Researchers from Zonge Engineering in my own Tucson, Arizona along with researchers at the University of Arizona’s Mining and Geological Engineering Department (my alma mater) have completed a report on a fiber optic monitoring system that has wide-ranging applications in border security, prison perimeter protection, mine safety and other applications. The Helios system uses the principle of ‘optical backscattering’ to detect small acoustical vibrations, such as an illegal border crosser, or a trapped miner tapping on a wall. Because of the speed with which the lasers can travel in the fiber optic line, the system can be deployed in lengths up to 50-km, and can locate the source of a signal within 1-m. If there are source lasers at each end of the cable, they can even detect exactly where the cable is cut and it can continue functioning. [Source: UANews.org. Image: UANews.org]
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UW to develop specifications for large ocean observatory off coast of Washington
June 13, 2007
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The University of Washington has been allocated $2.2 million for a planning phase to develop detailed engineering specifications for a cabled underwater research facility to be built off the coast of Washington and Oregon, and associated with the Juan de Fuca tectonic plate. The facility will extend continuous high-bandwidth (tens of Gigabits/second) and power (tens of kilowatts) to a network of instruments widely distributed across, above and below the seafloor. (Image by University of Washington)