Technology designed for offshore installations and adapted for warfare has captured the attention of the Royal Academy of Engineering.
OptaSense technology, dubbed the ‘Earth’s Nervous System’, was shortlisted for the Royal Academy of Engineering MacRobert Award, the UK’s longest running national prize for engineering.
The acoustic sensing firm developed the technology, which can turn any existing fibre-optic cable into highly sensitive real-time microphones, as an innovative listening device. The technology is used in the oil and gas industry to prevent illegal ‘hot-tapping’ and to detect and locate oil links. In hydraulic fracking, OptaSense’s down-hole monitoring system can detect seismic activity in or close to the wellbore enabling safe shutdown if required.
The intuitive fibre-optic cable can also be buried underground as a means of advanced security monitoring. In combat zones, the technology is sensitive enough to detect footsteps, vehicles and even a helicopter flying above ground. This real-time information is saving soldiers’ lives.
OptaSense was shortlisted alongside Rolls-Royce and Colbalt.
Magnus McEwen-King, managing director of OptaSense said “We firmly believe this British technology will become the Earth’s Nervous System protecting the majority of the global energy and transport arteries ensuring a safer and more efficient movement of people and product around the world.”
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