Abstract
Fiber optic sensor technology has been under development for over 25 years, recently a major milestone has been reached- the introduction of the Fiber Optic Wide Aperture Array on the first Virginia class submarine. This paper will review the development of this technology, outlining the principles of operation and the technological developments that led to fiber optic interferometric sensors becoming viable for production in an advanced sonar system. The Fiber Optic Wide Aperture array is a large channel count planar array mounted on the side of the submarine, but fiber sensor technology is also being developed for both towed arrays (as a replacement for the Navy’s thin-line towed arrays) and for bottom mounted acoustic arrays for a number of Navy applications. This paper will describe the development of the fiber optic hydrophones for these applications as well as the optical interrogation techniques. One of the key features of fiber optic sensor technology is the ability to passively multiplex many hydrophone channels per fiber, several multiplexing techniques will also be described. Some of the issues and challenges of this technology, such as coherent noise for large channel count systems will also be briefly discussed.
Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
