Abstract
The Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical radio Telescope (FAST) currently holds the distinction of being the largest single-aperture telescope worldwide. To ensure its secure functioning, it is crucial to monitor the cable force on its active reflecting surface cable network structure. In this paper, a fibre Bragg grating (FBG) accelerometer is developed to acquire low-frequency vibration signals of the cables. The sensor’s cantilever beam structure enables high sensitivity measurement of low-frequency signals, while the symmetrical double fibre grating structure effectively eliminates the impact of temperature. The sensor’s specific limiting structure ensures its survival during transportation and installation. A series of laboratory tests have been performed, and they demonstrate the excellent measurement performance, temperature insensitivity and practical usefulness of the accelerometer. Ninety FBG accelerometers are successfully installed on the site of the FAST project, where they are precisely measuring and documenting the magnitude of force exerted on the edge cables.
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