Sensor Cable Installation Guidelines

Company Confidential
Contents
1. DTS AND DAS SENOR CABLE..................................................................................... 3

2. TRANSIT CABLE : ........................................................................................................ 4

3. SENSOR CABLE INSTALLATION ................................................................................ 5

Principle Specification Points ................................................................................ 5

General Precautions During Cable Installation ...................................................... 7
Cable Jointing ....................................................................................................... 8

List of Figures
Figure 1 – Positioning of the fiber optic cable relative to the pipeline............................................ 5

Figure 2 – Cables in a cable tray.................................................................................................. 6

Figure 3 - Splice box example ...................................................................................................... 7

Figure 4 – Example of wrong cable installation ............................................................................ 8

Figure 5 – Excess cable at joint positions .................................................................................... 9

Figure 6 – Crossing of the fiber cables ......................................................................................... 9

Figure 7 - Example of the joint pit with excess cable coiled ........................................................ 10

Figure 8 – Splice within the splice enclosure .............................................................................. 10

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1. DTS AND DAS SENOR CABLE
This special non-metallic sensor cable consists of a central strength member with 6 x SM and 2 x
MM optical fibers in a tight buffered design. The fibers are protected by water-blocking aramid
yarns and PET foil for high crush and rodent resistance including high water resistance. It is
perfectly suited for direct installation underground along pipelines and its LDPE jacket provides a

high robustness.

Important is that all the 8 fibers ( 6 x SM & 2 x MM) have to be spliced during the
sensor cable installation.

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2. TRANSIT CABLE :
Transit cables are used to connect a sensor cable to the location of the DAS/DTS instruments.
They are suited for indoor use and have an LSZH jacket ( Low Smoke Zero Halogen).

• (Inner) Simplex Jacket LSZH, 2 mm

• Outer Jacket LSZH, 7 mm

• Singlemode : Yellow
• Multimode : orange
Suitable for Indoor use :
➢ Flammability : EN50266-1, EN50266-2-2
➢ Acid Gases : EN50267-1, EN50267-2-2, EN50267-2-3
➢ Smoke Density : EN61034-1, EN61034-2

The schematic below outlines the proper schematic for the transit cable deployment inside the
substation.

The transit cable connects the DAS & DTS Instrument (When the DTS will be implemented later
on) with factory attached (one cable end) E2000 8°APC Connector. The other end will be spliced
with the pipeline sensor cable by means of medium splice boxes. The splice tray serves in case of
bad splicing or for extra lengths purposes.

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3. SENSOR CABLE INSTALLATION

Principle Specification Points

The sensor fiber used for the DAS system measurement is loss-sensitive. A high loss fiber
(>0.25 dB/km) will degrade the SNR (Signal-to-Noise Ratio) and therefore the dynamic range over
distance. This will in turn shorten the usable range of the fiber. The fiber should have low loss per
unit length (<0.2 dB/km @ 1550 nm for standard SM fibers), low splice loss steps (< 0.1 dB) and
generally all reflections minimized. For that reason, the fiber needs to be spliced and connectors to
be avoided except at the point where the pigtail is connected to the DAS Interrogator Unit. The
fiber end should be terminated with a non-reflective termination (e.g. an E2000/APC connector).
The maximum total one-way loss permitted for the sensor cable is 12 dB for N5200A-R50
including all splices and connectivity to the DAS Interrogator Unit. Thus, it is mandatory to
allocate to the DAS system the fibers with the lowest possible attenuation among all sensing fibers
within the installed fiber optical cable.

For LD the fiber optic cable shall be placed below the pipeline (5 to 7 o’clock) as close as possible
to the pipeline (15 cm – 30 cm). Important is that the distance of the fiber along the pipeline
should be kept as constant as possible. Deviations in distances may cause the degradation
in event detection.

Pipeline

(fiber optic cable positions 15 cm – 30 cm)

Figure 1 – Positioning of the fiber optic cable relative to the pipeline

Special care needs to be taken not to damage the fiber inside the cable during the laying
procedure.

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In order to optimize the performance and quality it is mandatory to supervise the cable installation
and splicing using an OTDR (Optical Time Domain Reflectometer) instrument. The testing should
be done at highest possible spatial resolution and the measurement traces should be recorded.
Any change from the acceptance criteria should be investigated. Any high loss cable should be
investigated and/or rejected. OTDR testing needs to be completed after every splice is completed.

The critical considerations are protection of the cable and preventing the cable from vibrations
which may otherwise introduce spurious readings in service.
When routing the cable from the pipeline to the instrument cabinets the cable must be buried
underground, wherever practical to protect it from any environmental influences such as wind or
rain.
Where this is not practical the cable shall be supported using proprietary cable tray products. This
will ensure that the cable is not damaged in service and that the cable does not vibrate – or strum
– due to environmental influences (Figure 2).

Figure 2 – Cables in a cable tray

It will be necessary to join the installed cable in many locations along the route. It is recommended
that a splice enclosure (IP68 or watertight / suitable for buried deployment) similar to the one
shown in Figure 3 is used.

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 Figure 3 – Watertight Splice box example

General Precautions During Cable Installation

• It is vital that the cable is treated correctly during the installation process. The cable will
twist quite easily, and so it is vital that tension is maintained wherever possible to prevent
the twist from becoming a kink when subsequently tensioned. Such a kink will require
removal by cutting out and inserting a connection box.

• Tension can be maintained by using cable clamps.

• It is vital that the cable is treated correctly during the installation and that the maximum
working tension and minimum bend radius details are observed.

• Great care shall be taken to prevent accidental damage to the cable construction. This will
include over-straining, bending beyond its limit, crushing, etc.

• The cable must be protected against accidental damage during the installation and
handling process such as being cautious as cables are routed around sharp corners
(Figure 4).

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 Figure 4 – Example of wrong cable installation

• Wherever possible, dragging the cable along the surface shall be avoided due to the
abrasion effect on the outer sheath. Use of more compliant materials such as wood, plastic
sheets shall be made, or for longer runs, consideration must be given to the use of roller
sets.

• Fusion splicing shall be performed to make the connections of the optical fibers at the
splice enclosure locations.

The target distance from pipeline to fiber cable should be maximum 30 cm to the pipeline. The
distance should be kept constant along the length of the pipeline to maintain a standard sensitivity.

Cable Jointing

During the jointing of the fibers, additional precautions need to be considered. The minimum
distance between two splice enclosures must be more than 100 meters. The general procedure for
jointing cables needs to allow approximately 20 meters of excess cable at each end of the sections
to be jointed (Figure 5).

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 Figure 1 – Excess cable at joint positions

Free ends of cables A and B need to be routed to a splice pit via a trench. Splice pit needs to be
approximately 1 m x 1 m, 1.5 m deep and approximately 5 m lateral distance from the pipeline. It
should be noted that the ends of cables A and B should be crossed as shown in Figure 6 in order
to avoid any dead zones.

Figure 6 – Crossing of the fiber cables

After completing the splicing of all fibers, OTDR test needs to be performed. Excess cable needs to
be coiled in the pit (Figure 7) without inducing any twist in the cable and without exceeding the
minimum bend diameter of the cable.

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 Figure 7 - Example of the joint pit with excess cable coiled

This cable overlength will act as an intermediate reference and access point that will assist in the
spatial calibration and performance commissioning of the system when all the cable installation is

Figure 2 – Splice within the splice enclosure

completed. The splice needs to be placed in an appropriate splice enclosure (Figure 7).

Important : At every splice location, the sensor cable meter marking for all points (XA1, XA2,
XB1, XB2) and the corresponding pipeline meter marks should be provided for a proper fiber
to pipeline mapping (Figure 8).

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The splice pit needs to be left open to allow access to the cables during the commissioning
activities. When all commissioning activities have been completed, the splice pit can be filled in.
The filling material needs to be a compliant material to provide a vibration barrier, otherwise the
coiled cable and the splice dome would act as a resonator. This material can be Vermiculite,
polystyrene granules or sheet - although sand would be nearly as effective.

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