Reflect Detect™ Sensor
Every Open. Every Close. Always Known
Overview
The Reflect Detect Sensor is a passive fiber optic sensor designed for organizations to monitor the entry and exit of fiber optic splice enclosures across their network. TheReflect Detect Sensor utilizes a single fiber, either dark or live, to monitor the entry and exit of splice enclosures, ensuring real-time visibility for maintenance and security needs.
How it Works
Each passive sensor introduces a reflective event on a monitored dark or live fiber. When the enclosure is closed, the reflective event is present.If the enclosure is opened, the reflective event immediately disappears, indicating the splice enclosure has been opened. Because the reflective event is passively generated at the sensor and remotely monitored from a Central Office orNetwork Operations Center (NOC), any attempt to bypass or manipulate the signal is highly difficult—ifnot virtually impossible.
Uses
Security
The Reflect Detect Sensor’s main design goal was to create a simple device that allows network owners to know the physical status of their splice enclosures. Know if someone has opened any enclosures, verify technicians are in the proper enclosure, or know how long the enclosure was open.
Location Verification
An added benefit of Reflect Detect Sensors is their ability to assist in crisis situations, such as when a fiber is cut or damaged. By leveraging GPS-marked sensor locations and the GIS mapping interface, the system can measure the distance from the point of disruption to the nearest reflective event. Combined with historical reflection data, this enables accurate isolation and pinpointing of the damage location.
System Implementation
To deploy this solution, a fiber monitoring platform capable of real-time detection must be selected.Many leading manufacturers provide systems that are compatible with this type of sensor. During planning, a dark fiber route should be identified that passes through all targeted enclosures. Sensors are connected in series along this monitored fiber, allowing coverage of multiple enclosures.Each enclosure or cabinet requiring monitoring will need a sensor mounted to it, with the sensor spliced into a dedicated dark fiber or a live monitored fiber.
Contact
Please contact us so we may help you properly plan your network deployment. Considerations like sensor count, distance between sensors, sensor mounting, and monitoring equipment all need to be accounted for when developing a system.We are also happy to support custom projects for any challenging situation.
Patent Pending
The Reflect Detect Sensor uses a simple, innovative design to create a robust -36dB reflection. The design is currently patent pending.