Temperature-insensitive fiber-optic refractive index sensor based on cascaded in-line interferometer and microwave photonics interrogation system

A compact and high-resolution fiber-optic refractive index(RI)sensor based on a microwave photonic filter(MPF)is proposed and experimentally validated.The sensing head utilizes a cascaded in-line interferometer fabricated by an input single-mode fiber(SMF)tapered fusion with no-core fiber-thin-core fiber(TCF)-SMF.The surrounding RI(SRI)can be demodulated by tracing the passband’s central frequency of the MPF,which is constructed by the cascaded in-line interferometer,electro-optic modulator,and a section of dispersion compensation fiber.The sensitivity of the sensor is tailorable through the use of different lengths of TCF.Experimental results reveal that with a 30 mm length of TCF,the sensor achieves a maximum theoretical sensitivity and resolution of-1.403 GHz∕refractive index unit eRIUT and 1.425×10^(-7) RIU,respectively,which is at least 6.3 times higher than what has been reported previously.Furthermore,the sensor exhibits temperature-insensitive characteristics within the range of 25℃-75℃,with a temperatureinduced frequency change of only±1.5 MHz.This value is significantly lower than the frequency change induced by changes in the SRI.The proposed MPF-based cascaded in-line interferometer RI sensor possesses benefits such as easy manufacture,low cost,high resolution,and temperature insensitivity.

Fiber-Optic Sensors and Their Practical Research in the Internet of Things

With the rapid development of the Internet of Things(IoT)technology,fiber-optic sensors,as a kind of high-precision and high-sensitivity measurement tool,are increasingly widely used in the field of IoT.This paper outlines the advantages of fiber-optic sensors over traditional sensors,such as high precision,strong resistance to electromagnetic interference,and long transmission distance.On this basis,the paper discusses the application scenarios of fiber-optic sensors in the Internet of Things,including environmental monitoring,intelligent industry,medical and health care,intelligent transportation,and other fields.It is hoped that this study can provide theoretical support and practical guidance for the further development of fiber-optic sensors in the field of the Internet of Things,as well as promote the innovation and application of IoT.

Experimental Measurements of the Sensitivity of Fiber-optic Bragg Grating Sensors with a Soft Polymeric Coating under Mechanical Loading,Thermal and Magnetic under Cryogenic Conditions

The strain and temperature sensing performance of fiber-optic Bragg gratings （FBGs） with soft polymeric coating, which can be used to sense internal strain in superconducting coils, are evaluated under variable cryogenic field and magnetic field. The response to a temperature and strain change of coated-soft polymeric FBGs is tested by comparing with those of coated-metal FBGs. The results indicate that the coated-soft polymeric FBGs can freely detect temperature and thermal strain, their At variable magnetic field, the tested results indicate accuracy and repeatability are also discussed in detail. that the cross-coupling effects of FBGs with different matrixes are not negligible to measure electromagnetic strain during fast excitation. The present results are expected to be able to provide basis measurements on the strain of pulsed superconducting magnet/cable （cable- around-conduit conductors, cable-in-conduit conductors）, independently or utilized together with other strain measurement methods.

Dual-channel fiber-optic surface plasmon resonance sensor with cascaded coaxial dual-waveguide D-type structure and microsphere structure

To address the restriction of fiber-optic surface plasmon resonance(SPR) sensors in the field of multi-sample detection, a novel dual-channel fiber-optic SPR sensor based on the cascade of coaxial dual-waveguide D-type structure and microsphere structure is proposed in this paper. The fiber sidepolishing technique converts the coaxial dual-waveguide fiber into a D-type one, and the evanescent wave in the ring core leaks, generating a D-type sensing region;the fiber optic fused ball push technology converts the coaxial dual waveguides into microspheres, and the stimulated cladding mode evanescent wave leaks, producing the microsphere sensing region. By injecting light into the coaxial dual-waveguide middle core alone, the sensor can realize single-stage sensing in the microsphere sensing area;it can also realize dual-channel sensing in the D-type sensing area and microsphere sensing area by injecting light into the ring core. The refractive index measurement ranges for the two channels are 1.333–1.365 and 1.375–1.405, respectively, with detection sensitivities of 981.56 nm/RIU and 4138 nm/RIU. The sensor combines wavelength division multiplexing and space division multiplexing technologies, presenting a novel research concept for multi-channel fiber SPR sensors.

Inspection of Complex Internal Surface Shape with Fiber-optic Sensor II: for Specular Tilted Surface Measurement

Complex surface shape measurement has been a focus topic in the CAD/CAM field. A popular method for measuring dimensional information is using a 3D coordinate measuring machine (CMM)with a touch trigger probe. The measurement set up with CMM, however, is a time consuming task and the accuracy of the measurement deteriorates as the speed of measurement increase. Non-contact measurement is favored since high speed measurement can be achieved and problems with vibration and friction can be eliminated. Although much research has been conducted in non-contact measurement using image capturing and processing schemes, accuracy is poor and measurement is limited. Some optical technologies developed provide a good accuracy but the dynamic range and versatility is very limited. A novel fiber-optic sensor used for the inspection of complex internal contours is presented in this paper, which is able to measure a surface shape in a non-contact manner with high accuracy and high speed, and is compact and flexible to be incorporated into a CMM. Modulation functions for tilted surface shape measurement, based on the Gaussian distribution of the emitting beam from single-mode fiber (SMF), were derived for specular reflection. The feasibility of the proposed measurement principle was verified by simulations.

Highly Sensitive Fiber-Optic Faraday-Effect Magnetic Field Sensor Based on Yttrium Iron Garnet

The principle and performance of a fiber-optic Faraday-effect magnetic-field sensor based on an yttrium iron garnet (YIG) and two flux concentrations are described. A single polarization-maintaining optical fiber links the sensor head to the source and detection system, in which the technique of phase shift cancellation is used to cancel the phase shift that accumulatein the optical fiber. Flux concentrators were exploited to enhance the YIG crystal magneto-optic sensitivity .The sensor system exhibited a noise-equivalent field of 8 pT/√Hz and a 3 dB bandwidth of ～10 MHz.

Measurement of Gamma-Rays Induced Luminescence Generated in a Sapphire Based Fiber-Optic Radiation Sensor

In this study, we fabricated a sapphire based fiber-optic radiation sensor. To evaluate the fiber- optic radiation sensor, we measured the spectrum and intensity of the luminescence generated from the fiber-optic radiation sensor according to the thickness of the PMMA block by irradiation of gamma rays emitted from a Co-60 source. And the result was compared with the value calculated from the formula of Lambert-Beer.

Ultrasonic sensitivity-improved fiber-optic Fabry-Perot interferometer using a beam collimator and its application for ultrasonic imaging of seismic physical models

An ultrasonic sensitivity-improved fiber-optic Fabry-Perot interferometer （FPI） is proposed and employed for ultra- sonic imaging of seismic physical models （SPMs）. The FPI comprises a flexible ultra-thin gold film and the end face of a graded-index multimode fiber （MMF）, both of which are enclosed in a ceramic tube. The MMF in a specified length can collimate the diverged light beam and compensate for the light loss inside the air cavity, leading to an increased spectral fringe visibility and thus a steeper spectral slope. By using the spectral sideband filtering technique, the collimated FP1 shows an improved ultrasonic response. Moreover, two-dimensional images of two SPMs are achieved in air by recon- structing the pulse-echo signals through using the time-of-flight approach. The proposed sensor with easy fabrication and compact size can be a good candidate for high-sensitivity and high-precision nondestructive testing of SPMs.

Vibrations measurements for shrouded blades of steam turbines based oneddy current sensors with high frequency response

With the development of power plants towards high power and intelligent operation direction,the vibrations or failures of blades,especially the last stage blades in steam turbines,happen more frequently due to the unstable operating conditions brought by flexible operation.A vibration measuring method for the shrouded blades of a steam turbine based on eddy current sensors with high frequency response is proposed,meeting the requirements of non-contact heath monitoring.The eddy current sensors produce the signals which are related to the area changing of every blade’s shroud resulting from the rotation of stator.Then an improved blade tip timing(BTT)technique is proposed to detect the vibrations of shrouded blades by measuring the arrival time of each area changing signal.A structure of eddy current sensors is developed in steam turbines and an amplitude modulation/demodulation circuit is designed to improve the response bandwidth up to 250 kHz.Vibration tests for the last stage blades of a steam turbine were carried out and the results validate the efficiency of the improved BTT technique and the high frequency response of the eddy current sensors presented.

Numeral eddy current sensor modelling based on genetic neural network

This paper presents a method used to the numeral eddy current sensor modelling based on the genetic neural network to settle its nonlinear problem. The principle and algorithms of genetic neural network are introduced. In this method, the nonlinear model parameters of the numeral eddy current sensor are optimized by genetic neural network （GNN） according to measurement data. So the method remains both the global searching ability of genetic algorithm and the good local searching ability of neural network. The nonlinear model has the advantages of strong robustness, on-line modelling and high precision. The maximum nonlinearity error can be reduced to 0.037% by using GNN. However, the maximum nonlinearity error is 0.075% using the least square method.

Current sensor based on diamond nitrogen-vacancy color center

High precision current measurement is very important for the calibration of various high-precision equipment and the measurement of other precision detection fields.A new current sensor based on diamond nitrogen-vacancy(NV)color center magnetic measurement method is proposed to realize the accurate measurement of current.This new current method can greatly improve the accuracy of current measurement.Experiments show that the linearity of the current sensor based on diamond NV color center can reach up to 33 ppm,which is superior to other current sensors and solves the problem of low linearity.When the range of input current is 5-40 A,the absolute error of the calculated current is less than 51μA,and the relative error is 2.42×10^(-6) at 40 A.Combined with the research content and results of the experiment,the application of the current sensor in the field of current precision measurement is prospected.

Stochastic noise identification in a stray current sensor

The Allan variance analysis method is used to identify the stochastic noise in the stray current sensor. The stray current characteristic is firstly introduced. Then the optical configuration and the signal processing method of the stray current sensor are illustrated. Moreover, the cause of the stochastic noise in the stray current sensor is analyzed. The calculation method of the stochastic noise coefficient is presented in detail. And the feasibility of the stochastic noise identification with the Allan variance analysis method is evaluated. Furthermore, the zero-drift signal acquisition experiment is conducted to identify the stochastic noise in the stray current sensor. According to the experimental result, the bias instability noise, the quantization noise and the white noise are identified as the major stochastic noise. Finally, the experiment on the direct-current signal acquisitions is conducted, whose results indicate that the signal drift of the measured direct-current is mainly caused by the major stochastic noise. And the suppression methods of the major stochastic noise are proposed.

Damage-Monitoring Forward Equivalent-model Construction of Rosette Eddy Current Sensors

结构损伤监测对于保证结构安全是极其重要的。针对金属螺栓连接结构中螺栓孔位置处的裂纹损伤定量监测需求,在Goldfine等人的基础之上,该文提出一种花萼状涡流传感器,构建了传感器损伤监测正向等效模型并通过搭建实验装置验证损伤监测正向等效模型准确性并进行误差分析。相对于传统的多层导电结构谐波涡流场的积分/级数解析模型,构建的损伤监测正向等效模型考虑了在高频激励下导线电流密度分布的集肤效应,并可用于互感式涡流传感器建模。实验结果表明：对测量结果经空气标定后,传感器贴于2A12-T4标准试件表面时的模型计算结果和实验结果较为吻合,第1、2和3感应通道的幅值比量模型计算结果误差随频率变化均在10%以内,第4感应通道的幅值比量模型计算结果误差随频率变化在15%以内。

Simulation of Current Measurement Using Magnetic Sensor Arrays and Its Error Model

Magnetic sensor arrays are proposed to measure electric current in a non-contact way. In order to achieve higher accuracy, signal processing techniques for magnetic sensor arrays are utilized. Simulation techniques are necessary to study the factors influencing the accuracy of current measurement. This paper presents a simulation method to estimate the impact of sensing area and position of sensors on the accuracy of current measurement. Several error models are built up to support computer-aided design of magnetic sensor arrays.

Review of Fiber-optic Distributed Acoustic Sensing Technology

A distributed optical-fiber acoustic sensor is an acoustic sensor that uses the optical fiber itself as a photosensitive medium,and is based on Rayleigh backscattering in an optical fiber.The sensor is widely used in the safety monitoring of oil and gas pipelines,the classification of weak acoustic signals,defense,seismic prospecting,and other fields.In the field of seismic prospecting,distributed optical-fiber acoustic sensing(DAS)will gradually replace the use of the traditional geophone.The present paper mainly expounds the recent application of DAS,and summarizes recent research achievements of DAS in resource exploration,intrusion monitoring,pattern recognition,and other fields and various DAS system structures.It is found that the high-sensitivity and long-distance sensing capabilities of DAS play a role in the extensive monitoring applications of DAS in engineering.The future application and development of DAS technology are examined,with the hope of promoting the wider application of the DAS technology,which benefits engineering and society.

Construction of Crack Perturbation Model and Forward Semi-analytical Model of Attached Eddy Current Sensor

Fatigue damage monitoring is critical metallic structure health monitoring of aircraft.The sensor should be high sensitive,easy to be integrated into structure and well adaptable for poor working conditions.Therefore,an attached eddy current sensor with flexible plane is put forward and its characteristics are analyzed.By extracting material′s conductivity as the crack features,forward semi-analytical model is established and parameter optimizations are carried out.Crack perturbation model of attached eddy current sensor is constructed,and perturbation voltages of sensing channels under three-dimension structural crack are obtained.To verify the sensor′s performance,monitoring experiment on crack extension is conducted under condition of 3 MHz frequency.The validation experimental results show that perturbation model of 2A12-T4 aluminum alloy agrees well with experiment results,and perturbation model errors of four sensing channels are within 25%.The attached eddy current sensor is capable of testing the crack nondestructively and measuring the crack extension quantitatively with the accuracy of 1mm.

A New Modeling Method Based on Genetic Neural Network for Numeral Eddy Current Sensor

In this paper,we present a method used to the numeral eddy current sensor modeling based on genetic neural network to settle its nonlinear problem.The principle and algorithms of genetic neural network are introduced.In this method, the nonlinear model parameters of the numeral eddy current sensor are optimized by genetic neural network (GNN) according to measurement data.So the method remains both the global searching ability of genetic algorithm and the good local searching ability of neural network.The nonlinear model has the advantages of strong robustness,on-line scaling and high precision.The maximum nonlinearity error can be reduced to 0.037% using GNN.However,the maximum nonlinearity error is 0.075% using least square method (LMS).

Laboratory investigations of the thermal strain of frozen soils,using fiber-optic strain gauges based on Bragg gratings

Measurements of the thermal deformations of frozen soil samples were performed in the cold laboratory in temperature range from 0°C to-12°C.Fiber Bragg Gratings strain and temperature sensors were used to measure the deformation and temperature inside the samples.A number of tests with the samples prepared from Kaolin and Cambrian clay saturated with fresh water,and prepared from fine and silt sand saturated with fresh or saline water,are performed.Thermal deformations of the samples are analyzed depending on the cyclic changes of their temperature.

Reflective Ladder Topology Network Based on White Light Fiber-Optic Mach-Zehnder Interferometer

In order to improve the multiplexing capability of the optical sensors based on the lower interferential optic fiber sensing technology and the white light fiber-optic Mach-Zehnder interferometer,reflective ladder topology network ( RLT) with tailored formula was proposed. The topology network consists of 6 rungs sensing elements linked by 5 couplers. Two cases with different choices of couplers were contrasted: one is equal coupling ratio,and the other is tailored coupling ratio. Through the simulation of these two cases,the detailed multiplexing capability was analyzed,and accordingly the experiments were also carried out. The simulation results showed that,the tailored formula enhances the multiplexing capability of the structure. In the first case, the maximum number of sensors which can be multiplexed is 8,and in the other case is 12 fiber optic sensors. The experimental results have a good agreement with numerical simulation results. Thus,it is considered expedient to incorporate RLT into large-scale building,grounds,bridges,dams,tunnels,highways and perimeter security.

A Novel Current Sensor Technique for Brushless DC Motor Drives

The torque output in a permanent magnet brushless DC motor (BLDCM) is usually controlled by regulating the motor phase currents. In this paper, three kinds of PWM strategies together with some critical review on traditional current measurements in a BLDCM drive system are discussed. A novel method for assessing the PWM information and measuring the motor phase currents by a dc link current sensor is proposed. An attractive feature of the proposed method is the simplicity with the current sample processing because there is no need to incorporate the conduction information of the power switches or diodes. Only the single sided PWM or the double sided complementary PWM is needed with the proposed technique.