Together with GÉANT, SURF has operationalised an advanced measurement system and pipeline using Distributed Acoustic Sensing (DAS) on a fibre-optic cable in the North Sea.
The system spans more than 100 km and continuously captures thousands of measurements, which are securely stored on SURF’s research platform. The resulting dataset offers opportunities for a wide range of research applications, including:
- monitoring underwater noise and marine ecosystems
- structural and operational monitoring of offshore infrastructure
- long-term observation of ocean temperature and current dynamics
- detection of seismic activity and other geophysical processes
Wageningen Marine Research was the first organisation to analyse the data and achieved promising initial results, including the identification of acoustic signatures from wind farms, ship traffic, and controlled explosions.
In the coming months, SURF and partners will continue collecting data and making it available to the research community. Researchers interested in exploring the dataset are invited to get in touch.
This work is the result of a strong collaboration between many contributors and partners, including GÉANT, Wageningen Marine Research, NTNU, TenneT Netherlands and the SUBMERSE project.
For more information on fiber sensing at SURF you can visit: https://www.surf.nl/en/themes/network/fiber-sensing .
Fiber Optic Sensing Workshop October 15th in Utrecht
To continue this work, SURF is organising a Fiber Optic Sensing Workshop:
Join us for a cross-domain workshop in Utrecht focused on the future of fiber optic sensing. This event highlights a sophisticated evolution in infrastructure: leveraging the fiber infrastructure itself as a large-scale, distributed research instrument.
The program is designed to provide both a technical foundation and a look at what’s possible. We will start with a high-level overview of the underlying technology, followed by concrete use cases and results from various scientific disciplines. Together, we will discuss the transition from experimental pilots to a structural, scalable research infrastructure that serves the entire Research & Education community.
A key goal of the day is to identify the specific needs of researchers and stakeholders to shape SURF’s future support and digital services in the field of fiber optic sensing. It’s a great opportunity to socialize, meet peers from different domains, and continue the conversation in a more informal setting. We wrap up the day with drinks.
Registration Policy: To ensure a high-quality, interactive dialogue, seats are limited and registration is subject to approval.
We welcome a diverse mix of participants: from experienced experts who have already conducted fiber sensing trials to researchers and technical leads who are curious about how this technology could benefit their future work.
Registration link: https://www.surf.nl/en/agenda/fiber-optic-sensing-workshop-the-network-as-a-research-instrument
