Improvements and applications of distributed optical fibre sensing

在通信系统中使用的标准光纤也可用于测量光纤长度超过一公里的温度和应变。通过将纤维附着在诸如桥梁之类的结构上或将其埋在围栏上，用合适的仪器可以检测到桥上或围栏附近行走的人的应变变化。因此，一种持续监测桥梁健康状况的方法是可行的，可以预防灾害。以类似的方式，在埋藏的纤维上产生的张力可以被检测到，并作为安全区域的入侵者报告。这些都是这项新兴技术的传统应用，在这项拟议的研究中，我们将开发新的传感器和应用，提高仪器性能，并显着降低仪器成本，这将使更小的应用成为可能。

The standard optical fibre used in communications systems can also be used for sensing temperature and strain over kilometer lengths of the fibre. By attaching the fibre to structures such as bridges or burying it along fences, with suitable instruments the changing strain on the bridge or a person walking near the fence can be detected. Thus a means to continuously monitor the health of a bridge is available which can prevent disaster. In a similar fashion the strain created on a buried fibre can be detected and reported as an intruder in a secure area. These are traditional applications of this emerging technology and in this proposed research we will develop new sensors and applications, improve the instrument performance, and significantly reduce the instrument cost which will enable much smaller applications.