Patent ID: 11867539
Assignee: FIBER SENSE LIMITED
Field: Measurement (Instruments)
Classification: CPC G | IPC G

Claim 15:
16. An acoustic method of providing spatial and temporal classification of a range of different types of sound producing targets in a geographical area, the method including the steps of:
repeatedly transmitting, at multiple instants, interrogating optical signals into one or more of a plurality of optical fibres distributed across the geographical area and forming at least part of an installed fibre-optic communications network, wherein the installed fibre-optic communications network includes the plurality of optical fibres, and segments of the one or more of the plurality of optical fibres create a plurality of virtual dedicated sensing networks;
receiving, during an observation period following each of the multiple instants, returning optical signals scattered in a distributed manner over distance along the one or more of the plurality of optical fibres, the scattering influenced by acoustic disturbances caused by the targets within the observation period;
converting the optical signals to optical or acoustic data, and storing the optical or acoustic data, the optical or acoustic data including temporal and location related data;
receiving a search request including temporal and location related filters or parameters, and retrieving the optical or acoustic data based on said parameters; and
monitoring a plurality of different footprints in the geographic area, each footprint comprising at least one virtual dedicated sensing network.