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Fibre routes, listening along their length.

Fibre runs under roads, railways and fields where diggers, floods and thieves find it. Distributed sensing on the fibre itself, with sensors in chambers and cabinets, reports to one record that warns of digging near the route and finds faults before customers lose service.

Industry

Telecom

Measurements

5

Sources cited

3

1. Telecom · Fibre networks and outside plant

   The digger finds the cable first

   Most fibre cuts come from someone digging where they should not. The operator learns about it when customers lose service, and a crew spends the night splicing. A fibre that listens along its length hears the digger first, and the operator can stop the work before the cut.

2. What is measured

   Vibration, loss, water and gas

   A distributed sensing interrogator turns a spare fibre into thousands of vibration and strain sensors along the route. Reflectometry locates faults in working fibres, level and gas sensors watch chambers at low points and risk points, and contacts and climate sensors watch cabinets.

   Instruments

   Distributed fibre sensing · Reflectometry · Chamber level and gas · Cabinet sensors

3. The base node

   Digging, told from traffic

   The edge node beside the interrogator classifies every vibration along the route, telling digging from traffic and trains, and locates it to a stretch of route tied to the ground. Alerts leave with the map location while the digger is still working.

4. Radio and links

   The route carries its own data

   The route’s own fibre carries the sensing and returns the data to the exchange. Battery sensors in chambers and cabinets reach gateways on poles or exchanges over LoRaWAN, and remote gateways use cellular where no exchange is near. Each gateway is supervised.

   Links

   Fibre · LoRaWAN · Public cellular

5. How it works

   From a vibration to a patrol

   An excavator starts work beside a road. The interrogator hears the pattern on the spare fibre, the node classifies it as digging and locates it, and the operations centre receives the alert with a map. A patrol arrives and the works move the trench before the cable is cut.

6. From order to operation · Order

   Scope the routes and the risks

   The scope reads the route records, dig-in history, flooded chambers, cabinet incidents and spare fibres available for sensing. Nexus Observatory Inc. returns the sensing plan by route, chamber and cabinet points, the integration with operations and a price per route length and per point.

   Plan a deployment

7. From order to operation · Survey

   Walk the route and test the fibre

   Crews walk the route with the operator’s records: chambers at low points, crossings, cabinets and the stretches where digging is common. They test the spare fibre for sensing, check gateway coverage along the route, and record access to chambers and exchanges.

8. From order to operation · Permits

   Chambers, roads and data

   Chamber work follows confined-space rules and road works permits. Sharing dig-in warnings with utilities and road authorities is agreed in writing, so warnings reach the people on site. Every agreement is kept with the route’s record. Crews entering chambers always test the air first, whatever the fixed sensors show.

9. From order to operation · Build

   Build the interrogator and the points

   Interrogators, edge nodes, chamber and cabinet sensors, endpoints and gateways are built, tested together and enrolled with their identities. The route’s map is loaded so every alert is located on the ground, and every part is labelled with its route and chamber.

   Open the Station Builder

10. From order to operation · Install

    Install at the exchange and in chambers

    Crews connect the interrogator to the spare fibre at the exchange, fit level and gas sensors in chambers with confined-space procedures, and door and climate sensors in cabinets. Gateways go on poles or exchanges, and every point is located and photographed.

11. From order to operation · Commission

    Calibrate the route

    Each device proves its identity. A tap test along the route ties fibre distance to ground location, a controlled dig near the route tests detection, and chamber and cabinet sensors are checked. Alerts are tested to the operations centre and the dig-in team.

12. From order to operation · Operate

    Stop the digger before the cut

    The operations centre sees digging along every route as it happens, with its location, and sends a patrol or calls the works before the cable is cut. Flooded chambers and gas are flagged, cabinets watched, and every incident kept on the record.

13. From order to operation · Maintain

    Keep the map true

    When routes change, the map and the location calibration are updated, chamber sensors are checked during routine visits, and batteries changed on plan. Every change is recorded, so alerts stay located on the ground where crews will find them. Spares are kept at the exchanges.

    Book field services

14. Data products

    For operations, maintenance and field crews

    Operations centres and patrols receive dig-in warnings with location; fibre maintenance teams receive fault locations; field crews receive chamber flooding and gas alerts; security and field teams receive cabinet access and climate. Each product carries its route and ground location.

    See the data products

15. Evidence

    Routes on record

    Every event, alert, patrol and repair is signed and kept. Sensing follows the international fibre optic sensor standard, maintenance follows ITU practice for optical cable networks, and cabinets follow the European telecom environmental classes, so incidents can be traced and costs recovered from those who caused them.

    Drawn against

    IEC 61757 · ITU-T L.25 · ETSI EN 300 019

16. What you get

    Transport and logistics corridor sensing

    Road weather, rail condition, port and cold-chain sensing along corridors, with connectivity where coverage ends. Delivered as managed service and data licence, for transport agencies, rail and port operators, logistics firms. Scale: Corridor to network. Service levels are written as numbers you can measure on your own dashboard.

    Talk to sales

17. Next step

    Plan fibre networks and outside plant with us

    Tell us the site, the measurements and the rules it answers to. We reply with a survey proposal, a design and a scope for fibre networks and outside plant. An engineer replies with a survey proposal and a scope, and the plan grows from one site to the network you need, at your pace.

    Plan a deploymentOpen the Station BuilderOpen the Studio

01The place and its hazards

Where it runs, and what can go wrong.

Operating contextFibre operators maintain long routes of cable in ducts, chambers and cabinets. Most damage comes from third-party digging, and chambers flood or collect gas. Maintenance follows recognised practice for optical cable networks, distributed fibre sensing turns a fibre into a line of sensors, and operators must manage the resilience of their networks.

Hazards

• Third-party digging cutting the cable
• Flooded chambers and ducts
• Gas in chambers endangering crews
• Cabinet break-ins and overheating
• Faults located only after customers call

02What must be measured

What, where, how often, and under which rules.

Each measurement names where it is taken, how often, and the public standard or regulation behind it. Numbers in the sources column open the cited source below.

03The observation stack

From one base unit to a network.

The same blocks at every scale: instruments and a base node, a site with its radio, a fleet run as one, and a network federated on the open protocol.

1. 01

   Base unit

   A route sensor: the interrogator on a fibre at the exchange, or a chamber or cabinet sensor on a LoRaWAN endpoint.

   Build a station →
2. 02

   Site

   A route: the interrogator at each end, chamber and cabinet points, gateways along the way and the route’s own fibre home.

   Plan a site →
3. 03

   Fleet

   Every route of an operator run as one fleet, with one record.

   Managed offers →
4. 04

   Network

   Operators, utilities and road authorities exchange dig-in warnings and records through open standards.

   The open protocol →

• 01Water level gauge
• 02Gas detector (industrial)
• 03LPWAN endpoint
• 04LoRaWAN gateway
• 05Edge node (Wedge)
• 06Fibre terminal
• 07Battery case

Radio and links

Fibre

The route’s own fibre carries the sensing and returns the data to the exchange.

Radio and links

LoRaWAN

Battery sensors in chambers and cabinets reach gateways on poles or exchanges along the route.

Radio and links

Public cellular

Remote gateways use cellular where no exchange is near.

Edge computeThe edge node beside the interrogator classifies vibration along the route, telling digging from traffic and trains, locates it to a stretch of the route and alerts the operator with the location while the digger is still working.

PowerThe interrogator and node run at the exchange; chamber and cabinet sensors run on batteries for years.

04How it works

From the instrument to the product.

One observation’s path, tier by tier, with the interface on every link and a bill of materials below; then how the one node grows to a site, a fleet and federated networks.

05From order to operation

Every step, from the first call to a running site.

The same crew and the same record carry the work from scope to maintenance.

1. 01 Order

   Scope the routes and the risks

   The scope reads the route records, dig-in history, flooded chambers, cabinet incidents and spare fibres available for sensing. Nexus Observatory Inc. returns the sensing plan by route, chamber and cabinet points, the integration with operations and a price per route length and per point. 2

2. 02 Survey

   Walk the route and test the fibre

   Crews walk the route with the operator’s records: chambers at low points, crossings, cabinets and the stretches where digging is common. They test the spare fibre for sensing, check gateway coverage along the route, and record access to chambers and exchanges.

3. 03 Permits

   Chambers, roads and data

   Chamber work follows confined-space rules and road works permits. Sharing dig-in warnings with utilities and road authorities is agreed in writing, so warnings reach the people on site. Every agreement is kept with the route’s record. Crews entering chambers always test the air first, whatever the fixed sensors show.

4. 04 Build

   Build the interrogator and the points

   Interrogators, edge nodes, chamber and cabinet sensors, endpoints and gateways are built, tested together and enrolled with their identities. The route’s map is loaded so every alert is located on the ground, and every part is labelled with its route and chamber.

5. 05 Install

   Install at the exchange and in chambers

   Crews connect the interrogator to the spare fibre at the exchange, fit level and gas sensors in chambers with confined-space procedures, and door and climate sensors in cabinets. Gateways go on poles or exchanges, and every point is located and photographed.

6. 06 Commission

   Calibrate the route

   Each device proves its identity. A tap test along the route ties fibre distance to ground location, a controlled dig near the route tests detection, and chamber and cabinet sensors are checked. Alerts are tested to the operations centre and the dig-in team.

7. 07 Operate

   Stop the digger before the cut

   The operations centre sees digging along every route as it happens, with its location, and sends a patrol or calls the works before the cable is cut. Flooded chambers and gas are flagged, cabinets watched, and every incident kept on the record. 12

8. 08 Maintain

   Keep the map true

   When routes change, the map and the location calibration are updated, chamber sensors are checked during routine visits, and batteries changed on plan. Every change is recorded, so alerts stay located on the ground where crews will find them. Spares are kept at the exchanges.

06Data products and integration

What it delivers, to whom, and into which systems.

Data products

• Dig-in warnings with locationOperations centres and patrols
• Fault locationFibre maintenance teams
• Chamber flooding and gas alertsField crews
• Cabinet access and climateSecurity and field teams

Integration

• Operations centreWarnings and faults reach the operator’s fault management system with map locations.
• Dig-before-you-dig servicesWarnings are compared with registered works and shared with utilities where agreed.
• Network recordsIncidents are linked to route, chamber and cabinet records.

Exchanged through IEC 61757, ITU-T L.25, OGC SensorThings API.

07Questions buyers ask

Before you scope it.

Do we need new cable?

No. A spare fibre in the existing cable becomes the sensor.

Can it tell digging from traffic?

The node classifies vibration patterns, and the calibration test confirms it.

How precisely are events located?

To a stretch of route tied to ground locations by the tap test.

Is chamber gas monitored for crews?

Yes, at risk points continuously and before entry.

08Resources

The sources behind this page.

Public standards, regulations and guidance, cited where they apply. Each applies only where its jurisdiction or scope does.

1. 1IEC 61757: Fibre optic sensorsInternational Electrotechnical Commission
2. 2ITU-T L.25: Optical fibre cable network maintenanceInternational Telecommunication Union
3. 3ETSI EN 300 019: Environmental conditions and environmental tests for telecommunications equipmentEuropean Telecommunications Standards Institute

09Related

Use cases and solutions.

10Telecom: specialized fields

Other fields of this industry.

Bring us the site.

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