As the scale and complexity of modern infrastructures and systems grow, so does the demand for sensing technologies that can deliver higher spatial resolution, longer reach, faster response, and cost-effective deployment. This panel will examine how emerging fiber technologies and sensing architectures are reshaping the fundamental limits of optical fiber sensing. Traditional approaches, largely based on backscattering or forward-propagating measurements, have evolved along distinct paths, each with well-known trade-offs in range, resolution, speed, and complexity.
At the same time, new fiber platforms such as hollow-core and low-scattering fibers challenge some of the assumptions underlying these techniques, offering reduced noise, improved stability, and novel regimes of operation. These developments raise important questions: are current sensing paradigms fundamentally constrained by fiber properties? Can new fiber designs enable alternative architectures that overcome existing trade-offs? The panel will bring together experts in fiber design, sensing systems, signal processing and network operators to provide a comprehensive perspective spanning physical layer innovations, system-level design, and practical deployment considerations. Particular attention will be given to how advances in signal processing and data interpretation further expand the capabilities of both forward and distributed sensing approaches.
Organizers
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Andrey Kobyakov
Corning, United States
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Lauren Dallachiesa
Nokia Bell Labs, United States
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Elie Awwad
Telecom Paris, France
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Giuseppe Rizzelli
Politecnino Torino, Italy