Fiber Optic Sensing Association Comments on Army Corps of Engineers Levee Safety Circular

WASHINGTON DC – July 27, 2020 – The Fiber Optic Sensing Association (FOSA), the nation’s premier trade association dedicated to fiber optic sensing, filed comments with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) on its draft Engineer Circular for the USACE Levee Safety Program (EC 1165-2-218). Commenting on the USACE Circular, FOSA Chairman Mike Hines said, “FOSA appreciates the Corps of Engineers’ Levee Safety Program’s focus on monitoring and managing flood risks associated with levees. Given the dynamic nature of flood risk, this Circular establishes an appropriate framework.”

In its comment, FOSA sought to “raise awareness within USACE of technology generically referred to as Distributed Fiber Optic Sensing (DFOS). DFOS is a technology that can be configured to effectively and efficiently detect temperature, strain, and/or vibration when coupled through fiber optic cables to assets such as levees, dams, perimeters, pipelines, and other structures.”

Regarding how DFOS technology can advance levee safety, the FOSA comment said:

• “The location of the event can be pinpointed with an asset monitoring range of up to 50 km (~ 31 miles) in each direction – for a span of 100 km (~62 miles).
• As sensors, the fiber optic cables may be affixed to linear assets or buried/embedded in those same structures, depending on the aspects, they are intended to monitor (groundwater pressure, deformation, total stress, temperature, seismic events, leakage, water levels).
• Additionally, many of these systems can also detect foot traffic, vehicular movement, hand-digging, and excavation to add additional security functionality to the installed monitoring system.”

ABOUT THE FIBER OPTIC SENSING ASSOCIATION
FOSA is a non-profit organization created in Washington DC in 2017 with the mission of educating industry, government and the public on the benefits of fiber optic sensing. Through webinars, videos, white papers, public presentations and public policy advocacy, the organization provides information on the use of fiber optic sensing to secure critical facilities, enhance public safety and protect the environment. FOSA Members include AP Sensing, Aselsan, Asymmetric Technologies, Corning, Ditch Witch, Dura-Line, Fotech Solutions, Frauscher Sensonic GmbH AT, Graz University of Technology, Hifi Engineering, NBG Fiber Optic Corp., NEC, Network Integrity Systems, NKT Photonics, OFS, Omnisens, OptaSense, OZ Optics, Prysmian Group, Smartpipe Technologies, The Weir-Jones Group and the University of California – Berkeley. For further information, please visit the FOSA website.