We present a theoretical and experimental study in which we increased the sensitivity of a phase-sensitive optical time-domain reflectometer (phi-OTDR). This was achieved by constructing coils in the sensor cable, which increased the total amplitude of the impact on the fiber. We demonstrate this theoretically using the example of a phase-sensitive reflectometer model and practically in testing grounds with a buried nearby conventional sensor and a sensor with coils. The sensitivity increased 2.2 times. We detected 95% of events when using coils, versus 20% when using a straight cable. The suggested method does not require any modifications to the device.
Keywords: distributed fiber optic sensor; fiber optic sensor; phi-OTDR; sensitivity improvement.