A Recirculation Fiber-Optic Temperature Sensor

Methods of increasing the accuracy of measurements made with recirculation fiber-optic temperature sensors are considered. It is shown that such data-measuring systems, while possessing all the advantages of amplitude sensors (simplicity, reliability, cheapness, etc.), have high sensitivity and, as regards their metrological characteristics, at the present time can be as good as the most accurate interferometric-type phase fiber-optic sensors.     

Transparent network for hybrid multiplexing of fiber Bragg gratings and intensity-modulated fiber-optic sensors

A network for multiplexing fiber Bragg gratings (FBGs) and intensity-modulated fiber-optic sensors with no need to distinguish between the two kinds of sensor is proposed and experimentally demonstrated. Two FBG sensors and two intensity-modulated sensors are wavelength-division multiplexed; the electrical phase of the output signal is measured as a common parameter for both types of sensor. Furthermore, the intensity sensors become power referenced, and the FBG sensors are interrogated by a low-cost technique. Low cross talk is achieved by use of a tunable optical filter at the detector.     

Fiber-Optic Sensors Based on Surface Plasmon Resonance: A Comprehensive Review

Since the introduction of optical fiber technology in the field of sensor based on the technique of surface plasmon resonance (SPR), fiber-optic SPR sensors have witnessed a lot of advancements. This paper reports on the past, present, and future scope of fiber-optic SPR sensors in the field of sensing of different chemical, physical, and biochemical parameters. A detailed mechanism of the SPR technique for sensing purposes has been discussed. Different new techniques and models in this area that have been introduced are discussed in quite a detail. We have tried to put the different advancements in the order of their chronological evolution. The content of the review article may be of great importance for the research community who are to take the field of fiber-optic SPR sensors as its research endeavors.     

Possible applications of fiber-optic methods of measuring physical quantities for diagnostics of the breakup of free jets

The possible use of fiber-optic sensors of physical quantities to measure the parameters of drop generators is examined. The proposed fiber-optic devices can be used successfully in experimental studies of the monodisperse breakup of free jets.Translated from Inzhenerno-fizicheskii Zhurnal, Vol. 60, No. 4, 561–566, April, 1991.     

Railroad bridge instrumentation with fiber-optic sensors

Fiber-optic sensors were installed on fatigue-critical components in the superstructure of a railroad bridge to monitor dynamic strains induced by trains crossing the bridge as well as to detect the onset of cracks. Each fiber Fabry-Perot interferometer (FFPI) strain gage was adhesively bonded to a stainless-steel strip to facilitate all-weather installation on the steel bridge members by spot welding. FFPI strain sensors were also installed on a rail at an approach to the bridge. Electrical resistive strain gages were colocated with the fiber-optic sensors on the bridge for the purpose of performance verification. In addition to the strain gages, fiber-optic continuity sensors for crack detection were bonded to the structure at critical locations. A telemetry system for transmitting the data over telephone lines was also installed at the bridge site. Dynamic response of the fiber-optic strain sensors is comparable with that of the electrical gages, and their performance has not degraded in the year since the initial installation.     

Fiber-optic Fabry-Perot sensors based on a combination of spatial-frequency division multiplexing and wavelength division multiplexing formed by chirped fiber Bragg grating pairs

Effective multiplexing for a very large number of fiber-optic fiber-Bragg-grating-based Fabry-Perot (FBGFP) sensors is proposed that is based on wavelength division multiplexing (WDM) and spatial-frequency division multiplexing (SFDM). For WDM, FBGFP sensors are arranged in different wavelength domains formed by a series of chirped fiber Bragg gratings with different central wavelengths while the sensors with different cavity lengths within the same wavelength domain are multiplexed by use of SFDM because they have different spatial frequencies as a result of their different cavity lengths. In principle, a thousand FBGFP sensors could be multiplexed with such an approach. The experimental results show that a strain accuracy of better than +/-10 microepsilon has been achieved with little cross talk.     

Internet-Based Distributed Data Acquisition System for Fiber-Optic Sensors

This paper describes an internet-based distributed data-acquisition system for fiber-optic pressure sensors. There is a great need in industry to coordinate remote resources to perform a common task. The architecture described is based on remote access, via the internet, to a large number of fiber-optic pressure sensors located in different geographical areas. Distribution is done with server applications, which schedule requests for service and control the actual sensor device. Servers also detect conflicts between new requests and their current schedules. Client applications act as virtual instrument panels that dispatch measurement tasks for servers. The architecture supports multiple sensors, which can be added/removed from the system dynamically. As well, there can be multiple clients attempting to access servers simultaneously. Thus, the sensors in question are publicly shared among the various active client applications     

Inertial sensor technology trends

This paper presents an overview of how inertial sensor technology is applied in current applications and how it is expected to be applied in nearand far-term applications. The ongoing trends in inertial sensor technology development are discussed, namely interferometric fiber-optic gyros, micro-mechanical gyros and accelerometers, and micro-optical sensors. Micromechanical sensors and improved fiber-optic gyros are expected to replace many of the current systems using ring laser gyroscopes or mechanical sensors. The successful introduction of the new technologies is primarily driven by cost and cost projections for systems using these new technologies are presented. Externally aiding the inertial navigation system (INS) with the global positioning system (GPS) has opened up the ability to navigate a wide variety of new large-volume applications, such as guided artillery shells. These new applications are driving the need for extremely low-cost, batch-producible sensors     

Differential multiplexing of fiber bragg gratings by means of optical time domain refractometry

A differential method of detection and multiplexing of signals from fiber Bragg gratings based on optical time domain reflectometry is developed. The method is based on probing of a system of gratings by means of short laser pulses and measurement of the power of the resulting reflected pulses by means of standard fiber-optic reflectometry. The proposed method may find extensive use in the area of monitoring of deformation and temperature distributions by means of fiber-optic sensors based on Bragg gratings.     

Fiber-optic surface plasmon resonance sensors in the near-infrared spectral region

The sensitivity of fiber-optic surface plasmon resonance (SPR) sensors was improved by a factor of at least thirteen for aqueous solutions by modifying the tip geometry to allow interrogation of the surface plasmon (SP) band in the near-infrared (NIR) region. This was achieved by tuning the angle at the distal end of the SPR sensor to a dual taper of 71 degrees and 19 degrees . Using a low numerical aperture (NA) fiber-optic sensor, NA = 0.12, is necessary to obtain a functional SPR sensor working in the NIR region. Theoretical simulations using the Maxwell equations demonstrated that even higher enhancement is theoretically possible while maintaining a narrow spectral feature upon the excitation of the SP bands on gold surfaces. The manufacture of the SPR sensors yields good agreement between theoretical simulations and experimental observations. To investigate the properties of these fiber-optic SPR-NIR sensors, sucrose solutions ranging from 0 to 15 x 10(-3) in mole fraction were utilized. The increased sensitivity of the fiber-optic SPR sensors, when used to monitor biomarkers, would yield lower detection limits. The smaller sensing area, compared to planar or other fiber-optic SPR sensors, combined with an improvement of the sensitivity, would yield a dramatic reduction of the absolute amount detected by biosensors.     

Investigation of the errors of attenuator-type fiber-optic pressure sensors

The errors of attenuator-type fiber-optic pressure sensors are investigated. The sources of errors of these sensors are analyzed and methods of reducing them by construction-technological solutions at the design stage are proposed.     

Combined time and wavelength multiplexing technique of optical fiber grating sensor arrays using commercial OTDR equipment

The use of a commercial optical time domain reflectometry device for simultaneous wavelength and time domain multiplexing of fiber-optic Bragg grating sensors is proposed and demonstrated. The realization of such systems provides an inexpensive way of interrogating several hundreds of sensors in a single fiber. Strain resolution of 30 /spl mu/m/m over a strain measuring range of 0.5% was obtained.     

Designing reflectometric fiber-optic displacement sensors

The general principles governing the operation of reflectometric fiber-optic sensors are considered. A classification is presented of all the known methods of controlling the characteristics of fiber-optic sensors. In addition, a new control method, involving the design of a specially designed optical inhomogeneity on the surface of the measurement object, is described. Translated from Izmeritel'naya Tekhnika, No. 1, pp. 28–30, January, 1997.     

A fiber-optic frequency transducer of variable pressure in gaseous and liquid media

Fiber-optic sensors of variable pressure are proposed and implemented on fiber lasers with microoptomechanical resonance structures generating in automodulation regimes. Possibilities of sound pressure monitoring in gaseous and liquid media are considered, and the sensitivity of these fiber-optic sensors is estimated.     

One- and two-dimensional single-mode differential fiber-optic displacement sensor for submillimeter measurements

Using the overlap integral method and the Gaussian approximation for the single-mode fiber-optic field, the working principle of one- and two-dimensional differential fiber-optic displacement sensors for submillimeter measurements is demonstrated. The sensors consist of one emitting fiber and two or three receiving fibers, respectively, for the one- and two-dimensional sensors. Sensor responses are intrinsically linear over a wide range of travels. Moreover, for the two-dimensional sensor, each axis of displacement can be measured independently. Sensor responses are simulated experimentally using a highly precise robot. Linearity, travel, and sensitivity are characterized for the different gap distance between the emitting and receiving fibers. A design chart that includes nonlinearity error, travel, sensitivity, and gap is finally proposed.     

Contrast analysis for a fiber-optic white-light interferometric system

The behavior of a system of fiber-optic white-light interferometric sensors is analyzed. Analytical expressions for contrasts of all the interference patterns that may occur at the setup's output are derived as a function of coupling coefficients between successive sensors. Two cases of exemplary systems consisting of highly birefringent optical fibers, one with nondichroic the other with some polarizing fibers, are analyzed.     

Wavelength Detection of Coherence-Multiplexed Fiber-Optic Sensors Based on Long-Period Grating Pairs

Multiplexed fiber-optic sensors based on long-period grating pairs (LPGPs) are presented. With a low-coherence reflectometry, the spectral responses of the specially configured LPGP sensors are precisely quantified from the corresponding sub-reflectograms through a fast Fourier transformation (FFT). By monitoring the wavelength shift of the LPGP sensors, temperature is measured experimentally, and good performance is obtained     

Optical Intensity-Based Measurement of Multipoint Hetero-Core Fiber Sensors by the Method of Time-Differentiation in Optical Loss

In this paper, we propose the multipoint optical intensity-based measurement of tandem connected intrinsic fiber-optic sensors by means of monitoring time-differentiation in optical loss. The use of hetero-core sensors can make it possible that a simple optical intensity-based measurement combined with a time-differentiation method could be facilitated for the multipoint measurement because the hetero-core technique has a low insertion loss and a sizable loss change in the tandem usage. Addressing multi-sensors has been successfully demonstrated including one displacement sensor and two contact sensors, which are located along a single transmission line in real-time basis. The gait system is also efficiently improved to monitor the knee flexure and the sole contact sensors located in a single transmission line with a mirror at the terminal end of fiber in order to simplify the measurement system for unconstrained monitoring.     

Modeling of fiber-optic sensors based on micromechanical vibrations in liquid

Fiber-optic chemical sensors based on optical power absorption or wavelength changes are well known. A new type of sensing element is considered. A micromechanical vibrated fiber-optic tip changes its resonance frequency during its operation. Sensors of this type are simple and convenient and do not require adjustment while in use. They are useful in industry and in medical applications. The action of this sensitive element in a liquid is considered.     

Coherent fiber-optic reflectometer with 810-nm semiconductor laser

Coherent fiber-optic reflectometer with a single-mode (λ = 810 nm) semiconductor laser as a radiation source has been experimentally studied. It is demonstrated that distributed fiber-optic sensors for detecting and locating dynamic impacts can be created based on the proposed reflectometer with a fiber circuit length of up to 3 km.