News
A new advisory council created by the Fiber Optic Sensing Association seeks to speed up the adoption of fiber optic sensing technologies to protect infrastructure.
By: Brad Randall, Broadband Communities
America’s infrastructure received subpar scores in 2025 from the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), earning an overall “C” grade and scoring even lower in many categories of the ASCE’s 2025 Report Card for America’s Infrastructure.
It’s a data point the Fiber Optic Sensing Association (FOSA) was keen to point out as they announced the formation of a new advisory council late last month, with a mission of accelerating the adoption of fiber optic sensing technology in America.
Names to be included in the FOSA Advisory Council include Lynne Yocum, the Utah Department of Transportation’s fiber optic director, and Mark Boxer, a technical manager at Lightera, according to FOSA’s release.
Dr. Paul Dickinson, who has previously served as FOSA’s chairman, will chair up the new advisory council, according to FOSA’s announcement.
FOSA’s current chairman, Nilson Gabela, serves as a senior global manager with Corning.
Gabela said the advisory council will include “recognized industry experts in specific vertical market areas,” adding that the council “will provide valuable input and guidance on the needs, applications, challenges, and paths to scaling of advanced fiber monitoring technologies.”
‘Infrastructure will degrade over time’
Also included in the announcement from FOSA were comments from Dickinson.
He said it’s impossible to build infrastructure that is bulletproof, even with all the funding in the world.
“Infrastructure will degrade over time, require maintenance, and eventually fail,” Dickinson said. “The cost of implementing new technologies to monitor and alert for preventative maintenance and prior to or during catastrophic failure is significantly less than attempting to over-engineer.”
Additionally, Dickinson called the benefits of distributed fiber optic sensing cost-effective and priceless.
According to the FOSA, entities can use fiber optic sensing to protect and monitor critical infrastructure.
The technology can be used in energy systems, monitoring for enhanced reliability and fault detection, and for seismic and geological monitoring, assisting with earthquake detection, according to FOSA.
FOSA also says orgs can use the tech to monitor the structural health of bridges, pipelines, and other underground infrastructure.
Smart-city integration, data collection, and AI-driven predictions are also use cases for fiber optic sensing technology, according to the FOSA.
Get content like this delivered to your inbox! Subscribe to the Broadband Communities newsletter.
Learn more about Broadband Communities Summit 2026 in Houston.
