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Surface-draped fiber captured plane's flight details at Nevada airfield

Phys · · 602 words · By Seismological Society

Researchers utilized a surface-draped fiber optic cable and Distributed Acoustic Sensing (DAS) technology at a Nevada airfield to study aircraft flight details. The study, presented at the 2026 SSA Annual Meeting, demonstrated the potential for rapid deployment of DAS in environments where cable burial is impractical. The team paired data from seismic stations and the surface-draped fiber with observations of a Cessna 172 to analyze aircraft speed and maneuvering patterns.

open_in_new Read the original article: https://phys.org/news/2026-04-surface-draped-fiber-captured-plane.html

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fact_checkFact-Check Results

17 claims extracted and verified against multiple sources including cross-references, web search, and Wikipedia.

schedule Pending 7
check_circle Corroborated 5
verified Verified By Reference 2
info Single Source 1
verified Verified 1
help Insufficient Evidence 1
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“Originally deployed to record re-entry signals of the OSIRIS-REx return capsule, a T-shaped fiber optic cable draped across the ground at a Nevada airfield also captured unique aspects of a Cessna 172's speed and maneuvering.”
CORROBORATED
Two separate web search results explicitly state that the T-shaped fiber optic cable, originally deployed for OSIRIS-REx re-entry signals, also captured data on a Cessna 172's speed and maneuvering at a Nevada airfield. This constitutes corroboration from multiple search results detailing the same event.
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web search NEUTRAL — The exercise took OSIRIS-REx as close as 65 m (213 ft) from the surface before performing a back-away burn. [59][60] A second rehearsal was successfully completed on 11 August 2020, bringing OSIRIS-RE…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OSIRIS-REx
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web search NEUTRAL — 16 April 2026—Originally deployed to record re-entry signals of the OSIRIS-REx return capsule, a T-shaped fiber optic cable draped across the ground at a Nevada airfield also captured unique aspects o…
https://www.seismosoc.org/news/surface-draped-fiber-captured…
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web search NEUTRAL — Originally deployed to record re-entry signals of the OSIRIS-REx return capsule, a T-shaped fiber optic cable draped across the ground at a Nevada airfield also captured unique aspects of a Cessna ...
https://phys.org/news/2026-04-surface-draped-fiber-captured-…
info
“Researchers at the 2026 SSA Annual Meeting said the findings help demonstrate the potential for rapid deployment of fiber optic cable and Distributed Acoustic Sensing (DAS) in environments where burying the cable isn't feasible.”
SINGLE SOURCE
The claim references findings presented at the '2026 SSA Annual Meeting,' which is only mentioned in one web search result. While other sources discuss DAS potential, none corroborate the specific finding or the 2026 meeting date.
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — In the United States, Social Security is the commonly used term for the federal Old-Age, Survivors, and Disability Insurance (OASDI) program and is administered by the Social Security Administration (…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_Security_(United_States…
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — The United States Social Security Administration (SSA) is an independent agency of the U.S. federal government that administers Social Security, a social insurance program consisting of retirement, di…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_Security_Administration
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Supplemental Security Income (SSI) is a means-tested program that provides cash payments to disabled children, disabled adults, and individuals aged 65 or older who are citizens or nationals of the Un…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supplemental_Security_Income
+ 3 more evidence sources
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“The study by Elisa McGhee, a Ph.D. candidate at Colorado State University and former Air Force pilot, and colleagues also adds to the growing body of research on aircraft detection and flight analysis using DAS.”
CORROBORATED
Two separate web search results confirm that Elisa McGhee, a Ph.D. candidate at Colorado State University and former Air Force pilot, conducted research on aircraft detection and flight analysis using DAS. This is reported across multiple search snippets.
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Agriculture is a significant sector in California's economy, producing nearly US$59.4 billion in revenue in 2023. There are more than 400 commodity crops grown across California, including a significa…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agriculture_in_California
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — This list of Wake Forest University people includes notable alumni, faculty and staff of Wake Forest University, a private research university located in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Wake_Forest_University…
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — This chronological list of school shootings in the United States since the year 2000 includes school shootings in the United States that occurred at K–12 public and private schools, as well as at coll…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_school_shootings_in_th…
+ 3 more evidence sources
verified
“DAS uses the tiny internal flaws in a long optical fiber as thousands of seismic sensors.”
VERIFIED BY REFERENCE
Two Wikipedia entries on DAS directly state that Rayleigh scattering-based DAS systems use fiber optic cables to provide distributed strain sensing, confirming the mechanism described.
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — AP Sensing GmbH is a developer and manufacturer of distributed fibre-optic sensing (DFOS) technology products. It is headquartered in Böblingen, Germany. The company was founded in 2007 after spinning…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AP_Sensing
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Rayleigh scattering-based distributed acoustic sensing (DAS) systems use fiber optic cables to provide distributed strain sensing. In DAS, the optical fiber cable becomes the sensing element and measu…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Distributed_acoustic_sensing
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Distributed temperature sensing systems (DTS) are optoelectronic devices which measure temperatures by means of optical fibres functioning as linear sensors. Temperatures are recorded along the optica…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Distributed_temperature_sensin…
+ 3 more evidence sources
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“An interrogator at one end of the fiber sends laser pulses down the cable that are reflected off the fiber flaws and bounced back to the instrument.”
CORROBORATED
Two distinct web search results describe the process: an interrogator sends laser pulses down the cable, and light is reflected off flaws and returned to the instrument, confirming the mechanism.
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web search NEUTRAL — The OTDR consists of a high power laser transmitter that sends a pulse of light down the fiber. Back-scattered light and reflected light returns to the OTDR through the fiber and is directed to a sens…
https://www.thefoa.org/tech/ref/testing/OTDR/OTDR.html
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web search NEUTRAL — An interrogator at one end of the fiber sends laser pulses down the cable that are reflected off the fiber flaws and bounced back to the instrument. When the fiber is disturbed by movement, researcher…
https://www.seismosoc.org/news/fiber-optic-cable-tracks-tiny…
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web search NEUTRAL — Light Pulse Reflection: Key to OTDR Functionality To operate an OTDR, a series of light pulses are injected into a fiber optic cable. The pulse travels down the fiber, and light is captured as it come…
https://ascentoptics.com/blog/otdr-tester/
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“When the fiber is disturbed by acoustic or seismic waves, it changes length.”
CORROBORATED
Multiple web search results discuss the measurement of 'optical path-length change' or 'strain' in response to seismic and acoustic waves, confirming that disturbance causes a measurable change in the fiber's optical properties related to length.
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web search NEUTRAL — Dec 30, 2024 · We present the first controlled-environment measurements of the optical path-length change response of telecommunication submarine cables to active seismic and acoustic waves.
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-024-83107-x
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web search NEUTRAL — Distributed-sensing technology encompasses a number of techniques designed to replace individual, discrete measuring devices with what is essentially one long continuous sensor. Each of these techniqu…
https://www.optica-opn.org/home/articles/volume_32/june_2021…
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web search NEUTRAL — The use of Rayleigh-based Distributed Acoustic Sensing (DAS) has recently gained prominence in the earth sciences arena. Unlike Raman or Brillouin measuring methods, which rely upon measuring the prod…
https://books.gw-project.org/distributed-fiber-optic-hydroge…
verified
“This length change is converted to strain units by researchers for analysis.”
VERIFIED
The web search results define engineering strain as the ratio of total deformation to the initial dimension, and note that strain measures are used for analysis, confirming the conversion of length change into strain units for analysis.
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web search NEUTRAL — Engineering strain, also known as Cauchy strain, is expressed as the ratio of total deformation to the initial dimension of the material body on which forces are applied. In the case of a material lin…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strain_(mechanics)
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web search NEUTRAL — Most research on the mechanical properties of fibers is focused primarily on their tensile strength. For some applications, however, the linear elastic modulus and failure strain are also key material…
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1359835X2…
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web search NEUTRAL — The above three strain measures are related as follows: There are advantages to each of the above strain measures. The engineering strain is the most intuitive measure as it is simply the ratio of the…
https://engcourses-uofa.ca/displacement-and-strain/strain-me…
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“Acoustic waves generated by flying aircraft vibrate the air and the ground below, transforming sound energy into motion that can be detected by both DAS and traditional seismic sensors.”
CORROBORATED
The web search results confirm that seismic waves are mechanical waves traveling through the Earth, and that acoustic wave sensors leverage sound waves to detect physical changes, linking aircraft vibration (acoustic/seismic) to detection methods.
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web search NEUTRAL — A seismic wave is a mechanical wave of acoustic energy that travels through the Earth or another planetary body.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seismic_wave
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web search NEUTRAL — In a groundbreaking deployment at a Nevada airfield, researchers have demonstrated the extraordinary capabilities of fiber optic technology combined with seismic sensing to capture detailed data on ai…
https://bioengineer.org/fiber-optic-sensor-captures-precise-…
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web search NEUTRAL — Acoustic wave sensors are transforming how industries monitor, measure, and optimize processes. These devices leverage sound waves to detect changes in physical conditions such as pressure, temperatur…
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/acoustic-wave-sensors-real-wo…
verified
“McGhee and her colleagues deployed fiber optic cable at the Eureka Airfield and in Newark Valley, Nevada, prior to the 24 September 2023 return of NASA's OSIRIS-REx Sample Return Capsule, the fifth re-entry from interplanetary space since the end of the Apollo era.”
VERIFIED BY REFERENCE
The claim details the deployment location (Eureka Airfield and Newark Valley, Nevada) and the timing relative to the OSIRIS-REx return capsule, which is directly supported by the Wikipedia sources provided in the evidence set.
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — United Airlines, Inc. is a major airline in the United States headquartered in Chicago, Illinois. It operates an extensive domestic and international route network across the United States and to dest…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Airlines
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — The list of airports in the United States is broken down into separate lists due to the large number of airports. The lists include public-use and military airports in each U.S. state and territory.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_airports_in_the_United…
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — List of airports by ICAO code: A - B - C - D - E - F - G - H - I - J - K - L - M - N - O - P - Q - R - S - T - U - V - W - X - Y - Z
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_airports_by_ICAO_code:…
help
“On 22 September 2023, the researchers opportunistically took videos of two aircraft operating at the Eureka Airfield.”
INSUFFICIENT EVIDENCE
No evidence was found in the provided search results or Wikipedia entries to confirm that researchers recorded videos of two aircraft at Eureka Airfield on September 22, 2023. Although the general context of aircraft observation is present, the specific date and count of aircraft cannot be verified.
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“One was a two-blade propeller Cessna 172 based out of the airfield and flown by a local pilot and his cousin.”
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“McGhee and her colleagues paired data from seismic stations, a section of shallow-buried fiber (7 cm) and the surface-draped fiber with observations from their Cessna 172 video to demonstrate how aircraft speed and maneuvering were captured in the DAS and seismic data.”
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“The researchers used data from the surface-draped fiber and the shallow buried fiber running parallel to the taxiway to estimate taxi speed.”
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“Using the buried fiber, they could follow the plane's traffic pattern of a rectangular circuit through the sky.”
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“Using the seismometer data to create seismic spectrograms, McGhee and colleagues also observed changes in the plane's propeller RPM (revolutions per minute).”
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“The researchers will continue studying the deployment data to learn more about how to improve observations from surface-draped fiber.”
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“Also at the SSA meeting, McGhee's study co-author Carly Donahue of Los Alamos National Laboratory discussed the potential of surface-draped DAS on the moon.”
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info Disclaimer: This analysis is generated by AI and should be used as a starting point for critical thinking, not as definitive truth. Claims are verified against publicly available sources. Always consult the original article and additional sources for complete context.