Fiber optic pipeline acoustic measurement method, device, and system

A measurement device comprising:

• a processing unit, the measurement device being programmed such that the processing unit controls operations for monitoring a pipe using a an optical fiber cable that is connected to the measurement device and wrapped around the pipe along a length of the pipe, the operations including,
• generating a first light pulse such that the first light pulse propagates through the optical fiber cable towards the pipe;
• receiving, at the measurement device, a plurality of second light pulses reflected from a plurality of different reflection points within the optical fiber cable, respectively, the plurality of second light pulses each being reflected forms of the first light pulse;
• and
• determining one or more optical path length (OPL) change measurements based on the plurality of second light pulses received at the measurement device, the one or more OPL change measurements corresponding, respectively, to the one or more different locations along the length of the pipe.

A pipe monitoring system comprising:

• an optical fiber cable wrapped around a pipe along a length of the pipe;
• a measurement device connected to the optical fiber cable, the measurement device being configured to,
• generate a first light pulse such that the first light pulse propagates through the optical fiber cable towards the pipe, and
• receive a plurality of second light pulses reflected from a plurality of different reflection points within the optical fiber cable, respectively, the plurality of second light pulses each being reflected forms of the first light pulse;
• and
• a computation unit configured to determine a condition of at least one of the pipe, machinery connected to the pipe, and a structure connected to the pipe based on the received plurality of second light pulses.