Fibre Bragg grating (FBG) sensors that are immune to electromagnetic interference could advantageously perform cryogenic temperature monitoring in superconducting magnetic fields, but their intrinsic temperature sensitivity is quite poor and must be enhanced. In fact, the low thermal expansion coefficient of silica limits the temperature sensitivity of bare FBG sensors at cryogenic temperature. In this paper the possibility of improving the temperature sensitivity of FBG sensors by metal coating is investigated. Specifically, zinc and copper coating depositions are performed by the traditional electrowinning process, after aluminium pre-coating of the sensor. Coated FBG sensors are inspected by both optical and metallographic techniques. SEM metallographic investigations show that a homogeneous deposit is obtained, with good metal adhesion to the FBG sensor. Optical testing shows that the optical properties of the coated FBG sensors are slightly affected: aluminium pre-coating produces appreciable modification of the diffraction spectrum in both peak width and peak shift, while zinc coating produces a moderate peak shift and copper coating just enlarges the peak width. Results presented in this paper show that both metals appreciably increase the temperature sensitivity of the FBG sensors. Zinc coating provides the highest sensitivity and high-resolution temperature measurements are possible at temperatures as low as 15 K.

The need to control the real-time location of assets is increasingly relevant worldwide. The Ultra-wideband (UWB) technology is an IoT solution for real-time locating systems (RTLS). The location of the asset is obtained by the signal exchange between a wireless tag (asset) and fixed anchors. The tag interacts with the fixed anchors, defining its position through the distances obtained by trilateration. This data is sent to the server through the gateway. It is well-known that this process has several sources of errors. However, the measurement uncertainty assessment of UWB technology is an important topic regarding its scope of use. This paper presents a task-specific measurement uncertainty evaluation for the UWB positioning system, according to the ISO GUM. It aims to propose a method to support decision-making regarding the possible uses of UWB technology. The position provided by the UWB is compared with reference points using Cartesian coordinates that are measured with a total station, providing metrological reliability. Using the information from the estimated uncertainty, one can define the minimum tolerance interval associated with UWB technology for a given use. A case study demonstrates the method.

This paper presents an approach to assess the quality of the data extracted with computed tomography (CT) measuring systems to perform geometrical evaluations. The approach consists in analyzing the error features introduced by the CT measuring system during the extraction operation. The analysis of the features is performed qualitatively (using graphical analysis tools) and/or quantitatively (by means of the root-mean-square deviation parameter of the error features). The approach was used to analyze four sets of measurements performed with an industrial x-ray cone beam CT measuring system. Three test parts were used in the experiments: a high accuracy manufacturing multi-wave standard, a calibrated step cylinder and a calibrated production part. The results demonstrate the usefulness of the approach to gain knowledge on CT measuring processes and improve the quality of CT geometrical evaluations. Advantages and limitations of the approach are discussed.

Fiber optics with a photo-imprinted Bragg grating have been studied for potential use as temperature sensors in cryogenic applications. Sensors were coupled with different metallic materials to improve the measurement sensitivity in the very low temperature region, i.e. 4.2–30 K. Various coatings were deposited on the external fiber surface, and full characterization of the tested sensors is given in the paper.