Numerical Model of a Multiple-Input-Multiple-Output Distributed Acoustic Sensing System with Joint Phase and Birefringence Estimation
In this work, we introduce and experimentally validate a numerical model for a Multiple-Input-Multiple-Output Distributed Acoustic Sensing (MIMO-DAS) system that accounts for dynamic perturbations of fiber birefringence and of the common optical phase of the backscattered signal (or polarization-averaged phase, shared by both polarization tributaries). The MIMO-DAS system probes the fiber using polarization-multiplexed constant-power coded sequences that are suited for coexistence of DAS with WDM data transmission over the same fiber. We study the effect of both axisymmetric and anisotropic events on the two quantities. We demonstrate, through numerical simulations and lab experiments, the estimation of effective birefringence magnitude in static conditions, and the joint estimation of common phase and effective birefringence magnitude in the case of dynamic longitudinal strain and anisotropic transverse strain. This allows for event discrimination and increased sensitivity to disturbances that act transversely on the fiber, since polarization will be responsive to perturbations that break cylindrical symmetry, while the phase will strongly respond to longitudinal strain.