Fiber Optics Sensors

Content

 Introduction
 Fiber Optic Sensor Commercialization Evolution
 Advantages of Fiber Optic Sensors
 Market & Applications
 General Structure of an Optical Fiber Sensor
 Fiber Optic Sensors Catagory
 Manufacturing of Optical Fibers
 Working Principle of Fiber Optic Sensor
 Classifications
 Measurements of Optical Sensors
 Homework
 Introduction
 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").
 Fiber-optic sensors are also immune to electromagnetic interference, and do not conduct
electricity so they can be used in places where there is high voltage electricity or flammable
material such as jet fuel.
 Fibers have so many uses in the field of Temperature Chemical species
remote sensing because they require no Pressure Force
electrical power at the remote location and they
have tiny size. Flow Radiation
 Fiber optic sensors are supreme for insensitive Liquid level pH
conditions, including noise, high vibration, Displacement Humidity
extreme heat, wet and unstable environments.
 These sensors can easily fit in small areas and Vibration Strain
can be positioned correctly wherever flexible Rotation Velocity
fibers are needed. Magnetic fields Electric fields
Acceleration Acoustic fields
Fiber Optic Sensor Commercialization Evolution
 Advantages of Fiber Optic Sensors
 Nonelectrical
 Explosion proof
 Often non contact, Remotable
 Small size and light weight
 Allow access into normally inaccessible areas
 Potentially easy to install
 Immune to radio frequency interference (RFI) and electromagnetic interference (EMI)
 Solid state reliability
 High accuracy
 Secure data transmission
 Can facilitate distributed sensing
.Can function in harsh environments
Market & Applications
Applications of gyroscopes include inertial
navigation systems, such as in the Hubble
Telescope, or inside the steel hull of a submerged
submarine. Due to their
precision, gyroscopes are also used in
gyrotheodolites to maintain direction in tunnel
mining.
Civil structure applications of optical fiber sensors
 Applications of optical fiber sensors
Chemical field
The main physical phenomena exploited for optical chemical sensing are absorption and
fluorescence, chemical luminescence, Raman scattering.

Medical field
Non-toxic and biochemically inert, immune from electromagnetic interference, non-invasively
in contact with outer organs such as the skin or surgically

Energy field Optical

Monitoring power plants and structures that working on generating, distributing and converting
power.

Agricultural and food

To assurance the superiority of food products for the end-user, quality control plays an
important role. It can help growers and horticulturists assess crop ripeness, determine
chlorophyll and light levels, and evaluate reflectance of petals and leaves to gauge plant health.

Transportation field
Monitoring systems play a crucial role to guarantee the perfect operation of transportation
systems such as ships, railways, airplane, automobile and more.
 Manufacturing of Optical Fibers
Introduction

Optical fiber is a single, hair fine filament drawn from molten silca glass. Today, it has replaced
metal wires in high speed communication.
In a fiber optic communications system, cables made of optical fibers connect datalinks that
contain lasers and light detectors. To transmit information, a datalink converts an analog
electronic signal into digital pulses of laser light. These travel through the optical fiber to another
datalink, where a light detector reconverts them into an electronic signal. It makes people to
wonder how something only 1/8 of a mm - 0.005 inches - in diameter can be made with such
precison.
 Optical fiber is mostly made from silicon dioxide(SiO2) but some little amount of other
materials such as fluorozirconate, fluoroaluminate, and chalcogenide glasses as well as crystalline
materials like sapphire, are used for longer-wavelength infrared or other specialized applications.
Chemical compounds such as germanium tetrachloride (GeCl4) and phosphorus oxychloride
(POCl3) can be used to produce core fibers and outer shells, or claddings, with function-specific
optical properties.
 Pure oxygen (O ), Helium (He), Chlorine (Cl ), Sulphurhexafluoride (SF ) and Nitrogen. It is
important that the above materials are free from foreign articles, and contain very low
concentrations (<5 ppm) of water molecules.
 Manufacturing of Optical Fibers
Why only Silica?

Silica, which can be drawn into fibers at reasonably high temperatures, has a fairly broad glass
transformation range.
 One other advantage is that fusion splicing and cleaving of silica fibers is relatively effective.
 Silica fiber also has high mechanical strength against both pulling and even bending, provided
that the fiber is not too thick and that the surfaces have been well prepared during processing.
Even simple cleaving (breaking) of the ends of the fiber can provide nicely flat surfaces with
acceptable optical quality.
Silica is also relatively chemically inert. In particular, it is not hygroscopic (does not absorb
water) also it can be doped with various materials.
Silica fiber also exhibits a high threshold for optical damage.
But, pure silca is not best suitable for optical fiber, because it exhibits a low solubility for rare
earth ions. This can lead to quenching effects due to clustering of dopant ions. These properties
makes silca most widely use material for optical fibers.
 Manufacturing of Optical Fibers
There are two main steps in the process of converting raw materials into optical fiber ready to be
shipped.
• Manufacturing of the pure glass preform
• Drawing of the preform
The first step in manufacturing glass optical fibers is to make a solid glass rod, known as a
Preform.
Ultra-pure chemicals -- primarily silicon tetrachloride (SiCl4) and germanium tetrachloride (GeCl4)
-- are converted into glass during preform manufacturing. These chemicals are used in varying
proportions to fabricate the core regions for the different types of preforms. The basic chemical
reaction of manufacturing optical glass is:

•SiCl4 (gas) + O2 > SiO2 (solid) + 2Cl2 (in the presence of heat)
•GeCl4 (gas) + O2 > GeO2 (solid) + 2Cl2 (in the presence of heat)

The core composition of all standard communication fibers consists primarily of silica, with
varying amounts of germania added to increase the fiber's refractive index to the desired level.
Single-mode fibers typically have only small amounts of germania and have a uniform
composition within the core. Multimode fibers typically have a much higher refractive index, and
therefore much higher germania content. Also, the core composition and the refractive index of
graded-index multimode fibers changes across the core of the fiber to give the refractive index a
parabolic shape. Today Three methods are used to manufacture perform.
 Manufacturing of Optical Fibers
Chemical Vapor Deposition(CVD)

First, a cylindrical preform is made by depositing

layers of specially formulated silicon dioxide on the
inside surface of a hollow substrate rod. The layers
are deposited by applying a gaseous stream of pure
oxygen to the substrate rod. Various chemical
vapors, such as silicon tetrachloride (SiCl4),
germanium tetrachloride (GeCl4), and phosphorous
oxychloride (POCl3), are added to the stream of
oxygen. As the oxygen contacts the hot surface of
the rod-a flame underneath the rod keeps the walls
of the rod very hot-silicon dioxide of high purity is
formed. The result is a glassy soot, several layers
thick, deposited inside the rod. This soot will
become the core. The properties of these layers of
soot can be altered depending on the types of
chemical vapors used.
After sufficient layers are built up, the tube is collapsed into a solid glass rod referred to as a
preform. It is now a scale model of the desired fiber, but much shorter and thicker. The preform
is then taken to the drawing tower, where it is pulled into a length of fiber up to 10 kilometers
long.
 Manufacturing of Optical Fibers
Modified Chemical Vapor Deposition
 First, a cylindrical preform is made by depositing layers of
specially formulated silicon dioxide on the inside surface of a
hollow substrate rod. The layers are deposited by applying a
gaseous stream of pure oxygen to the substrate rod. Various
chemical vapors, such as silicon tetrachloride (SiCl4), germanium
tetrachloride (GeCl4), and phosphorous oxychloride (POC13), are
added to the stream of oxygen. As the oxygen contacts the hot
surface of the rod—a flame underneath the rod keeps the walls of
the rod very hot—silicon dioxide of high purity is formed. The
result is a glassy soot, several layers thick, deposited inside the rod.
This soot will become the core. The properties of these layers of
soot can be altered depending on the types of chemical vapors
used.
 After the soot is built up to the desired thickness, the substrate
rod is moved through other heating steps to drive out
any moisture and bubbles trapped in the soot layers. During
heating, the substrate rod and internal soot layers solidify to form
the boule or preform of highly pure silicon dioxide. A preform
usually measures 10 to 25 millimeters (.39 to .98 inch) in diameter
and 600 to 1000 millimeters (23.6 to 39.37 inches) in length.
 Manufacturing of Optical Fibers
Outside Vapor Deposition(OVD)
One of many variations of vapour deposition
technique for fabricating optical fiber. Here an inert
rod is layered with core and cladding glass deposits
built up on the outside. Once enough layers are in
place, the rod is removed and the layers consolidated
into a solid preform which can be drawn into fiber.
Silicon chloride, SiCl4 and germanium chloride, GeCl4
are oxidised to form silica and germania particles for
the deposition.
The OVD process is distinguished by the method of
depositing the soot. These particles are deposited on
the surface of a rotating target rod. The core material
is deposited first, followed by the pure silica cladding.
As both core and cladding raw materials are vapor-
deposited, the entire preform becomes totally synthetic
and extremely pure.
 Manufacturing of Optical Fibers
Vapour Phase Axial Deposition (VPAD)

In this diagram, we see how the preform is made.

A seed rod is slowly rotated and pulled upward.
As the seed rod is pulled, two burners deposit fine
glass soot. The lower burner in this diagram is
depositing the core glass material, and above it is a
burner depositing the cladding glass. The rate at
which the seed rod is pulled is carefully controlled
by servo mechanisms. After deposition the glass
soot rod is dehydrated and sintered into a solid
preform in a furnace.
 Manufacturing of Optical Fibers
Drawing the fiber
The next process in manufacturing the fiber optics is to
convert into hair-thin fiber. Fiber draw is the phenomenon
for the manufacturing those hair-thin fiber. The tip of on
performance is lowered into high-purity graphite furnace.
Pure thin glass are injected into furnace and in furnace,
tightly controlled temperature approaching 1900 celcius
soften the tip if the perform. Once the softening point of
the tip is reached, gravity takes over and occurs free fall untill
it has been stretched into thin strand. then those fiber are
pulled by tractor belt shown in the figure below.
Drawing process only begins when operator threads this
strands into coating dies. Diameter of the fiber during draw
is controlled to 125 micorns within 1 micron tolerace. The
rate for sampling the fiber is 750 times per second while the
actual value of diameter is compared to 125 micron target.
Drawing speed is higher if the diameter is above than target
diameter and vicerversa. After diameter case two layer
coating is applied to the fiber with soft inner coating and
hard outer coating which will be more disccuesd on coating
for the protection of fiber.
 Manufacturing of Optical Fibers
Drawing the fiber
 The solid preform is then automatically transferred to a vertical fiber drawing system. The
machines that make up a typical vertical drawing system can be two stories high and are able to
produce continuous fibers up to 300 kilometers (186 miles) long. This system consists of a
furnace to melt the end of the preform, sensors to monitor the diameter of the fiber being
pulled from the preform, and coating devices to apply protective layers over the outer cladding.
 The preform first passes through a furnace, where it is heated to about 3600 degrees
Fahrenheit (about 2000 degrees Celsius). Next, a drop of molten glass called a "gob" forms at
the end of the preform, much like a droplet of water that collects at the bottom of a leaky
faucet. The gob then falls away, and the single optical fiber inside is drawn out of the preform.
As the optical fiber is pulled from the preform, the material in the original substrate rod forms
the cladding, and the silicon dioxide deposited as soot forms the core of the optical fiber.
 As the fiber is drawn out, measuring devices monitor its diameter and its concentricity, while
another device applies a protective coating. The fiber then passes through a curing furnace and
another measuring device that monitors diameter, before being wound on a spool.
 Manufacturing of Optical Fibers
Drawing the fiber

(a) Quartz tube with

The drawing speed is typically more than 10 m/s . During the
deposited layers, (b)
drawing process, the fibers are applied with a plastic coating to
collapsed preform tube, (c)
provide mechanical protection (thickness in the order of about
Fiber manufacturing by
50 μm). There is also the possibility to coat a quartz fiber with
drawing of preforms
a low-loss plastic, that has a lower refractive index (e.g. silicone
resin). The quartz fiber thus corresponds to the fiber core and
the plastic coating is the fiber cladding. Such fibers are so
called PCS fibers (plastic-clad-silica).
 Manufacturing of Optical Fibers
Coating the Fiber for Protection

 The coating is vital for optical fiber to provide mechanical protection against surface cracks
and to provide integrity. Protection coating consist of two parts: a soft inner + hard outer
coating. “The overall thickness of the coating varies between 62.5 and 187.5 μm, depending on
fiber applications”.
 After the fiber is taken from the preform, a coating is applied fast after the formation of the
thin fiber. The light is guided down the core of the fiber by an optical cladding with a lower
refractive index that traps light in the core through total internal reflection.
 The cladding is coated by a buffer that protects it from moisture and physical damage. The
buffer coating is what gets stripped off the fiber for termination or splicing. These coatings are
UV-cured urethane acrylate composite or polyimide materials applied to the outside of the
fiber during the drawing process. The coatings protect the very delicate strands of glass fiber—
about the size of a human hair—and allow it to survive the rigors of manufacturing, proof
testing, cabling and installation.
 Today’s glass optical fiber draw processes employ a dual-layer coating approach. An inner
primary coating is designed to act as a shock absorber to minimize attenuation caused by
microbending. An outer secondary coating protects the primary coating against mechanical
damage and acts as a barrier to lateral forces, and may be colored to differentiate strands in
bundled cable constructions.
 Manufacturing of Optical Fibers
Coating the Fiber for Protection

 These fiber optic coating layers are applied during the fiber draw, at speeds approaching 100
kilometers per hour (60 mph). Fiber optic coatings are applied using one of two methods: wet-
on-dry and wet-on-wet. In wet-on-dry, the fiber passes through a primary coating application,
which is then UV cured—then through the secondary coating application, which is
subsequently cured. In wet-on-wet, the fiber passes through both the primary and secondary
coating applications, then goes to UV curing.
Fiber optic coatings are applied in concentric layers to prevent damage to the fiber during the
drawing application and to maximize fiber strength and microbend resistance. Unevenly coated
fiber will experience non-uniform forces when the coating expands or contracts, and is
susceptible to greater signal attenuation. Under proper drawing and coating processes, the
coatings are concentric around the fiber, continuous over the length of the application and
have constant thickness.
Fiber optic coatings protect the glass fibers from scratches that could lead to strength
degradation. The combination of moisture and scratches accelerates the aging and
deterioration of fiber strength. When fiber is subjected to low stresses over a long period, fiber
fatigue can occur. Over time or in extreme conditions, these factors combine to cause
microscopic flaws in the glass fiber to propagate, which can ultimately result in fiber failure.
 Manufacturing of Optical Fibers
Strength of Fiber

The manufactured optical fiber consists of the actual

fused-silica fiber and the plastic coating, applied during
the drawing process. The achievable strength is given
solely by the strength of quartz glass. In fact, quartz
glass can be stressed heavily (Elongation or tensile stress
about 5 %), as long as the surface is not disturbed by
scratches or similar partial damages. Hence, the plastic
coating is designed to protect the quartz fiber surface
from scratches or other damages. As a result a very high
strength can be obtained. The strength of fibers can be
specified as a percentage of broken fibers at a given
tension . This relation is plotted in the so-called Weibull
Diagramm. An example of high strength fibers is shown in
fig. Weibull Diagram: Failure
Due to fig., a strength of about 4 GPa = 4 109 N/m2 rates as a function of the
results, i.e. for a fiber with a diameter of 125 μm, a strength of tensile stress for 20 m and 1
approximately 50 N can be determined. km sample length of a high
strength fiber
 Manufacturing of Optical Fibers
Optical Fiber Sizes

The international standard for outer cladding

diameter of most single-mode optical fibers is
125 microns (μm) for the glass and 245 μm for
the coating. This standard is important because it
ensures compatibility among connectors, splices,
and tools used throughout the industry. Standard
single-mode fibers are manufactured with a small
core size, approximately 8 to 10 μm in diameter.
Multimode fibers have core sizes of 50 to 62.5
μm in diameter.

The operation of an optical fiber is based on the principle of total internal reflection. Light
reflects (bounces back) or refracts (alters its direction while penetrating a different medium),
depending on the angle at which it strikes a surface. This principle is at the heart of how
optical fiber works. Controlling the angle at which the light waves are transmitted makes it
possible to control how efficiently they reach their destination. Lightwaves are guided through
the core of the optical fiber in much the same way that radio frequency (RF) signals are
guided through coaxial cable. The lightwaves are guided to the other end of the fiber by being
reflected within the core.
 Manufacturing of Optical Fibers
 A hair-thin cylindrical filament made of glass
that is able to guide light through itself by
confining it within regions having different
optical indices of refraction.
 A typical fiber structure is depicted in Fig..
The central portion—where most of the light
travels—is called the core.
 Surrounding the core there is a region having
a lower index of refraction, called the cladding.
From a simple point of view, light trapped inside
the core travels along the fiber by bouncing off
the interfaces with the cladding, due to the effect
of the total internal reflection occurring at these
boundaries. In reality though, the optical energy
propagates along the fiber in the form of
waveguide modes that satisfy Maxwell’s equations
as well as the boundary conditions and the
external perturbations present at the fiber.
 Manufacturing of Optical Fibers
Single-mode and multimode

 There are two general categories of optical fiber: single-mode and multimode.
 Multimode fiber was the first type of fiber to be commercialized. It has a much larger core
than single-mode fiber, allowing hundreds of modes of light to propagate through the fiber
simultaneously. Additionally, the larger core diameter of multimode fiber facilitates the use of
lower-cost optical transmitters (such as light emitting diodes [LEDs] or vertical cavity surface
emitting lasers [VCSELs]) and connectors.
 Single-mode fiber, on the other hand, has a much smaller core that allows only one mode of
light at a time to propagate through the core. While it might appear that multimode fibers have
higher capacity, in fact the opposite is true. Single mode fibers are designed to maintain spatial
and spectral integrity of each optical signal over longer distances, allowing more information to
be transmitted.
 Its tremendous information-carrying capacity and low intrinsic loss have made single-mode
fiber the ideal transmission medium for a multitude of applications. Single-mode fiber is
typically used for longer-distance and higher-bandwidth applications. Multimode fiber is used
primarily in systems with short transmission distances (under 2 km), such as premises
communications, private data networks, and parallel optic applications.
 Manufacturing of Optical Fibers
Single-mode Multimode

Single mode means the fiber enables one type Multimode means the fiber can propagate
of light mode to be propagated at a time multiple modes
Single mode fiber core diameter is much Multimode fiber core diameter is 50 µm and
smaller than multimode fiber. Its typical core 62.5 µm typically, which enables it to have
diameter is 9 µm. higher "light gathering" ability and simplify
connections
The cladding diameter of single mode and multimode fiber is 125 µm.
The fiber core of single mode cable is very The attenuation of multimode fiber is higher
narrow, so the light that passes through these than SM fiber because of its larger core
fiber optical cables is not reflected too many diameter.
times, which keeps the attenuation to a
minimum.
While the single mode fiber often uses a laser Due to the large core size of multimode
or laser diodes to produce light injected into fiber, some low-cost light sources like LEDs
the cable. And the commonly used single (light-emitting diodes) and VCSELs (vertical
mode fiber wavelength is 1310 nm and 1550 cavity surface-emitting lasers) that works at
nm. the 850nm and 1300nm wavelength are used
in multimode fiber cables.
 Manufacturing of Optical Fibers
Single-mode Multimode

While single mode fiber bandwidth is Multimode fiber bandwidth is limited by its
unlimited theoretically because it allows only light mode and the maximum bandwidth at
one light mode to pass through at a time. present is 28000MHz*km of OM5 fiber
According to the TIA-598C standard Multimode fiber is coated with orange or
definition, for non-military applications, aqua jacket
single mode cable is coated with yellow outer
sheath.
single mode fiber is suitable for long-distance Multimode optical fiber is designed for short-
applications distance runs
 General structure of an optical fiber sensor
Light waves
change phase by 180°
when they reflect from
the surface of a
medium with higher
refractive index than
that of the medium in
General structure of an optical fiber sensor which they are
travelling
 It consists of an optical source
(Laser, LED, Laser diode etc.), optical
fiber (single or multimode), sensing or
modulator element (which
transducers the measure and to an
optical signal), an optical detector and
actuating circuitry (processing
electronics, oscilloscope, optical
spectrum analyzer etc.).

 In the FOSs devices, the optical

parameters that can be modulated are
the amplitude, phase, color (spectral
signal), and state of polarization.
Basic components of an optical fiber sensor
 General structure of an optical fiber sensor
The optical modulation methods of the sensors involve the following:
 Intensity-modulated sensors The variation of the light intensity that is proportional to the
perturbing environment can be detected by sensors. The concepts associated with intensity
modulation include transmission, reflection, and micro bending. For this, a reflective or
transmissive target can be incorporated in the fiber. Other mechanisms that can be used
independently or in conjunction with the three primary concepts include absorption,
scattering, fluorescence, and polarization. Intensity modulated sensors normally require
more light to function than phase modulated sensors; as a result, they employ large core
multimode fibers or bundles of fibers.
 Phase-modulated sensors The phase of the light in a sensing fiber is compared to a
reference fiber in a device known as an interferometer. These sensors employ a coherent laser
light source and two single-mode fibers. The light is split and injected into the reference and
sensing fibers. If the light in the sensing fiber is exposed to the perturbing environment, a
phase shift occurs between them. The phase shift is detected by the interferometer. Phase
modulated sensors are much more accurate than intensity-modulated sensors.
 The change in colour is proportional to the changes in the absorption, transmission,
reflection, or luminescence of the optical signal,
 whereas the polarization is related to the strain birefringence.
 Fiber Optic Sensors Catagory
The sensing mechanisms of FOS can be sectorized into two main categories;
 Direct sensors: The modulation of the illuminating light is based on the medium under vision,
whereby the composed light is the consequence of back scattering straight from the interrogated
medium or medium fluorescence resulted by an optical source (e.g., photometric sensors).
 Indirect sensors: Employ an intermediary in response to the medium under test property of
interest (e.g., temperature, enzyme presence). In addition, indirect sensors are often loosely grouped
into two basic classes according to the manner in which the optical fiber is used, sensor can be
either an intrinsic one, if the modulation takes place directly in the fiber, or extrinsic, if the
modulation is performed by some external transducer.
 Intrinsic fiber optic sensor (IFOS) The intensity, phase, polarization, wavelength or transit
time of light can be modulated. Sensors which modulate light intensity tend to use mainly
multimode fibers, while only mono mode cables are used to modulate other parameters. An
interesting feature of IFOSs is that they can provide distributed sensing over distances of up to 1
m. In intrinsic sensors, the variable of interest (physical perturbation) must modify the
characteristics of the optical fiber to modify the properties of the light carried by the fiber, Fig. 3a.
IFOSs directly employ an optical fiber as the sensitive material, sensor head, and also as the
medium to transport the optical signal with information of the perturbation environment to be
measured. They operate through the direct modulation of the light guided into the optical fiber.
The light does not leave the fiber, except at the detection end, the output, of the sensor. These
sensors can use interferometric configurations, Fiber Bragg Grating (FBG), Long Period Fiber
Grating (LPFG), or special fibers (doped fibers) designed to be sensitive to specific perturbations.
Light intensity is the simplest parameter to manipulate in intrinsic sensors because only a simple
source and detector are required.
 Fiber Optic Sensors Catagory
 Extrinsic fiber optic sensor (EFOS) The optical fiber is simply used to guide the light to and
from a location at which an optical sensor head is located. The sensor head is external to the
optical fiber and is usually based on miniature optical components, which are designed to modulate
the properties of light in response to changes in the environment with respect to physical
perturbations of interest Fig. 3b. Thus, in this configuration, one fiber transmits optical energy to
the sensor head. Then this light is appropriately modulated and is coupled back via a second fiber,
which guides it to the optical detector. Extrinsic fiber optic sensors use a fiber optic cable, normally
a multimode one, to transmit modulated light from a conventional sensor. A major feature of
extrinsic sensors, which makes them so useful in such a large number of applications, is their ability
to reach places which are otherwise inaccessible. For example, the insertion of fiber optic cables
into the jet engines of aircraft to measure temperature by transmitting radiation into a radiation
pyrometer located remotely from the engine. Fiber optic cable can be used in the same way to
measure the internal temperature of electrical transformers, where the extreme electromagnetic
fields present make other measurement techniques impossible. Extrinsic fiber optic sensors provide
excellent protection of measurement signals against noise corruption.
 Manufacturing of Optical Fibers
Multimode optical fiber can readily transmit high bandwidth data over long distances; a typical
bandwidth-distance product for multimode fiber is 500 MHz/km, so a 500 m tether can
transmit 1 GHz (several Gbits/second, with appropriate modulation).
Signal losses over 500 m are negligible; the bandwidth is limited by dispersion of signals.
Lightweight copper cable, by contrast, has very high losses at high frequencies. Twisted pair
optimized for high data rates (Cat 6) can transmit 500 MHz over only 100 meters (bandwidth-
distance product of 50 MHz/km); lightweight unshielded cable optimized for power
transmission will have even lower bandwidth-distance product.
 Classification
The best example of this sensor is the inside temperature measurement of the aircraft jet
engine that uses a fiber to transmit a radiation into a radiation pyrometer, which is located
outside of the engine. In the same way, these sensors can also be used to measure the internal
temperature of the transformers. These sensors provide excellent protection of measurement
signals against noise corruption. The following figure shows the basic concept of the extrinsic
fiber optic sensor.

Extrinsic Intrinsic
Applications- temperature, pressure, Applications- rotation, acceleration,
liquid level and flow. strain, acoustic pressure and vibration.
Less sensitive More sensitive
Easily multiplexed Tougher to multiplex
 ingress/ egress connection problems Reduces connection problems
Easier to use More elaborate signal demodulation
Less expensive More expensive

Ingress and egress are terms used in networking to describe incoming and outgoing
traffic. High volumes of ingress traffic can slow down data transmission and affect
service quality. Excessive egress traffic can indicate data exfiltration or inefficient use
of network resources.
Working Principle of Fiber Optic Sensor
Light beam changes by the
phenomena that is being measured
Light may change in its five optical
properties i.e. intensity, phase,
polarization, wavelength and spectral
distribution.

The block diagram consists of optical source

(Light Emitting Diode, LASER, and Laser
diode), optical fiber, sensing element, optical
detector and end-processing devices (optical-
spectrum analyzer, oscilloscope).
 Working Principle of Fiber Optic Sensor
 Optical fibers are also attractive for other applications such as in sensing, control and
instrumentation.
 In general, for these applications fibers are made more susceptible and sensitive to the same
external mechanisms against which fibers were made to be immune for their effective operation
in telecommunications.
 In its simplest form, an optical fiber sensor is composed of a light source, optical fiber;
sensing element and a detector . The principle of operation of a fiber sensor is that the sensing
elements modulates some parameter of the optical system (intensity, wavelength, polarization,
phase, etc.) which gives rise to a change in the characteristics of the optical signal received at the
detector.
 The fiber sensor can be either an intrinsic one—if the modulation takes place directly in the
fiber—or extrinsic, if the modulation is performed by some external transducer.
 Based on the sensor location,
Classifications the fiber optic sensors are
Intrinsic sensors classified into two types:

Intrinsic sensors are different in that the light beam does not leave the optical fiber, but is
changed whilst still contained within it.
They can, if required, provide distributed sensing over very large distances.
 It can be used as sensors to measure strain, temperature, pressure and other quantities by
modifying a fiber so that the quantity to be measured modulates
the intensity, phase, polarization, wavelength or transit time of light in the fiber.
In this type of sensors, sensing takes place within the fiber itself. The sensors depend on the
properties of the optical fiber itself to convert an environmental action into a modulation of the
light beam passing through it. Here, one of the physical properties of light signal may be in the
form of frequency, phase, polarization; intensity. The most useful feature of the intrinsic fiber
optic sensor is, it provides distributed sensing over long range distances.
 Classifications
Extrinsic sensors

 Where the light leaves the feed or transmitting fiber to be changed before it continues to the
detector by means of the return or receiving fiber .
 Extrinsic fiber-optic sensors use an optical fiber cable, normally a multimode one, to
transmit modulated light from either a non-fiber optical sensor, or an electronic sensor
connected to an optical transmitter.
 Major benefit of extrinsic sensors is their ability to reach places which are otherwise
inaccessible.
 In extrinsic type fiber optic sensors, the fiber may be used as information carriers that show
the way to a black box. It generates a light signal depending on the information arrived at
the black box. The black box may be made of mirrors, gas or any other mechanisms that
generates an optical signal. These sensors are used to measure rotation, vibration velocity,
displacement, twisting, torque and acceleration. The major benefit of these sensors is their
ability to reach places which are otherwise unreachable.
 Classification
The FOSs may classified based on the spatial distribution of the measurements, such as

 Point sensors Where only a single point in space is measured, while it is possible to adopt
multiple channels for multiple points exploit multiple points. Like these sensors are Fabry-Perot
sensors and single Fibre Bragg Grating (FBG) sensors.
Integrated sensors A physical parameter over a certain spatial section is measured and
averaged and thus provides a single value. Such as the using of a deformation sensor to
measure the strain over a long base length.
Multiplexed sensors For a single fiber optic cable there is a number of fixed-discrete points
where measurement is computed along the cable. Multiplexed FBG’s is the ordinary example.
 Distributed sensor For a single fiber optic cable, the measurements of the parameter of
interest of a certain spatial resolution are computed at any point along the cable. Examples
comprise systems based on Rayleigh scattering.

A spatial distribution is the arrangement of a

phenomenon across the Earth's surface and a
graphical display of such an arrangement is an
important tool in geographical and
environmental statistics.
 Classification

Classification of Optical Fiber Sensors

According to their Topology
 Types of fiber optic sensors
• INTERFEROMETRIC
– Measure optical phase difference between two lightwaves (Sagnac, Micahelson, Mach Zehnder)
• INTENSITY
– Alteration of the guided light power
• RESONANT
– Measure optical resonant frequency of an optical cavity (Fabry-Perot)
• POLARIMETRIC
– Measure state of polarization of guided lightwave
• SPECTRAL INTERFERENCE
– Measure frequency of lightwave interfering with a periodic structure (fiber Bragg grating)

Optical fibers can and are being used to measure diverse parameters in different applications.
several different types of fiber sensors are commercially available to measure parameters such as
pressure, temperature, refractive index, displacement, gas concentration, and several others.
Others are at a high stage of development allowing for a reliable and accurate measurement of
stress and strain, electric current, vibration, sound, flow, etc.
 Classification Based on operating principles,
fiber optic sensors are classified
Intensity based Fiber Optic Sensor into three types:

 Intensity based fiber optic sensors require more light

and these sensors use a multi-mode-large core fibers. The
shown figure gives an idea about how the light intensity
work as a sensing parameter as well as how this
arrangement makes the fiber to work as a vibration
sensor. When there is a vibration, there will be a change
in light inserted from one end to another end and this will
make the intelligence for measuring the vibration
amplitude.
 In the figure, the closer fiber optic and vibration
sensor depend on the light intensity in later parts. These
sensors have many limitations due to variable losses in the
system that do not occur in the environment.
These variable losses include loses due to splices, micro & macro bending losses, loses due to
connections at joints, etc. The examples include intensity-based sensors or microbend sensor
and evanescent wave sensor. The advantages of these fiber optic sensors include low cost,
ability to perform as real distributed sensors, very simple to implement, possibility of being
multiplexed, etc. The disadvantages include variations in the intensity of the light and relative
measurements, etc.
 Classification
Polarization based Fiber Optic Sensor

Polarization based optical fibers are important for

a certain class of sensors. This property can be
simply modified by various external variables and
thus, these types of sensors can be used for the
measurement of a range of parameters. Special
fibers and other components have been developed
with exact polarization features. Generally, these
are used in a variety of measurements,
communication and signal
processing applications.

The optical setup for a polarization-based-fiber-optic sensor is shown above. It is shaped by

polarizing the light from the light source through a polarizer. The polarized light is started at
45o to the selected axes of a length of birefringent polarization protecting fiber. This section
of the fiber is served as sensing fiber. Then, the phase difference between the two polarization
states is changed under any external disturbances such as stress or strain. Then, according to the
external disturbances, the output polarization is changed. Thus, by considering the output
polarization state at the next end of the fiber, the external disturbances can be detected.

Polarisation is a phenomenon generated by the oscillation of light waves restricted to

a single plane.
 Classification Mach–Zehnder interferometer is a device
used to determine the relative phase
Phase based Fiber Optic Sensor shift variations between two collimated beams
derived by splitting light from a single source
These types of sensors are used to change emitter light on
information signal wherein the signal is observed by the
phase based fiber optic sensor. When a light beam is passed
through the interferometer, then the light separates into
two beams. Wherein one beam is exposed to the sensing
environment and the other beam is isolated from the
sensing environment, which is used as a reference. Once
the two separated beams are recombined, then they get in
the way with each other. The most commonly used
interferometers are Michelson, Mach Zehnder, Sagnac,
grating and polarimetric interferometers. Here, the Mach
Zehnder and Michelson interferometers are shown below.
There are differences and similarities between the two interferometers. In terms of similarities,
The Michelson Interferometer is frequently considered to be folded Mach Zehnder
interferometer. The configuration of the Michelson interferometer requires only one optical fiber
coupler. Because the light passes twice through the sensing and reference fibers, the optical phase
shift per unit length of the fiber is doubled. Thus, the Michelson can essentially have better
sensitivity. Another clear advantage of the Michelson is that the sensor can be interrogated with
only a single fiber between the source and source detector module. But, a good-quality reflection
mirror is required for the Michelson interferometer
 Measurements of Optical Sensors
Optical sensing technology can measure almost all of the physical measurement of interest and
a very large number of chemical quantities. Table explores the most of optical sensor
measurements. Techniques by which the measurements are made can be generally grouped in
three categories depending on.
Sensing Strategies Temperature Chemical species
The strategies of sensing are based on either Pressure Force
measuring the intensity change in one or more Flow Radiation
light beams or measuring the phase change in the
light beams by causing them to interact or Liquid level pH
interfere with one another. As a result sensors in Displacement Humidity
this class are called either intensity or Vibration Strain
interferometric sensors. Techniques used in the
case of intensity sensors techniques are based on Rotation Velocity
light scattering, spectral transmission changes Magnetic fields Electric fields
(i.e., absorption of transmitted light where a Acceleration Acoustic fields
simple attenuation is resulted, reflectance
changes micro bending or radiative losses, and
changes in the modal properties of the fiber.
Interferometric sensors have been demonstrated
based upon the magneto-optic, the laser-
Doppler, or the Sagnac effects, to name a few.
 Advantages of Fiber Optic Sensors
 Enable small sensor sizes, do not contaminate their surroundings and are not subject to
corrosion.
 Electrical Passiveness: can be used in volatile surroundings.
 Electromagnetic Immunity: perfect for microwave environment, immune to radio frequency
interference (RFI) and electromagnetic interference (EMI).
 Resistant to high temperatures and chemically reactive environment: ideal for harsh and
hostile environment.
 Compact and Light; perfect match for surface mounting and embedding applications.
Require small cable sizes and weights.
 Wide Dynamic Range: ability to monitor a wide range of physical and chemical parameters
and thus permit remote sensing.
 Multiplexing and distribution Capabilities of sensors are sole as they offer measurements at
a greater number of points along a single optical cable: ideal for minimizing cable
deployment and cable weight, or for monitoring extended structures like pipelines, dams etc
 Greater Sensitivity and range resolution.
 Electrical Isolation: absolute electrical insulation from lofty electrostatic potential.
 Remote operation over several km lengths without any lead.
 Sensitivity: ideal for deployment in boreholes or measurements in hazardous environment.