title: A self-referencing intensity-based fiber optic sensor with multipoint sensing characteristics.
abstract: A self-referencing, intensity-based fiber optic sensor (FOS) is proposed and demonstrated. The theoretical analysis for the proposed design is given, and the validity of the theoretical analysis is confirmed via experiments. We define the measurement parameter, X, and the calibration factor, β, to find the transfer function, , of the intensity-based FOS head. The self-referencing and multipoint sensing characteristics of the proposed system are validated by showing the measured and relative error versus the optical power attenuation of the sensor head for four cases: optical source fluctuation, various remote sensing point distances, fiber Bragg gratings (FBGs) with different characteristics, and multiple sensor heads with cascade and/or parallel forms. The power-budget analysis and limitations of the measurement rates are discussed, and the measurement results of fiber-reinforced plastic (FRP) coupon strain using the proposed FOS are given as an actual measurement. The proposed FOS has several benefits, including a self-referencing characteristic, the flexibility to determine FBGs, and a simple structure in terms of the number of devices and measuring procedure.
authors.affiliation: Department of Electrical Engineering and Smart Grid Research Center, Chonbuk National University, Jeonbuk 561-756, Korea. sang_jin@jbnu.ac.kr.
authors.forename: Sang-Jin
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Choi
authors.affiliation: Department of IT Engineering and Smart Grid Research Center, Chonbuk National University, Jeonbuk 561-756, Korea. yckim@jbnu.ac.kr.
authors.forename: Young-Chon
authors.initials: YC
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.affiliation: Division of Electronic Engineering, Chonbuk National University, Jeonju 561-756, Korea. msong@jbnu.ac.kr.
authors.forename: Minho
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Song
authors.affiliation: Department of Electrical Engineering and Smart Grid Research Center, Chonbuk National University, Jeonbuk 561-756, Korea. pan@jbnu.ac.kr.
authors.forename: Jae-Kyung
authors.initials: JK
authors.lastname: Pan
mesh_terms: D004867:Equipment Design / Q000295:instrumentation*; D005336:Fiber Optic Technology / Q000295:instrumentation*; D055100:Optical Fibers