation of low-fidelity approaches) as the system lacks the capability to effectively differentiate routine or ambient energy signatures from those that pose a true threat. This also limits the feasibility of detecting minor anomalies that often precede major problems, effectively relegating first-gen systems to a low-confidence reactive role in integrity management. And the only way to address the false alarm issue is to loosen thresholds, but with a low-fidelity system this only means you’ll miss important signatures (true positives) altogether. So low fidelity effectively places a sensing system between a rock and hard place where the operator must choose between a high rate of false alarms or a high rate of missed events.
How Hifi’s Proprietary HDS Stands Out
High-Fidelity Distributed Sensing employs custom-engineered fiber with optimized reflectivity and attenuation properties to deliver dramatically improved SNR and sensing performance. With tailored core composition (see Hifi’s previous blog to learn more about Fiber Bragg Gratings and how these are leveraged in the HDS architecture) and advanced interferometry (learn more about Time and Wavelength Division Multiplexing here), HDS cables maintain signal strength over long distances, allowing consistent performance from the first to the last sensing segment. This significantly reduces the risk of missed events or erroneous data in remote areas.
Improved SNR and data quality are particularly valuable for low-energy events, such as pinhole leaks that might release only small volumes of fluid or gas. HDS can detect these subtle disturbances in real time and differentiate them from minor background noise, virtually eliminating the high false alarm rates observed in many DAS and DTS systems.
Additionally, HDS supports multi-parameter (also known as integrated) sensing—providing acoustic, strain, and thermal measurements with a single cable—to deliver enhanced data quality for applications like pipelines, power infrastructure, and industrial facilities. This real-time visibility helps operators implement rapid response strategies to avert escalations, reducing both risk and downtime.
Key Differentiators Between HDS and Traditional Systems
Sensitivity
Traditional fiber optic sensing relies on standard telecom fiber with limited optical signal strength via backscatter of only a minute portion of incident light, resulting in low SNR. HDS, by contrast, uses proprietary fibers designed to deliver orders-of-magnitude higher SNR, enabling confident detection of small-scale or slowly developing anomalies.
Applications
Traditional approaches like DAS and DTS are generally effective at monitoring high-energy events where small leaks or slow strain progression may not be of particular concern. While higher detection thresholds may minimize false alarms, the intuitive trade-off is that they also overlook a wide range of real events that may represent indications of damage or precursors to major integrity events. HDS addresses this gap by leveraging superior fidelity with the proven capability to detect small leaks, cumulative strain, and other low-energy signals.
HDS also enables integrated monitoring across a broad range of energy signatures, expanding the monitoring capabilities of the system well beyond advanced leak detection while dramatically improving confidence levels for event characterization thanks to corroboration of acoustic, strain, and temperature elements.
Signal Integrity
Conventional backscatter-based systems exhibit signal attenuation (loss) across distances, limiting monitoring range or reducing performance at remote segments. HDS employs custom-engineered fiber with advanced interferometry to mitigate such losses over very long spans. Consequently, operators gain uniform, high-quality data from every section of the asset.
Conclusion: Why Choose HDS
Hifi HDS represents a complete redesign of fiber optic sensing systems aimed at overcoming the well-known limitations of telecom fiber-based technologies like DAS and DTS to achieve superior fully distributed sensing. HDS’s next-generation performance is particularly important for critical monitoring applications that demand accurate detection of subtle leaks, cumulative strain, and other low-energy events. Most importantly, Operators benefit from real-time insights, reduced false alarms, and broad sensing capabilities delivered with high confidence.
To explore how HDS can transform your integrity monitoring strategy, consider working with experts who tailor sensing solutions to your most pressing operational needs. The potential improvements in data quality, event detection, and signal integrity may redefine your expectations for what a monitoring solution can deliver.
Contact Hifi to get started today.