790,000 km of KT telecommunications fiber optic cables
Confirmation of vibrations from heavy equipment construction near underground facilities
Introduction of ML technology to analyze and learn heavy equipment vibration characteristics


KT announced on the 17th that it has developed a 'Distributed Acoustic Sensing (DAS) platform' capable of remotely detecting sound waves from a location up to 40km away using optical cables.

The DAS platform is a solution that uses 790,000 km of KT telecommunications fiber optic cables installed nationwide to detect vibrations from heavy equipment construction around underground facilities such as gas pipes, heating pipes, and water pipes, and provides advance notification.

If engineers managing facilities utilize the DAS platform, it is possible to prevent damage caused by construction. In the future, the DAS platform will enable services such as intrusion detection and safety monitoring and control for critical social infrastructure.

Existing sound wave sensing technology utilizing optical cables could only detect sound waves transmitted from a single optical cable. For this technology to be applied in the field as a service platform, a method to improve accuracy by analyzing various sound waves had to be devised.

KT developed the DAS platform with a structure in which multiple optical cables simultaneously measure sound waves and transmit information. It also introduced machine learning technology to analyze, learn, and recognize vibration characteristics of heavy equipment construction, and improved the accuracy of sound wave detection through continuous technical verification in actual field conditions.