A review of electrical reflectometry applications: State of the art, positioning, bibliometric analysis and future directions

Electrical reflectometry is widely utilized for cable diagnosis to detect and locate both hard faults (such as open or short circuits) and soft faults (such as chafing, bending radius issues, pinching, etc.). It offers the advantage of using only one end of the cable under test to inject an electromagnetic wave and simultaneously record reflected echoes at each impedance discontinuity. Then, the analysis of these echoes makes it possible to obtain information about that discontinuity. Reflectometry is valued for its simplicity of deployment, sensitivity to electrical parameter variations in the propagation medium, and accuracy in fault location. These attributes make it a promising method in various domains such as Structural Health Monitoring (SHM), complex load monitoring, environmental monitoring, etc., especially considering that the cable used for reflectometry signal propagation can also function as a sensor. In this context, this paper aims to provide an in-depth review of potential applications of electrical reflectometry beyond cable diagnostics and compare it with other established methods (e.g., acoustic, fiber optics, etc.). A bibliometric analysis is presented in this paper, which, to the best of our knowledge, is the first of its kind in the reflectometry-related literature. • State of the art of the application domains of electrical reflectometry beyond cable diagnostics, including network topology monitoring, Structural Health Monitoring (SHM), complex load monitoring, printed circuit inspection, environmental monitoring, agrifood, health, smart coating, and security. • Technological positioning of electrical reflectometry compared to other Non-Destructive Testing (NDT) and monitoring systems (e.g., fiber optics, ultrasound, acoustic emission). • Bibliometric analysis highlighting research trends in reflectometry applications, including country contributions, reflectometry techniques, and Artificial Intelligence (AI) usage. • Emerging challenges and future research opportunities related to electrical reflectometry.