Passive seismological approaches for localizing near-surface fiber-optic cables with DAS

Passive seismological approaches for localizing near-surface fiber-optic cables with DAS | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Article Passive seismological approaches for localizing near-surface fiber-optic cables with DAS Georg Rümpker, Fabian Limberger, Abolfazl Komeazi This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-7879752/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Under Review Version 1 posted 10 You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract Accurate knowledge of fiber-optic cable geometry is essential for applications of distributed acoustic sensing (DAS),however the true positions of buried or installed fibers are often uncertain due to slack, bends, or deviations from documented routes. We present two passive, seismology-based approaches for cable localization that exploit information contained in DAS recordings. Case A employs ambient noise cross-correlations with reference points to estimate relative travel times, whereas Case B uses the differential arrivals of plane waves from distant earthquakes with linearly independent slowness vectors. Both approaches can be formulated in a least-squares framework that allows for the joint estimation of propagation velocity and geometry, thereby reducing biases from noise and model assumptions. Synthetic experiments show that cable positions can be recovered with an accuracy better than 100~m, even when apparent velocities are uncertain or the medium exhibits heterogeneity. The two methods provide independent geometric constraints that complement other sources of information on cable routing. Distributed Acoustic Sensing (DAS) fiber-optic cables channel localization cable routing ambient noise cross-correlation passive seismology Full Text Additional Declarations Competing interest reported. A patent application related to the methods presented in this study has been filed by Goethe University Frankfurt with the European Patent Office (Application No. EP25186377.5). G.R., A.K., and F.L. are listed as inventors. Cite Share Download PDF Status: Under Review Version 1 posted Editorial decision: Revision requested 26 Mar, 2026 Reviews received at journal 23 Mar, 2026 Reviewers agreed at journal 18 Mar, 2026 Reviewers agreed at journal 18 Mar, 2026 Reviews received at journal 17 Mar, 2026 Reviewers agreed at journal 16 Mar, 2026 Reviewers invited by journal 21 Nov, 2025 Editor assigned by journal 24 Oct, 2025 Submission checks completed at journal 18 Oct, 2025 First submitted to journal 18 Oct, 2025 You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. 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Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-7879752","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":562929722,"identity":"fd669aaf-cb1f-4d9f-be38-cdda3476abce","order_by":0,"name":"Georg Rümpker","email":"data:image/png;base64,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","orcid":"","institution":"Goethe University Frankfurt","correspondingAuthor":true,"prefix":"","firstName":"Georg","middleName":"","lastName":"Rümpker","suffix":""},{"id":562929723,"identity":"6b381d58-72b6-40cf-86d7-f433d1dfcdb0","order_by":1,"name":"Fabian Limberger","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Goethe University Frankfurt","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Fabian","middleName":"","lastName":"Limberger","suffix":""},{"id":562929724,"identity":"b220f464-1f7a-453a-af89-2452cbd92b31","order_by":2,"name":"Abolfazl Komeazi","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Goethe University Frankfurt","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Abolfazl","middleName":"","lastName":"Komeazi","suffix":""}],"badges":[],"createdAt":"2025-10-16 16:38:14","currentVersionCode":1,"declarations":"","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-7879752/v1","doiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-7879752/v1","draftVersion":[],"editorialEvents":[],"editorialNote":"","failedWorkflow":false,"files":[{"id":98778201,"identity":"929d8acd-976c-4a41-af0d-8163d17387e6","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2025-12-22 12:29:00","extension":"pdf","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"manuscript-pdf","size":5265028,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"DASLocalizationRuempkeretalSR2.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-7879752/v1_covered_49aa438d-a54b-4ee0-82b4-c602ce6592e8.pdf"}],"financialInterests":"Competing interest reported. 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