Sensing Net Project

A Focused Project proposed by Open Fiber in collaboration with Politecnico di Torino, Politecnico di Milano, and WindTre, aimed at developing fiber sensing solutions for monitoring land and buildings.

The project is based on evaluating a potential alternative use of fiber optic networks that goes beyond the control and supervision of telecommunications infrastructure integrity. It also explores distributed diagnostics and surveillance in Smart City scenarios, traffic monitoring, safety assessment of railway and highway structures, leak detection in pipelines, and detection of major breaches and damage in civil structures.

Open Fiber’s role in the project is not only to provide existing connectivity infrastructure but also to make future infrastructure available, considering its potential to support the development of public utilities.

Among the most significant results obtained in the first year and a half of the program are the presentation of the first simulation analyses on the coexistence of data signals with fiber-generated sensing signals, and the initial experimental results demonstrating the detection of generated vibrations.

In the coming months, simulation analyses will be deepened, and the simulator for environmental testing—conducted by Politecnico di Torino—will be verified. Tests will be repeated using a second fiber pair to detect position. A second field trial is planned for building monitoring in Piazza della Repubblica in Milan. Lastly, Open Fiber will present its results at ICTON 2024 and ECOC 2024 conferences, and activities with new partners selected through the cascade call (INRIM, INGV, SMO) will begin in September 2024.