Engineering decision resources
Selection and specification guides for turning monitoring requirements into a defensible fiber optic sensing architecture.
Browse the guides
Start with the decision
A useful sensing system begins with the asset, failure mode, required coverage and decision threshold. The guides below connect those inputs to the array, cable and interrogation choices that follow.
Each guide is written as a working engineering path: what must be defined, which trade-offs matter and what evidence should be requested before deployment.
Specification guide
Turn the monitored length, sensing-point layout, environment and required data output into a specification the array, cable and interrogator can satisfy together.
Array pitch · reflectivity · packaging · interrogation Read the guide
Selection guide
Select the cable from the physical transfer mechanism, installation method and operating environment—not from jacket appearance alone.
Strain transfer · thermal response · acoustic coupling · protection Read the guide
Architecture comparison
Match hotspot detection, mechanical movement, intrusion and partial-discharge indicators to the sensing method that can recover the required evidence.
Temperature · strain · acoustic events · hybrid coverage Read the guide
System architecture
Map railway failure modes to sensing locations, DAS/DSS/DTS coverage, interrogation requirements, alert logic and field validation.
Risk location · sensing route · event logic · verification Read the guide
Define the monitoring boundary
These inputs determine the sensing architecture more reliably than choosing an instrument first.
