Optical Fiber Sensors and Sensing Networks: Overview of the Main Principles and Applications

Abstract

Optical fiber sensors present several advantages in relation to other types of sensors. These advantages are essentially related to the optical fiber properties, i.e., small, lightweight, resistant to high temperatures and pressure, electromagnetically passive, among others. Sensing is achieved by exploring the properties of light to obtain measurements of parameters, such as temperature, strain, or angular velocity. In addition, optical fiber sensors can be used to form an Optical Fiber Sensing Network (OFSN) allowing manufacturers to create versatile monitoring solutions with several applications, e.g., periodic monitoring along extensive distances (kilometers), in extreme or hazardous environments, inside structures and engines, in clothes, and for health monitoring and assistance. Most of the literature available on this subject focuses on a specific field of optical sensing applications and details their principles of operation. This paper presents a more broad overview, providing the reader with a literature review that describes the main principles of optical sensing and highlights the versatility, advantages, and different real-world applications of optical sensing. Moreover, it includes an overview and discussion of a less common architecture, where optical sensing and Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) are integrated to harness the benefits of both worlds.

Computer simulation of nonlinear pulse propagation in multimode optical fibre

“…Optical fiber was invented to transmit digital signals, and many of the potential of optical fiber was discovered and people began to develop it [9]. The optical fiber has the following properties: Brillouin scattering, four-wave mixing, self-phase modulation, light induced birefringence, Stimulated Raman Scattering, and so on [10].During the long process of development, single-mode fiber has reached a bottleneck, its capacity is not enough for modern networks to be well transmitted.…”

Review of Seawater Fiber Optic Salinity Sensors Based on the Refractive Index Detection Principle

“…Overall, by combining various measurement methods, the RI method is currently the most promising means of measuring absolute salinity. Recently, the development of OFS technology [ 19 ] has gradually matured, and its mechanism lies in the use of the RI method to measure salinity, which is consistent with the measurement method of absolute salinity. Therefore, the in situ measurement of seawater absolute salinity based on the OFS scheme has a very good prospects, which will replace the conductivity measurement of practical salinity and is likely to become the mainstream method for the in situ measurement of seawater absolute salinity in the future.…”

Comprehensive Numerical Analysis of Temperature Sensitivity of Spherical Microresonators Based on Silica and Soft Glasses

“…Measurements with glass-fiber-based temperature devices are fairly common [ 4 , 5 , 6 ]. Solid microspherical resonators with whispering gallery modes (WGMs), which can be routinely manufactured by melting the tip of an optical fiber [ 3 ], form an important subclass of such systems.…”