Frequently Asked Questions

It turns a single optical fiber into thousands of continuous sensors. By reading the light naturally backscattered along the fiber, our systems measure vibration, temperature and strain at every meter, in real time, with no powered electronics in the field.

A laser pulse travels down the fiber, a small fraction of the light scatters back, and an interrogator at one end reads that returning light. Each change in the backscatter registers as an event at a known distance along the cable. The technologies differ in which property of the backscatter they read: DAS reads phase changes caused by vibration, DTS reads the Raman backscatter, whose intensity changes with temperature, and DSS reads static strain.

DAS (Distributed Acoustic Sensing) measures vibration and acoustic activity along the fiber, ideal for intrusion detection, leaks and ground movement. DTS (Distributed Temperature Sensing) measures temperature at every point, ideal for hot spots, fire detection and dynamic thermal rating.

DSS reads static strain: slow deformation rather than vibration. Where DAS catches the moment something moves, DSS tells you that a structure has been carrying more load than it did last month, such as a bridge deck sagging, a tunnel lining converging or a slope creeping. Our engineering team develops DSS as a tailored configuration for each project.

Start from the failure you are trying to catch. If something moves that should not, such as an excavator near a pipeline, someone cutting a fence or a train where no train should be, that is acoustic: DAS. If something heats up or cools down, such as a hot spot in a power cable or a fire in a tunnel, that is thermal: DTS. If something deforms slowly, such as a sagging bridge deck or a creeping slope, that is strain: DSS. Many assets need two, and running both over the same cable is common. Our guide DAS vs DTS vs DSS covers the decision in detail.

No. Distributed sensing works on standard single-mode fiber, the same G.652 used for telecommunications, and the Eagle DAS is specified on standard fiber for that reason. What decides sensitivity is how well the cable is mechanically coupled to its surroundings, so it is worth confirming with a short test on the actual strand rather than assuming it from a datasheet.

Not always. In many cases we can activate a spare fiber already installed alongside your asset, such as beside a pipeline, railway or power cable. Where no fiber exists, our team handles the installation end to end. Our article on dark fiber sensing explains what to check before relying on an existing strand.

No. The interrogator connects at one end of the fiber, in a rack in an existing building, and reads the backscatter. Nothing is installed along the route and nothing needs power out in the field. The Eagle DAS works single-ended: it is deployed and interrogated from one end of the cable.

The Eagle DAS covers up to 50 km per channel from a single end, 100 km with optical repeaters. The Eagle DTS reaches up to 30 km. A single interrogator can replace hundreds of individual point sensors.

The BiiSensing Eagle DAS covers up to 50 km per channel from a single end, 100 km with optical repeaters. Gauge length is tunable from 10 m, channel spacing starts at 0.1 m, and the acquisition rate reaches up to 10 kHz, depending on sensing range and channel spacing. Events are located within ±10 m, GPS-referenced. The full table is on the Eagle DAS page.

The BiiSensing Eagle DTS reads temperature along up to 30 km of fiber, or 60 km with dual-channel sensing across two independent runs. Spatial resolution is 5 m, constant across the full range, with a 0.4 m minimal sampling interval. Temperature resolution starts at 0.03 °C (0.03 °C at 0 to 5 km, 0.10 °C at 20 to 25 km), temperature accuracy is ±1.0 °C at short range and ±3.0 °C at 25 km, and position accuracy is ±1 m. It supports up to 4 measurement channels through an optical switch. The full table is on the Eagle DTS page.

Yes. Software classifies each event, for example footsteps, vehicles, digging or fence cutting, to separate genuine threats from background noise and keep false alarms down. That classification is tuned to each site during a period on the live installation, because what matters on one asset is noise on another. We also develop custom software for each monitoring application.

Seven: cable monitoring for aerial, underground and submarine cables; pipeline monitoring for water, oil and gas; railway monitoring and train tracking; mining, seismic and natural hazards; security detection for perimeters and borders; structural health monitoring of roads, bridges and tunnels; and smart ports. Each one has its own page under Our Solutions.

Yes. An optical fiber running parallel to the pipeline continuously listens to its acoustic and thermal signature. DAS identifies the pressure waves of a leak or an excavation, while DTS pinpoints the temperature change of escaping fluid. The same fiber also reports third-party interference and illegal tapping, ground movement and subsidence, and pig tracking events. See Pipeline Monitoring.

A buried or fence-mounted fiber becomes a continuous intrusion detector. The Eagle DAS analyzes the vibrations of climbing, cutting, digging, tunneling or vehicle movement near the fiber, classifies each event and locates it, covering tens of kilometers from a single unit with nothing powered in the field. The sensing cable is immune to electromagnetic interference and invisible to intruders. See Security Detection.

Yes. Using trackside telecom fiber, the Eagle DAS reports the position, speed and direction of every moving train simultaneously, with no trackside power. The same fiber detects rail defects, wheel flats and ballast degradation from their vibration signatures, and warns of trespassers, cable theft, rockfalls and obstacles near the track. See Railway Monitoring.

By measuring the temperature of a power cable along its full route, the Eagle DTS enables real-time thermal rating (RTTR), which sets usable ampacity from the cable’s actual temperature profile, and locates joints, hot spots and overload sections to within a meter. Along aerial, underground and submarine routes, the fiber also locates faults from one end. See Cable Monitoring.

Yes. We deliver end-to-end service: engineering and development, field installation and commissioning, training in Spanish and English, and ongoing onsite maintenance and support. The four services are described on Our Services.

Tell us what you need to monitor through the contact page or at info@biisensing.com, and an engineer will tell you whether fiber sensing is the right fit and how to deploy it. We reply within one business day. It helps to know the longest continuous run you need to cover, whether there is existing fiber along the route, the event that would justify the system on its own, and who receives an alarm.

Three things, and only one of them is the interrogator. First, fiber availability: sensing over a spare strand that already runs along the asset removes civil works, while laying new cable along the route is a different order of project. Second, channel count: one interrogator can serve several routes, so the cost per monitored kilometer falls as channels fill. Third, software and classification, which is site-specific work with a tuning period on the live installation. For a figure on your project, talk to an engineer.

Yes, and it is the sensible first step. An OTDR trace on a candidate strand answers continuity and loss in an afternoon. Then an interrogator connected for a few days, with a known event at a known location such as a vehicle passing a specific point or a scheduled excavation, shows whether the coupling is adequate. That test costs a fraction of a full deployment.

We serve clients across Latin America, North America, Europe, the Middle East and Africa from the BiiSmart Group offices: headquarters in Querétaro, Mexico, offices in Panama City, Hong Kong and Shenzhen, China, an office opening soon in Florence, Italy, and commercial representation in Colombia and the Netherlands. Our engineers go on site for installation, commissioning and maintenance. We also work with local partners, such as Geobest for water infrastructure in Mexico and Ravinora Energy Services for oil and gas in Nigeria and sub-Saharan Africa. See Partnerships.

BiiSensing designs and manufactures fiber optic measurement and monitoring systems (DAS, DTS and DSS), and is the first Latin American company dedicated to fiber sensing and data analysis through optical fiber. Our detection methods are built and validated with research centers across Latin America and proven in field deployments, backed by more than 10 years of experience in fiber sensing. More on About Us.

Yes. BiiSensing is one of the five business units of BiiSmart Group, alongside Global Logistics, Trading, Allinx and BiiLinx. The group has seventeen years connecting Asia and Latin America with its own teams and offices, so when a fiber sensing project needs materials sourced, manufacturing supervised or equipment moved across borders, those capabilities are in the group. Visit biismart.com.