Hetero-core structured fiber optic was applied to evanescent field absorption spectroscopy. The sensing part of the fiber
optic was immersed in a dye solution, then the bending was applied to the fiber optic probe, and propagating loss spectra
were measured. The effects of refractive index of the dye solution and the degree of the bending to the sensor part were
studied. According to increasing of the degree of bending, the peak strength of the spectra of the dye increased. This is
because that the increasing of the bending degree changes the angle of incidence in the propagating ray following the
evanescent wave is generated effectively, hence the number of the dye molecules that can interact with the evanescent
wave increases. As a result, the sensitivity enhancement of the peak strength was performed. In addition, the increase of
the refractive index of the dye solution enhanced the peak intensity in the absorption spectra. It has been shown that the
sensitivity enhancement of the fiber optic sensor would be performed by physical shape control and physical property of
the solution such as refractive index.
We aim at composing a novel remote monitoring system of the water level and soil humidity under the natural
environment with a hetero-core spliced fiber optic chemical sensor inserted into an existing communication line. This
paper demonstrates the fusion characteristics of an optical communications and a humidity sensing by means of a
hetero-core spliced fiber optic sensor that has been highly-vaunted from the practical perspective. However, this
humidity sensor leaks light and attenuates the optical signal power of a communication wavelength by intent on sensing
use. From the communications standpoint, this may lead to decrease intensity of optical signals sent to the receiver and
increase a bit error. In other words, there may be a trade-off relationship between communications quality and measuring
accuracy. We have proved the possibility of the co-existence of communication signals and measuring functions by
finding out the effect of humidity sensing on the communications is the optical loss and modal dispersion.
We have developed hetero-core fiber techniques interrogated with a semiconductor diode laser based on single-mode
transmission for wearable glove sensing applications. The hetero-core fiber sensor is suitable for the wearable sensing
glove because of the advantages of the capable optical intensity-based measurement with the excellent stability of the
usage of the single-mode transmission fiber and independence of temperature fluctuation. In order that the hetero-core
sensor was unaffected to the random wrinkles at the position of joints in a glove garment, the hetero-core sensor
elements were located in the back of hand. As a result, the hetero-core flexion sensor could detect the joint angle of
fingers regardless of differences of their size of hands, and the hetero-core sensing technique enables the sensing glove to
equip the minimum number of sensors. The optical loss performances of the hetero-core sensors have indicated
monotonic characteristics with the flexion angle of joints. The optical loss change is 1.35 dB for the flexion angle of
approximately 97.2 degrees with accuracy of detectable flexion angle of 0.84 degree. Real-time hand motion capturing
was successfully demonstrated by means of the proposed wearable sensing glove with hetero-core fiber techniques
without restricting human natural behaviors.
We have developed a fiber optic network combining communication and measurement using a hetero-core spliced fiber
optic sensor inserted into an existing communication line with a wavelength-division multiplexing (WDM) analogy.
Switch modules using the proposed sensor were inserted into an actual communication line and the influence on the
communication of the switch modules was examined. The communication link broke when approximately 21 dB is
inflicted a loss on the communication light of 1.31-μm wavelength by the switch modules, the WDM filters and a fiber-optic
coupler in the communication line. Because the amount of loss is the maximum allowable for a communication
instrument, the proposed sensor has been clarified to have only the loss characteristic. If the loss is controlled to within
tolerance for the communication wavelength, a measurement function can be added to a communication line by a
comparatively simple method. It was also shown that a combined optical fiber network can be achieved, where the
intensity of the communication light is measured. The combined method is highly cost effective, because it is not
necessary to have a separate light source for measurement, WDM filters, and other elements in the communication line.
In recent years, unrestrained monitoring human posture and action is a field of increasing interest in the welfare of the
elderly and the sport-biomechanics. The scope is this study is that we develop a wearable sensing clothes, which can
detect entire body posture and motion using a hetero-core optic fiber sensor. This newly developed sensor can offers
several advantages such as the simplicity of structure and fabrication, the stable single mode based operation, the
temperature independent property, and the precise loss controllability on given macro bending. These properties are
suitable for implementing unrestrained wearable clothes. In this paper, for monitoring flexion of joint without the
disturbance of the rucks in the clothes, we proposed and fabricated the improved module structured in the joint ranging
0-90 degree. Additionally, in order to reduce the number of transmission line to be added due to monitoring the whole
body posture and motion, we tested that two hetero-core sensors which are tandem placed in a single transmission line
have been discriminated by the temporal differential of the optical loss. As a result, we have successfully demonstrated
that the wearable sensing clothes could monitor arm motion and human walking without restraint to human daily
behavior.
A Hetero-Core Splice Fiber Optic Sensor has a very simple structure in which a short-length, different core-size fiber is inserted in a single-mode-fiber network line with a low transmission loss for the wavelength of 1.31μm. In this study, a displacement sensor has been newly developed using a hetero-core spliced fiber optic element in a form of simple module structure and has been evaluated in terms of the accuracy as an OTDR(Optical Time Domain Reflectometer)-based measurement, for the purpose of the full-scale environmental monitoring. The developed sensor module is designed to have a coverage sensitive to a relatively large displacement in the range 0-5mm, for which a simple displacement-macrobending conversion mechanism has been adopted. A nickel alloy Invar with an extremely low
linear expansion coefficient is used for the main parts of the module. Displacement is given to the module with a highly accurate micrometer of a minimum resolution of 0.5μm. The sensitivity showed a tendency proportional to the insertion length of hetero-core portion in the range from 1 to 2mm. The experiment promisingly showed sufficient reproducibility in the sensing operation with the accuracy less than 0.1% to the full span displacement of 5mm. Additionally, a pressure gauge using a hetero-core spliced fiber optic element has been newly developed in a form of module structure by applying the developed displacement sensor. The pressure gauge is designed to measure the change in length of a bellows due to pressurized air. The experiment achieved the measurement accuracy 0.3%[%FS] with highly showing the capability of all-light wave-based liquid level monitoring as a first demonstration based on a single mode fiber transmission concept, which could be very useful for environmental preservation.
A shape sensor technique has been developed for the real-time measurement of distortion sensitive plane slab structures using a hetero-core splice fiber optic sensor. It has been found that the optical loss of hetero-core fiber sensing element monotonically increased with bending action of hetero-core portion. This sensor was applied to measure distortion in plane shape. In addition to the unique sensing capability of hetero-core sensors, we employed an LD/PD system in order to realize a cost effective real-time measurements which enabled us to carry out an accurate detection with a small standard deviation in the temporal stability of 0.004V. The developed plane shape sensor consisted of 3 hetero-core sensor elements properly arranged with 45-degree crossing angles, with producing a displacement resolution of 0.5mm for 20mm dynamic range.
A displacement sensor has been newly developed using a hetero-core spliced fiber optic element in a form of simple module structure and evaluated in terms of the accuracy, reproducibility, and sensitivity as an OTDR-based, tandem connected displacement detector, for the purpose of the full-scale environmental monitoring. The developed sensor module is designed to be sensitive to a relatively large displacement in the range 0-5mm, for which a simple displacement-macrobending conversion mechanism in the module produces the change in the sensor transmission loss ranging from 0 to a few dB. The initial insertion loss only due to a hetero-core portion was 0.3dB. The sensitivity showed a tendency proportional to the insertion length of hetero-core portion in the range from 1 to 2mm. In contrast to conventional fiber distortion sensors such as FBG (Fiber Bragg Grating) and BOTDR (Brillouin Optical Time Domain Reflectometer), the hetero-core technique introduced in this work shows no temperature dependence in its sensor principle since the use of hetero-core makes it possible that change in backward Rayleigh scattering can be successfully amplified with a relatively large curvature. The experiment promisingly showed sufficient reproducibility the sensing operation with the accuracy less than 0.1% to the full span displacement of 5mm.
Access to the requested content is limited to institutions that have purchased or subscribe to SPIE eBooks.
You are receiving this notice because your organization may not have SPIE eBooks access.*
*Shibboleth/Open Athens users─please
sign in
to access your institution's subscriptions.
To obtain this item, you may purchase the complete book in print or electronic format on
SPIE.org.
INSTITUTIONAL Select your institution to access the SPIE Digital Library.
PERSONAL Sign in with your SPIE account to access your personal subscriptions or to use specific features such as save to my library, sign up for alerts, save searches, etc.