Surveillance of fiber optic cables and electric power cables using fiber Bragg grating sensors

We report on the integration of optical fiber containing Bragg gratings in the structure of both optical and power cables. It is shown that fiber Bragg gratings provide an efficient method to monitor quasi-distributed mechanical strength along optical cables. This technology is also applied to the monitoring of temperature in power cables for transmission/distribution infrastructures. We show that there are no losses introduced during the cabling process, and the temperature sensitivity of the fiber Bragg grating was found to be only slightly affected by the extrusion process. Results are presented for cable operation in real environment.