FIBER OPTIC SENSING

Advantages of Fiber Optic Sensors

• Immune to EMI
• No short circuit
• Stable material
• Small and flexible
• Capable of distribution (multiple sensors on the same fiber)

A fiber optic sensor is a sensor that uses optical fiber either as the sensing element ("intrinsic sensors"), or as a means of relaying signals from a remote sensor to the electronics that process the signals ("extrinsic sensors"). Fibers have many uses in remote sensing. Depending on the application, we use fiber because of its small size, and the fact that no electrical power is needed at the remote location, or because many sensors can be multiplexed along the length of a fiber by using different wavelengths of light for each sensor, or by sensing the time delay as light passes along the fiber through each sensor. Time delay can be determined using a device such as an optical time-domain reflectometer.