Patent ID: 7876644

Claim:
An apparatus for recovering optical signals carried by optical cables that have at least one region intermediate a signal encoding source and an optical receiver, the apparatus comprising: light transmission source disposed on a watercraft; towed sensor array, designed to be towed under water behind the watercraft, contains a signal encoding source; optical cable connecting the light transmission source and signal encoding source where the optical cable transmits a source of light from the light transmission source to the signal encoding source; the signal encoding source generating, based on the light received from the light transmission source, first and second light beams each carrying a representation of the same information where the second light beam has a polarization that is substantially different from the first light beam; the optical receiver disposed on the watercraft; first and second optical fibers that pass through the at least one region and are connected to the optical receiver and signal encoding source where the first and second optical fibers transmit the first and second light beams respectively from the signal encoding source to the optical receiver, the first and second fibers subjected to physical vibration in the at least one region that is due to tow cable strum causing undesired polarization changes in the first and second light beams; the optical receiver detecting information carried by the first and second light beams, the optical receiver including means for minimizing degradation of signals corresponding to the first and second light beams due to the undesired polarization changes caused by tow cable strum vibration of the first and second optic fibers, the means for minimizing including means for selecting the one of the first and second light beams having the largest corresponding signal amplitude and means for decoding the transmitted information based on the selected one.