Weak Fiber Bragg Gratings Research Articles

Sub-kHz Linewidth Fiber Laser via Weak Fiber Bragg Grating Enabled Self-Injection Locking

Sub-kHz Linewidth Fiber Laser via Weak Fiber Bragg Grating Enabled Self-Injection Locking

Maglev train high-precision positioning technology based on FBG array time division multiplexing

The positioning system is crucial in operating, controlling and monitoring maglev trains. This study proposes a maglev train positioning technology based on weak Fiber Bragg Grating (wFBG) sensing array time division multiplexing (TDM). The onboard Halbach permanent magnet array generates a traveling wave magnetic field that follows the train movement. The wFBG magnetic sensor array fixed on the track senses the magnetic field changes which cause periodical variation in sensors’ center wavelength. The relative position of the onboard Halbach array and the sensors on the track can be determined with the changes in center wavelength. Therefore, train positioning can be achieved. A rotating motor equipped with a circumferentially arranged magnet array is utilized for simulation experiment to verify the frequency response characteristics of the magnetic sensor. The result is that the operating frequency range of the sensor is at most 160 Hz so the sensor can be applied to positioning under the theoretical speed of 23 km/h. A small-scale experiment containing nine sensors is also conducted, which achieves relative positioning accuracy of 20 mm and absolute positioning accuracy of 540 mm, demonstrating the feasibility of the positioning technology. This study introduces the FBG TDM technology into maglev train positioning and provides new ideas about maglev train positioning.

Research on distributed strain monitoring of a bridge based on a strained optical cable with weak fiber Bragg grating array.

The foundation of an intelligent highway network is the construction of a high-density distributed strain monitoring system, which is based on sensing elements that can sensitively capture external information. In this research, the development and application for the structure of a novel strained optical fiber cable based on the weak fiber Bragg grating (wFBG) arrays are discussed. A modulation and demodulation solution of wavelength division multiplexing combined with time division multiplexing is developed by utilizing the property by which the wavelength of the strained optical fiber cable is periodically switched. Further, the strain transfer model of the optical cable is analyzed hierarchically using the theory of elasticity. The strain transfer coefficients of the overhanging region and the gluing region are combined to deduce the sensitivity model of the strained optical fiber cable. Moreover, the finite element technique is integrated to optimize the structural parameters of the optical cable for high-sensitivity or large-scale range. The strained optical fiber cable based on wFBG arrays is applied to a steel-concrete composite bridge. The static and dynamic loading tests show that the sensing optical cable can be monitored for strain variation in order to realize the functions of lane identification, weighing vehicle tonnage as well as velocity discrimination.

OFDR shape sensor based on a femtosecond-laser-inscribed weak fiber Bragg grating array in a multicore fiber.

An optical frequency domain reflectometry (OFDR) shape sensor was demonstrated based on a femtosecond-laser-inscribed weak fiber Bragg grating (WFBG) array in a multicore fiber (MCF). A WFBG array consisting of 60 identical WFBGs was successfully inscribed in each core along a 60 cm long MCF using the femtosecond-laser point-by-point technology, where the length and space of each WFBG were 2 and 8 mm, respectively. The strain distribution of each core in two-dimensional (2D) and three-dimensional (3D) shape sensing was successfully demodulated using the traditional cross correlation algorithm, attributed to the accurate localization of each WFBG. The minimum reconstruction error per unit length of the 2D and 3D shape sensors has been improved to 1.08% and 1.07%, respectively, using the apparent curvature vector method based on the Bishop frame.

Gas pipeline leakage detection and location by using w-FBG array based micro-strain sensing technology

In addressing the significant security concerns associated with urban natural gas transportation, particularly the potential catastrophic consequences of leaks, this paper introduces a novel approach for detecting and locating leaks in natural gas pipelines using weak fiber Bragg grating (w-FBG) array micro-strain sensing technology. The field pipeline model is established, w-FBG array is applied to pipeline leakage experiment, and the pipeline leakage is detected by analyzing the change trend of micro-strain. The pipeline leakage experiments under different pressures were carried out. The experimental results show that there is a good linear relationship between the pipeline leakage pressure and the wavelength change of w-FBG, and the linearity is greater than 0.99, which is consistent with the theoretical analysis and verifies the applicability of w-FBG. According to the characteristics of micro-strain transfer in pipeline leakage process, a ‘abrupt change point’ capturing method based on peak to peak slope and threshold judgment is proposed. Results indicate that the proposed algorithm effectively detects pipeline leaks and accurately locates the point of leakage, with a positioning error of approximately 0.5 m. Compared with the traditional method, the proposed method has higher precision.

Sensitivity Enhancement of Fiber-Optic Accelerometers Based on the Weak Fiber Bragg Grating Array by Inscribing in Thin-Cladding Fiber

Sensitivity Enhancement of Fiber-Optic Accelerometers Based on the Weak Fiber Bragg Grating Array by Inscribing in Thin-Cladding Fiber

Monitoring Technology of Surrounding Rock Deformation Based on IWFBG Sensing Principle and Its Application

AbstractTo address the challenge of achieving precise real-time monitoring of significant deformation in deep roadway surrounding rock, a quasi-distributed strain-sensing cable (SSC), which has a spatial resolution of 1 m, was developed based on the principle of Identical Weak Fiber Bragg Gratings. The performance of SSC has been evaluated through a series of calibration tests, revealing a range of 0%–3%, an accuracy level of 0.5%, a strain sensitivity measuring at 1.23 pm/με, and a temperature sensitivity recorded as 10.78 pm/℃. Furthermore, a real-time deformation monitoring system has been established to monitor rock deformation, consisting of SSC, supporting installation equipment, demodulation equipment, and monitoring software. Moreover, the proposed methodology was applied in the deep roadway of Guqiao coal mine. The results showed that the maximum surface displacement of the roadway is 103.47 mm, while the lateral contrast error stands at 5%. The maximum strain value of the surrounding rock measures 27,095 με. The depth of rock rupture zone is about 3 m, while the boundary of rock damage zone extends up to 6 m. This information serves as the foundation for determining the parameters of the roadway reinforcement support design.

Wide-range OFDR strain sensor based on the femtosecond-laser-inscribed weak fiber Bragg grating array.

A wide-range OFDR strain sensor was demonstrated based on femtosecond-laser-inscribed weak fiber Bragg grating (WFBG) array in standard SMF. A WFBG array consisting of 110 identical WFBGs was successfully fabricated along a 56 cm-long SMF. Compared with SMF, the cross-correlation coefficient of WFBG array was improved to 0.9 under the strain of 10,000 µε. The position deviation under the strain of 10,000 µε, i.e., 2.5 mm, could be accurately obtained and compensated simply by using peak finding algorithm. The maximum measurable strain of single- and multi-point strain sensing was up to 10,000 µε without using any additional algorithms, where the sensing spatial resolution was 5 mm.

Strength properties of femtosecond-induced defects and weak Bragg gratings for distributed optical fiber sensors

One of the possible ways to increasing the sensitivity of distributed fiber sensors is to create point defects or weak Bragg gratings in a sensitive optical fiber serving as artificial reflectors. Such reflectors can be created by means of femtosecond laser radiation. However, after the inscribing such structures, a noticeable decrease in the mechanical reliability of the sensor fiber can be observed, which can be critical for the fabrication and operation of sensor cables. The paper reports the results of a study of the point defects and weak fiber Bragg gratings strength characteristics created for distributed sensor systems, depending on the parameters of the laser radiation used to inscribe them.

Distributed Impact Wave Detection in Steel I-Beam with a Weak Fiber Bragg Gratings Array.

In this paper, acoustic, dynamic and static strain variations along a steel I-beam generated by an impact load are reconstructed simultaneously within a single measurement. Based on the chirped pulse φ-OTDR system with the single-shot measurement technique, both a higher strain-sensing resolution and a higher measurable vibration frequency are achieved. In addition, a weak fiber Bragg gratings array (WFBGA) with enhanced Rayleigh reflection is employed as a sensor, providing high signal-to-noise ratio Rayleigh traces, resulting in lower measurement uncertainty. In the experiments, the damping constant and fundamental frequency of the damped harmonic oscillator could then be measured based on the recovered strain variation profile for further structural health analysis. Compared with commercial strain gauges, linear potentiometers, and OFDR systems, the proposed sensing system ensures a distributed, quantitative, and high-frequency sensing ability, with an extensive range of potential applications.

Coded phase-sensitive OTDR with delayed polarization multiplexing for a WFBG array.

Polarization fading degrades the performance of phase-sensitive optical time-domain reflectometry (φ-OTDR) seriously and has to be suppressed. A novel scheme is proposed in this paper to combat polarization fading, which features a quite simple transceiver structure by exploiting both polarization diversity through delayed polarization multiplexing and the aperiodic autocorrelation of pseudorandom binary sequence. The components of Jones matrix of a sensing fiber are then shown at those four peaks of aperiodic autocorrelation and can be obtained directly without complicated computation to give a polarization independent phase variation due to vibration. Moreover, the scheme does not require stringent match between the delayed time and the spacing between sensors. The proposed scheme is demonstrated through experiment on a weak fiber Bragg grating (WFBG) array, which shows a high crosstalk rejection ratio among sensors of more than 50 dB and a high dynamic range of more than 30 dB.

A Real-time Seating Monitoring System for Smart Campuses Based on Quasi-distributed Weak Fiber Bragg Grating Array

A Real-time Seating Monitoring System for Smart Campuses Based on Quasi-distributed Weak Fiber Bragg Grating Array

Speckle-based interrogation system for quasi-distributed weak fiber Bragg gratings

Speckle-based interrogation system for quasi-distributed weak fiber Bragg gratings

A flexible multiplexing method of FBG sensors based on OFDR

A flexible multiplexing method of fiber Bragg grating (FBG) sensors based on optical frequency domain reflectometer (OFDR) is proposed in this paper to reduce the influence of spectral shadow effect on measurement and improve the reliability and measurement flexibility of FBG sensing network. In this method, the interrogation principle of FBG position and wavelength shift based on OFDR is analyzed, and as a guide, the flexible multiplexing FBG array is designed, in which multi-channel identical weak reflection FBGs are interrogated using a photoelectric detector. Meanwhile, the crosstalk beat noise generated by the flexible multiplexing FBG array is avoided so as to improve the performance of the measurement. The experiment results show that the method presented in this paper can achieve the flexible multiplexing of multi-channel FBGs with a single acquisition channel, while the measurement accuracy can be guaranteed.

High-Sensitivity Demodulation of Fiber-Optic Acoustic Emission Sensor Using Self-Injection Locked Diode Laser

We demonstrate the use of a self-injection locked distributed feedback (DFB) diode laser for high-sensitivity detection of acoustic emission (AE) using a fiber-coil Fabry-Perot interferometer (FPI) sensor. The FPI AE sensor is formed by two weak fiber Bragg gratings on the ends of a long span of coiled fiber, resulting in dense sinusoidal fringes in its reflection spectrum that allows the use of a modified phase-generated carrier demodulation method. The demodulation method does not require agile tuning capability of the laser, which makes the self-injection locked laser particularly attractive for the application. Experimental results indicate that the self-injection locked laser increases the signal-to-noise ratio by ∼33 dB compared with the free-running DFB laser. We studied the mode-hopping and laser instability of the self-injection locked laser and their effect on the demodulated signal and found that a mode hopping event causes an abrupt change in the laser intensity after the resonator inside the feedback loop. It manifests itself as a short transient signal in the output of the AE sensor system. With the identification of the mode-hopping events, the associated spurious signal can be identified and discarded in the signal processing without causing significant disruption to the sensor system. Experiment shows that the frequency of locked lasers could oscillate during unstable operations. The fundamental frequency is determined by the time delay of the feedback light and is typically much larger than the AE frequency. Therefore, the laser frequency oscillations have no negative effect on the performance of the sensor system. Finally, we show that the frequency of mode-hopping occurrence is related to the length of the feedback loop and reducing the loop length can effectively reduce the frequency of mode-hopping occurrence.

Large deflection deformation detection method of steel strip based on ultra-weak fiber bragg grating

Large deflection deformation of a steel strip is an important part of structural deformation detection. Deformation detection has been achieved using ultra-weak fiber Bragg gratings (FBGs), and the deformation reconstruction inversion algorithm of the tangent recursive algorithm has been analyzed theoretically. The strain distribution of the steel strip (2.5 m × 0.050 m × 0.002 m) with large deflection under different loads was obtained by pasting eight ultra-weak FBG sensors with spacing of 0.3 m on the surface of the strip. The steel strip deformation was inversed by tangent recursive algorithm, and deformation error under loading condition was analyzed by finite element simulation. The inversion value is compared with the theoretical value and the measured value, which proves the effectiveness and accuracy of the ultra weak FBG method proposed in this paper. Results show that the large deflection deformation of a steel strip under different loads can be reconstructed using the tangent recursive algorithm, and the relative errors of the coordinates of the sampling points are less than 6.21%. This paper provides a reference for the detection of structural deformation.

Research on Optical Fiber Composite Overhead Wire (OPGW) Lightning Monitoring Technology Based on Weak Fiber Bragg Grating Array

Optical fiber composite overhead ground wire (OPGW), which consists of ground wire and communication function, has been widely used in transmission lines. Its running state is directly related to the security of power grid communication. In reality, the main environmental factors leading to OPGW malfunction include icing, mountain fire, wind vibration, etc., especially lightning stroke. In this paper, an OPGW temperature monitoring method based on Weak Fiber Bragg Grating (WFBG) array is proposed. By monitoring the temperature change caused by lightning stroke, the lightning stroke level identification and lightning stroke location are realized. The test results show that the minimum lightning discharge identification can reach to 9 C and the lightning location resolution is better than 0.1 m. Compared with other lightning temperature monitoring methods, lightning grade identification and positioning accuracy can be improved by this method, and it has the advantages of high real-time FBG, which provides a new approach for lightning monitoring of OPGW.

Humidity Characteristics of a Weak Fiber Bragg Gratings Array Coated with Polyimide

Humidity Characteristics of a Weak Fiber Bragg Gratings Array Coated with Polyimide

Bridge Strain Measurement Based on Weak Fiber Bragg Grating Array

Bridge Strain Measurement Based on Weak Fiber Bragg Grating Array

Demodulation with Polarization Compensation for Weak Fiber Bragg Grating Array

Demodulation with Polarization Compensation for Weak Fiber Bragg Grating Array