Abstract

Brillouin Optical Time Domain Analysis (BOTDA) is becoming a consolidated technique in applications requiring high-resolution monitoring over extremely long distances. Extension of the measuring range has therefore become one of the main areas of research around BOTDA technology. To increase the sensing range, it is necessary to increase the Signal to Noise Ratio (SNR) of the retrieved signal. This has been achieved so far by applying techniques like pre-amplification before detection, pulse coding or Raman amplification. Here, we analyze these techniques in terms of their performance limits and provide guidelines that determine which is the best configuration to overcome current range limitations.