Fiber Eavesdropping Detection and Location in Optical Communication System

Li, Yuang; Liang, Yuyuan; Zhang, Mingrui; Wei, Shuang; Zhu, Huatao; Li, Yajie; Zhao, Yongli; Zhang, Jie

doi:10.3390/photonics12050501

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Open AccessArticle

Fiber Eavesdropping Detection and Location in Optical Communication System

by

Yuang Li

¹,

Yuyuan Liang

¹,

Mingrui Zhang

¹,

Shuang Wei

¹,

Huatao Zhu

²

,

Yajie Li

^1,*,

Yongli Zhao

¹

and

Jie Zhang

¹

State Key Laboratory of Information Photonics and Optical Communications, Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications, Beijing 100876, China

²

College of Information and Communication, National University of Defense Technology, Wuhan 430010, China

^*

Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.

Photonics 2025, 12(5), 501; https://doi.org/10.3390/photonics12050501

Submission received: 1 April 2025 / Revised: 24 April 2025 / Accepted: 12 May 2025 / Published: 16 May 2025

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Photonics for Emerging Applications in Communication and Sensing II)

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Abstract

Fiber eavesdropping severely endangers the confidentiality of data transmitted in optical networks. Therefore, it is necessary to explore how to detect and locate fiber eavesdropping in an effective approach. To leverage the advantages of the state of polarization (SOP) in detecting various abnormal events while addressing its challenges in acquiring the SOP of different fiber links, we propose a multi-channel joint SOP estimation scheme to estimate the SOP of different fiber spans. Based on the proposed scheme, we provide a comprehensive solution for fiber eavesdropping location and detection in optical communication systems. In this solution, the estimated SOP and optical performance monitoring (OPM) data are utilized for rapid fiber eavesdropping detection and coarse location at the span level. The effectiveness of the solution is validated by experiments. In the aspect of detection, we achieve the detection of the start or end of fiber eavesdropping, the overlapping of fiber eavesdropping and abnormal events, and other abnormal events. The overall accuracy is 99.77%. In the aspect of location, we can locate the fiber span that has been eavesdropped.

Keywords: physical layer security; fiber eavesdropping; polarization sensing

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MDPI and ACS Style

Li, Y.; Liang, Y.; Zhang, M.; Wei, S.; Zhu, H.; Li, Y.; Zhao, Y.; Zhang, J. Fiber Eavesdropping Detection and Location in Optical Communication System. Photonics 2025, 12, 501. https://doi.org/10.3390/photonics12050501

AMA Style

Li Y, Liang Y, Zhang M, Wei S, Zhu H, Li Y, Zhao Y, Zhang J. Fiber Eavesdropping Detection and Location in Optical Communication System. Photonics. 2025; 12(5):501. https://doi.org/10.3390/photonics12050501

Chicago/Turabian Style

Li, Yuang, Yuyuan Liang, Mingrui Zhang, Shuang Wei, Huatao Zhu, Yajie Li, Yongli Zhao, and Jie Zhang. 2025. "Fiber Eavesdropping Detection and Location in Optical Communication System" Photonics 12, no. 5: 501. https://doi.org/10.3390/photonics12050501

APA Style

Li, Y., Liang, Y., Zhang, M., Wei, S., Zhu, H., Li, Y., Zhao, Y., & Zhang, J. (2025). Fiber Eavesdropping Detection and Location in Optical Communication System. Photonics, 12(5), 501. https://doi.org/10.3390/photonics12050501

Note that from the first issue of 2016, this journal uses article numbers instead of page numbers. See further details here.

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