PSI - Issue 72

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ScienceDirect

Procedia Structural Integrity 72 (2025) 229–234

12th Annual Conference of Society for Structural Integrity and Life (DIVK12) Statistical analysis of noise in distributed fiber-optic sensor strain measurements

V.P. Matveenko a , G.S. Serovaev a, *, E.B. Galkina a , V.A: Koniukhov a a Institute of Continuous Media Mechanics UB RAS, 1, Akademika Koroleva Str., Perm, 614068, Russia

Abstract Distributed fiber-optic sensors (DFOS) based on Rayleigh scattering enable high-resolution strain measurements along optical fibers, making them valuable for structural health monitoring and other precision applications. However, these sensors are susceptible to measurement noise, which can impact their accuracy. This study presents a statistical analysis of noise in DFOS readings under isothermal conditions and without external mechanical loading. Using an optical frequency-domain reflectometry (OFDR) system, strain data was recorded over a 10-hour period and analyzed using standard deviation and amplitude range metrics. The results highlight the presence of spatial and temporal noise variations and the effectiveness of a moving average filter in reducing measurement uncertainty. © 2026 The Authors. Published by ELSEVIER B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0) Peer-review under responsibility of Aleksandar Sedmak, Branislav Djordjevic, Simon Sedmak Dr. Simon Sedmak, ssedmak@mas.bg.ac.rs, Innovation Center of Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, Belgrade, Serbia

Keywords: Distributed fiber-optic sensors; measurement noise

1. Introduction Distributed fiber-optic sensing has become a critical technology for structural health monitoring due to its ability to provide high-resolution strain measurements without requiring complex sensor multiplexing (Zhong et al. (2023), Li et al. (2021)). Among the various distributed fiber-optic sensor (DFOS) techniques, optical frequency-domain

* Corresponding author. Tel.: +7(342)-237-83-08. E-mail address: serovaev@icmm.ru

2452-3216 © 2026 The Authors. Published by ELSEVIER B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0) Peer-review under responsibility of Aleksandar Sedmak, Branislav Djordjevic, Simon Sedmak Dr. Simon Sedmak, ssedmak@mas.bg.ac.rs, Innovation Center of Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, Belgrade, Serbia 10.1016/j.prostr.2025.08.097