Unearthing Nature’s Orchestra – How Fiber Optic Cables Can Hear Cicada Secrets

For years, our Optical Networking and Sensing team had been working tirelessly on developing technology that could leverage existing fiber optic cables to monitor acoustic signals. This groundbreaking technology, Distributed Acoustic Sensing (DAS), boasts various monitoring applications, including vehicle traffic, oil and gas pipelines, infrastructure, security, and environmental monitoring. The magic of DAS lies in its ability to turn fiber optic cables into sensitive acoustic sensors. It accomplishes this by sending a laser pulse down a fiber cable and analyzing the reflected light to identify acoustic disturbances and vibrations. The technology’s sensitivity is astonishing — it can detect seismic activities, the loud sounds of passing ambulances, and, intriguingly, the chorus of cicadas.

The Puzzling Cicada Signal: A Serendipitous Discovery
In the spring of 2021, our researcher, Sarper Ozharar, was poring over DAS data at the fiber optics test bed in Princeton, New Jersey, when something unusual caught his attention. He noticed a peculiar signal in the data—an unmistakable frequency buzzing that seemed to permeate the recordings. It was an unexpected encounter that would lead to an unlikely collaboration between our optical scientists and an entomologist.

Further investigation revealed that the DAS-equipped fiber optic cables had an uncanny ability to detect the distinctive sounds of cicadas. This revelation prompted our team to collaborate with Dr. Jessica Ware, an entomologist at the American Museum of Natural History. She confirmed that the cables could capture the volume and patterns of cicada sounds, shedding new light on the behavior of these elusive insects.

Learn more about the resulting paper, Long-Term Monitoring And Analysis Of Brood X Cicada Activity By Distributed Fiber Optic Sensing Technology, by Sarper Ozharar, Jessica L. Ware, Yue Tian and Yangmin Ding below.

Unraveling Cicada Mysteries: Temperature, Population Size, and More
The potential of this technology became increasingly evident as it allowed for meticulous tracking of cicada populations. Cicadas, known for their lengthy periods of underground dwelling (13 or 17 years), emerge to mate spectacularly. DAS-equipped fiber optic cables can record the entire journey, from the emergence to the peak of their chorus and eventually their decline. What is more, it unveiled a direct correlation between temperature fluctuations and the modulation of cicada calls. This newfound knowledge provides entomologists valuable insights into cicada behavior and population dynamics.

Read below for coverage in Wired, Popular Science, American Museum of Natural History and other leading science publications.