Cable Temperature Profile
Continuous temperature along full cable route with ±0.5°C accuracy
Monitoring solution
Continuous sensing along power cables and utility corridors.
Real-time distributed temperature, acoustic intrusion, partial discharge, and strain monitoring for power transmission cables, utility corridors, and grid infrastructure — detect faults before they become outages.
The engineering question
What must be observed before failure becomes visible?
Utility corridors and power transmission cables carry the backbone of modern energy infrastructure, yet they face constant threats: thermal overload from variable load demands, mechanical strain from ground settlement and construction activity, third-party excavation damage, and progressive insulation degradation through partial discharge. A single undetected fault can cascade into widespread outages, equipment damage, and millions in lost revenue and emergency repair costs.
Traditional monitoring methods — periodic infrared thermography, manual patrol inspections, and sparse point-based temperature sensors — cannot catch dynamic thermal transients, localize partial discharge events, or detect intrusion in real time. The industry demands a continuous, distributed monitoring solution that simultaneously tracks cable temperature, mechanical integrity, acoustic signatures, and external intrusion across the entire asset — without the coverage gaps of point sensors or the vulnerabilities of electrical sensing systems.
Monitoring boundary
Define the quantity, coverage and required response first.
UW-DTS distributed temperature sensing
Strain / Mechanical Load
Sub-με strain detection on cable sheathing and support structures
Third-Party Intrusion
Real-time detection and localization within 10 m
Partial Discharge
Acoustic signature monitoring for insulation degradation
Ground Settlement
Sub-mm displacement monitoring along cable trench
Dynamic Rating / Ampacity
Real-time cable rating based on actual thermal conditions
Sensing chain
Treat sensing, interrogation and interpretation as one system.
The power cable monitoring system integrates UW-DTS fiber deployed alongside power cables for continuous temperature profiling, UW-FBG strain cables for mechanical integrity, and uwDAS fiber for intrusion and partial discharge detection. Five core monitoring functions are delivered through a unified fiber optic infrastructure:
Overheating Detection: UW-DTS provides continuous distributed temperature measurement along the entire cable route with ±0.5°C accuracy, enabling real-time hot spot identification and dynamic line rating optimization.
Intrusion & Disturbance Detection: uwDAS fiber buried above the cable trench detects and classifies excavation activity, construction vibrations, and unauthorized access — localizing events within 10 meters.
Partial Discharge Acoustic Monitoring: uwDAS high-frequency acoustic channels capture partial discharge signatures, enabling early detection of insulation degradation before it progresses to catastrophic failure.
Event Localization: All detected events — thermal, acoustic, and mechanical — are precisely located along the fiber route and displayed on a GIS-based dashboard for rapid operator response.
Video-Linked Alarms: The Ray-Sensor platform supports integration with on-site CCTV systems, automatically triggering camera feeds at the location of detected intrusion or alarm events for visual verification.
Overheating Detection: UW-DTS provides continuous distributed temperature measurement along the entire cable route with ±0.5°C accuracy, enabling real-time hot spot identification and dynamic line rating optimization.
Intrusion & Disturbance Detection: uwDAS fiber buried above the cable trench detects and classifies excavation activity, construction vibrations, and unauthorized access — localizing events within 10 meters.
Partial Discharge Acoustic Monitoring: uwDAS high-frequency acoustic channels capture partial discharge signatures, enabling early detection of insulation degradation before it progresses to catastrophic failure.
Event Localization: All detected events — thermal, acoustic, and mechanical — are precisely located along the fiber route and displayed on a GIS-based dashboard for rapid operator response.
Video-Linked Alarms: The Ray-Sensor platform supports integration with on-site CCTV systems, automatically triggering camera feeds at the location of detected intrusion or alarm events for visual verification.
Field placement
Translate the monitoring question into a placement plan.
- 01
UW-DTS sensing fiber deployed alongside or embedded in power cable ducts (up to 40 km per channel)
- 02
UW-FBG strain sensing cables attached to cable sheaths at critical spans and joint locations
- 03
uwDAS fiber buried 30-50 cm above cable trench for third-party intrusion detection
- 04
RS-DTS/DAS multi-channel interrogator at substation or junction tower
- 05
Dynamic line rating integration with SCADA/DMS for real-time ampacity management
- 06
Automated SMS/email alerts for temperature threshold exceedance and intrusion events
- 07
CCTV integration module for video-linked alarm verification at intrusion locations
- 08
Ray-Sensor cloud platform with GIS mapping and historical trend analysis
Engineering record
What continuous measurements make visible.
- Real-time thermal monitoring enabling dynamic cable rating and up to 20% capacity increase
- Early detection of cable hot spots before insulation degradation leads to failure
- Overheating, partial discharge, intrusion, and disturbance monitoring on a single fiber system
- Intrusion detection within minutes — preventing excavation damage before it contacts cables
- Event localization within 10 m accuracy, with optional CCTV integration for visual verification
- Distributed coverage eliminates blind spots between traditional temperature sensors
- Reduced maintenance costs with automated monitoring replacing patrol-based inspections
- Corrosion-free, EMI-immune fiber sensors rated for 25+ year service life in harsh environments
Field evidence
Related monitoring contexts.
Define the monitoring boundary
Start with the asset, failure mode and required coverage.
These inputs determine the sensing layout more reliably than choosing an instrument first.