As part of the Federal Government’s Global Innovation Linkages Program, the team — led by Professor Roman Pevzner from Curtin’s Western Australia School of Mines, Minerals, Energy and Chemical Engineering — will partner with international collaborators to test the viability of the technology in the Australian landscape.

The project will seek to produce a suite of passive and active geophysical data acquisition and analysis techniques based on broadband fiber optic sensing that aim to significantly reduce the cost of geophysical characterization of the subsurface and develop a safer resource extraction process. Curtin University Deputy Vice-Chancellor Research Professor Chris Moran said the Curtin research project sought to ensure Australia was not left behind by the latest global advances in fibre optic acoustic sensing technology.

“Our Curtin team has developed, patented and commercialized a forced-oscillation stress-strain method and equipment for measuring different properties of rocks at seismic and sub-seismic frequencies,” Pevzner said. “As part of this new project, we will integrate fiber optic sensing technology into our apparatus with the ultimate aim of delivering cost-saving and safer resource extraction processes to Australia’s critically important resources sector.”

As part of the project, Curtin will work with CSIRO, Santos, Woodside and global leaders in seismology and fiber optic sensing in the application to geosciences such as Lawrence Berkley National Laboratory, Iowa State University, Class VI Solutions and Silixa Ltd.

The Federal Government’s Global Innovation Linkages Program provides funding to help Australian businesses and researchers collaborate with global partners to support strategically focused, leading-edge research and development in priority areas.