Techonology Insight Report: Fiber Optic Sensors

Technology Insight Report
FIBER OPTIC SENSORS

A fiber optic sensor is a sensor that uses optical fiber either as the sensing element ("intrinsic sensors"), or as a means of relaying signals from a remote sensor to the electronics that process the signals ("extrinsic sensors"). Fibers have many uses in remote sensing. Depending on the application, fiber may be used because of its small size, or the fact that no electrical power is needed at the remote location, or because many sensors can be multiplexed along the length of a fiber by using different wavelengths of light for each sensor, or by sensing the time delay as light passes along the fiber through each sensor. Time delay can be determined using a device such as an optical time-domain reflectometer. This report takes a look into the patenting activity around fiber optic sensors uncovering the inventors, patents, the companies and the intellectual property history behind these devices.
Disclaimer: This report should not be construed as business advice and the insights are not to be used as the basis for investment or business decisions of any kind without your own research and validation. Gridlogics Technologies Pvt. Ltd disclaims all warranties whether express, implied or statutory, of reliability, accuracy or completeness of results, with regards to the information contained in this report.
2011 Gridlogics. All Rights Reserved. Patent iNSIGHT Pro is a trademark of Gridlogics Technologies Pvt. Ltd. Feedbacks and Comments on this report can be sent to feedback_tr@patentinsightpro.com
Brief History of Fiber Optic Sensor
Fiber optics, though used extensively in the modern world, is a fairly simple and old technology. Guiding of light by refraction, the principle that makes fiber optics possible, was first demonstrated by Daniel Colladon and Jacques Babinet in Paris in the early 1840s. John Tyndall included a demonstration of it in his public lectures in London a dozen years later. It was in the year 1956 that Kapany first officially introduced the term fiber optics. He defined fiber optics as the art of the active and passive guidance of light, in the ultraviolet, visible, and infrared regions of the spectrum, along transparent fibers through predetermined paths. Since then, fiber optics has been used in various photo-electronics devices, data processing, and photocopying systems. Today, optical fibers are primary components of global and local telecommunication systems. The primary method of transmitting information via optical fiber is digitally, that is, by sequences of optical pulses whose positions, widths, or occurrences can be modulated. The invention of the laser in 1962 immediately stimulated a revolution that designers created fiber optic sensors combining optical fibers and optoelectronic devices with the application of this coherent light source. Fiber optic sensors are attractive because they offer excellent sensitivity and dynamic range, compatibility with optical data transmission and processing, long lifetimes and potential, low cost and high reliability. They are immune to electromagnetic interference. Fiber optic sensors can also work in other hostile environments, where there may be high temperatures, high-voltage, corrosive materials, all-solid-state configurations, vibration and explosion hazards, and where traditional sensors and transducers do not work well. The lightweight and small sizes of these devices are critical in such areas as aerospace and provide substantial advantages to many products. The comparable low cost is another advantage of fiber optic sensors. With each new successful product the cost of existing and newly introduced components continues to drop, opening the door for new waves of fiber sensor products. These developments include the replacement of conventional spinning mass-inertial sensors with fiber optic gyros, widespread use of fiber optic sensors in process control and manufacturing, electrical isolation of patients in medicine, and fiber optic health monitoring systems in the aerospace and construction industries.
Overview
With the help of Patent iNSIGHT Pro, we will analyze the all the patent data around Fiber Optic Sensors to find answers to the following: What does the IP publication trend for Fiber Optic Sensors look like and how has activity around filings evolved? Who are the top assignees or key players in Fiber Optic Sensors and what are their technology wise trends? How is the Assignee portfolio spread across different sensor types and application areas?
To get deeper insights the patent set has been classified as follows: By Types Extrinsic/Hybrid Fiber Optic Sensors a) Bragg Grating Sensors b) Extrinsic Fabry Perot Fiber Sensors Intrinsic Fiber Optic Sensors a) Distributed Sensors b) Interferometric Sensors c) Intrinsic Fabry Perot Fiber Sensors d) Microbend Sensors
Fiber Optic Electronic Parts Image Source:
http://communication.howstuffworks.com/fiber-optic-communications/fiber-optic.htm
By Applications Chemical/ Bio Detection Defense Encoder Plates/ Disks Industrial Applications a) Humidity b) Induction Heating c) Plastic Film Mode Coupling Infrastructure a) Bridges i) Suspension Bridges ii) Truss b) Buildings c) Tunnels Oil and Gas Pyrometers Raman Scattering Rayleigh Scattering Transportation a) Acoustic Sensors
b) Automobiles c) Fire Detection Youngs Modulus
The illustration below shows the different categories prepared and the number of records in each. The categorization involved defining a search strategy for each topic and then conducting the search using the Advanced Searching capability in Patent iNSIGHT Pro. Details of search strings used for each category are given in Appendix B.
The Search Strategy Using the commercial patent database PatBase as our data source we used the following search query to create our patent set. TAC Title Abstract Claims
(TAC= ((fiber w/3 optic) w/3 (detector* or sensor* or demodulator* or "sensing element")))
The query was directed to search through the title, abstract and claims and a patent set of 1963 records with one publication per family was generated. The publications included in the report are updated as of 14th July, 2011.
Publication Trend
What has been the IP publication trend for Fiber Optic Sensors?
The patent publication trend in the form of a bar graph shows activity from as early as the 1960s and 1970s, although the number of filings remained relatively low all the way up till the year 2000. From 2001 which saw a jump to 80 patents published, there was increase in number of publications from 2006 which saw more than 100 patents. Its clear the current activity around these technologies is likely to continue seeing more innovation in the near future.
How we did it? Once the patents were populated in Patent iNSIGHT Pro, the publication trend chart was generated on a single click using the dashboard tool.
Top Assignees
Who have been the top assignees or the key players within this industry?
The top assignees are:

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. NORTHROP GRUMMAN CORP HONEYWELL INC. US NAVY BAKER HUGHES INC. ABB GROUP WEATHERFORD INC. SIEMENS AG GENERAL ELECTRIC CO. BOEING CO. SCHULMBERGER TECHNOLOGY CORP 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. UNIV STANFORD LOCKHEED MARTIN CORP HALLIBURTON INC. VIRGINIA TECH INTELLECTUAL PROPERTIES INC. CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY US ARMY MECHANICAL TECHNOLOGY INC NXTPHASE CORP FIBERCHEM INC. GENERAL MOTORS CORP
How we did it? Once the patents were populated in Patent iNSIGHT Pro, the assignee cleanup tools were used to normalize the names. Different cleanup tools were leveraged: To locate assignees for unassigned records To clean up records having multiple assignees To locate the correct assignee names for US records using the US assignments database To merge assignees that resulted from a merger or acquisition or name change. Please refer Appendix A for more details on Assignee merging. Once the Assignee names were cleaned up, the dashboard tool within Patent iNSIGHT Pro was used to find the top 20 assignees within the given patent set. A visual graph was created based on the results of the top assignees with the number of patents alongside each one. The complete Assignee table in available in the following Excel file: http://www.patentinsightpro.com/techreports/0811/List%20of%20Assignees.xls
Top Countries
How is research in Fiber Optic Sensors spread across different countries? In terms of regional pockets where patent protection is being sought most frequently for these technologies, the US is in the lead, followed by JP and AU. The map below breaks down slot machine patenting activity priority country wise from 1950. The table below ranks the top 10 priority countries and therefore provides an indication of where the innovation in this technology area is originating:
Country Code US DE CN JP RU KR GB
Total 1324 180 83 72 36 32 25
How we did it? The map was generated using the Priority country coverage map option provided in the dashboard tool within Patent iNSIGHT Pro.
Assignee - Key Statistics

Here we summarize key parameters of Top 15 Assignees such as filing trend, Avg. number of Forward citations per record, Top inventors in each Assignee, Top Co-Assignees and Coverage of underlying patent families
Coverage (Includes families) Total No. of Record s Average No. of Fwd Cites per Patents Filing Trend ( Absolute ) Filing Year Range Key Inventor (Top 5) CoAssignees
Assignee
WO
NORTHROP GRUMMAN CORP
98 (5%)
10.2
19772009
HALL DAVID B(14) CORDOVA AMADO(13) LAYTON MICHAEL R(8) PAVLATH GEORGE A(7) FERSHT SAMUEL N(7) SANDERS GLEN A(7) STRANDJORD LEE K(5) ANG DICK(3) BLAKE JAMES N(3) BERGH RALPH A(3) KERSEY ALAN D(13) BUCARO JOSEPH A(11) LAGAKOS NICHOLAS(9) DANDRIDGE ANTHONY(7) DEUS III ANTONIO L(4) TUBEL PAULO S(8) HARRELL JOHN W(8) PAULO S TUBEL(7) JOHNSON MICHAEL H(6) JOHN W HARRELL(5) BOHNERT KLAUS(24) BRAENDLE HUBERT(10) FRANK ANDREAS(6) GABUS PHILIPPE(5) NEHRING
No CoAssignee Present
32
HONEYWEL L INC.
63 (3.2%)
9.76
19782010
SANDIA CORP(1)
17
US NAVY
60 (3.1%)
16.45
19762010
51
BAKER HUGHES INC
44 (2.3%)
6.7
19842010
11
ABB GROUP
36 (1.8%)
5.44
19822011
BOHNERT KLAUS(2) BRAENDLE HUBERT(1) FRANK ANDREAS(1 ) WUEST ROBERT(1)
AU
0 0 0 7 0
US
DE
EP
JP
JUERGEN(3)
WEATHERF ORD INC.
33 (1.7%)
11.73
19962008
MARON ROBERT J(5) KERSEY ALAN D(5) GYSLING DANIEL L(5) OGLE PETER C(4) JONES RICHARD T(3)
SIEMENS AG
32 (1.6%)
2.62
19752010
SCHOBER HERBERT(4) WILLSCH MICHAEL(3) HAPPEL TOBIAS(3) BOSSELMANN THOMAS(2) KNOCHE WOLFRAM(2)
SCHOBER HERBERT(3 ) BOSSELMA NN THOMAS(1) FRANKE MARTIN(1) FRENZEL HENRYK(1) GAMULESC U TUDOR ION(1)
GENERAL ELECTRIC CO
29 (1.5%)
7.31
19862009
XIA HUA(7) RUGGIERO ERIC JOHN(5) MCCARTHY KEVIN THOMAS(4) FELDMAN SANDRA F(2) RODRIGUEZ ERDMENGER RODRIGO(2) UDD ERIC(10) CAHILL RICHARD F(3) THERIAULT JOHN P(3) MICHAL RONALD J(2) KHOSHNEVISAN MOHSEN(1)
10
BOEING CO
26 (1.3%)
17.73
19792007
12
SCHLUMBE RGER TECHNOLO GY CORP
23 (1.2%)
4.22
19982011
YAMATE TSUTOMU(6) SCHROEDER ROBERT J(6) RAMOS ROGERIO T(5) MADHAVAN RAGHU(4) UDD ERIC(2)
PRAD RES AND DEV LTD(3) PEIRCE IAN(2) RAMOS ROGERIO TADEU(2) ROBERTS DAMON(2) ALLIOT VINCENT(1)
UNIV STANFORD
21 (1.1%)
18.14
19812010
SHAW HERBERT J(10) KIM BYOUNG Y(6) DIGONNET MICHEL J F(4) PAVLATH GEORGE A(3) KINO GORDON S(3)
LOCKHEED MARTIN CORP.
15 (0.8%)
16.87
19852003
MUHS JEFFREY D(4) ANDREWS JEFFREY P(2) TOBIN KENNETH W(1) GUERCI JR CARL F(1) MCCLINTOCK JOSEPH A(1) SKINNER NEAL G(7) BERTHOLD JOHN W(4) RODNEY PAUL F(2) SHAH VIMAL V(2) LOPUSHANSKY RICHARD L(2) WANG ANBO(8) MURPHY KENT A(4) CLAUS RICHARD O(3) ZHU YIZHENG(2) WANG XINGWEI(2)
11
HALLIBURT ON INC.
13 (0.7%)
4.69
20012010
VIRGINIA TECH INTELLECT UAL PROPERTIE S INC.
13 (0.7%)
9.62
19912007
FURUKAWA ELECTRIC CO LTD(1) LUNA INNOVATIO NS INC(1) LEWIS NATHAN S(1) SANNER ROBERT D(1) SEVERIN ERIK J(1) SMITHS DETECTION INC(1) US AS REPRESEN TED BY THE ADMINSTRA TOR OF NASA(1)
CALIFORNI A INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLO GY
12 (0.6%)
4.33
19852008
LEWIS NATHAN S(9) SEVERIN ERIK J(5) GRUBBS ROBERT H(3) SANNER ROBERT D(2) KELSO DAVID M(1)
How we did it? In order to compress all the information into a single report, we used the 360 series of reports available in the software. From the Assignee 360 report options, we selected Top 15 Assignees and the different pieces of information we wanted to include in the singular display and then ran the report. The generated report was then exported to Excel using the option provided for the same.
Inventor - Key Statistics

Here we summarize key parameters of Top 15 Inventors such as filing trend, average number of forward citations per record, key associated companies and top 5 co-inventors.
Inventor
Average No. of Total Fwd No. of Cites Records per Patents
Filing Trend ( Absolute )
Filing Year Range
Key Assignees (Top 5)
Co-Inventors
BOHNERT KLAUS
26 (1.3%)
4.04
1988-2011
ABB GROUP(26) BOHNERT KLAUS(2) WUEST ROBERT(1) BRAENDLE HUBERT(1) FRANK ANDREAS(1)
BRAENDLE HUBERT DR(11) FRANK ANDREAS(6) GABUS PHILIPPE(5) NEHRING JUERGEN(3) WUEEST ROBERT(3)
PAULO S TUBEL
25 (1.3%)
12.4
1997-2006
BAKER HUGHES INC(20) SENSOR HIGHWAY LTD(4) TUBEL PAULO S(1)
JOHN W HARRELL(22) KURT A HICKEY(12) JOHNSON MICHAEL H(11) WILLIAMS GLYNN R(7) LEMBECKE JEFFREY J(6)
KERSEY ALAN D
23 (1.2%)
19.22
1988-2005
US NAVY(13) WEATHERFORD INC.(5) CIDRA CORP(4) VILLARRUEL CARL A(1) KERSEY ALAN D(1)
DANDRIDGE ANTHONY(5) BAILEY TIMOTHY J(4) FERNALD MARK R(4) GYSLING DANIEL L(3) PUTNAM MARTIN A(3)
JOHN W HARRELL
22 (1.1%)
11.32
1997-2006
BAKER HUGHES INC(20) SENSOR HIGHWAY LTD(2)
PAULO S TUBEL(22) JOHNSON MICHAEL H(11) KURT A HICKEY(10) LEMBECKE JEFFREY J(6)
BIDIGARE BRIAN(5)
WLODARCZYK MAREK T
20 (1%)
13.85
1986-2007
WLODARCZYK MAREK T(9) GENERAL MOTORS CORP(7) POORMAN THOMAS J(4) C.R. BARD INC.(3) KABALA JERZY A(1)
POORMAN THOMAS J(4) CAMPBELL JAMES A(2) COLETTA LUCIANO(2) KRAGE MARK K(2) TANG DAH LAIN(2)
UDD ERIC
17 (0.9%)
17.35
1983-2008
BOEING CO(10) UDD ERIC(3) BLUE ROAD RESEARCH INC.(2) SCHLUMBERGER TECHNOLOGY CORP(2) CALVERT SEAN G(1)
CAHILL RICHARD F(3) THERIAULT JOHN P(3) MICHAL RONALD J(2) RAMOS ROGERIO T(2) SCHROEDER ROBERT J(2)
BLAKE JAMES N
16 (0.8%)
7.5
1993-2010
NXTPHASE CORP(7) TEXAS AM UNIVERSITY SYSTEM(5) HONEYWELL INC.(3) BLAKE JAMES N(2) ALSTOM TECHNOLOGY LTD(1)
SANDERS GLEN A(3) GLASOW CARL(2) BERGH RALPH A(1) RAHMATIAN FARNOOSH(1) SHORT SHAYNE X(1)
BERTHOLD JOHN W
15 (0.8%)
4.4
1989-2009
HALLIBURTON INC.(4) BABCOCK AND WILCOX CO(3) DAVIDSON INSTRUMENTS INC.(3) MCDERMOTT TECHNOLOGY INC(2) J W B C LLC(1)
LOPUSHANSKY RICHARD L(5) JEFFERS LARRY A(4) REED STUART E(2) BUSH IRA JEFFREY(1) COCKING SETH A(1)
HALL DAVID B
15 (0.8%)
4.8
1997-2009
NORTHROP GRUMMAN CORP(15)
FERSHT SAMUEL N(3) BATHELT CARL(1) BUNN JR JAMES S(1) FREDERICK DONALD A(1) GOLDNER ERIC L(1)
CORDOVA AMADO
13 (0.7%)
7.62
1994-2001
NORTHROP GRUMMAN CORP(13)
FERSHT SAMUEL N(3) SURABIAN GLENN M(3) RAHN JOHN P(2) BILINSKI DONALD J(1) CARLSON KURT RANDY(1)
JOHNSON MICHAEL H
13 (0.7%)
12.23
1998-2007
JOHN W HARRELL(11) PAULO S TUBEL(11) KURT A HICKEY(6) LEMBECKE JEFFREY J(6) BIDIGARE BRIAN(5)
KURT A HICKEY
12 (0.6%)
4.5
1998-2006
PAULO S TUBEL(12) JOHN W HARRELL(10) JOHNSON MICHAEL H(6) LEMBECKE JEFFREY J(6) NIGEL LEGGETT(6)
SHAW HERBERT J
12 (0.6%)
17.83
1979-2003
UNIV STANFORD(10) US AIRFORCE(1) IFOS INC(1)
KIM BYOUNG Y(5) BROOKS JANET L(2) FESLER KENNETH A(2) PAVLATH GEORGE A(2) TOYAMA KEIICHIRO(2)
BRAENDLE HUBERT DR
11 (0.6%)
4.18
1997-2008
ABB GROUP(11) BOHNERT KLAUS(1) BRAENDLE HUBERT(1)
BOHNERT KLAUS(11) GABUS PHILIPPE(4) ANDERSSON LARS(1) BODOR PATRICK(1) FRANK ANDREAS(1)
BUCARO JOSEPH A
11 (0.6%)
11.64
1978-2010
US NAVY(11)
LAGAKOS NICHOLAS(8) CAROME EDWARD F(2) DARDY HENRY D(1) HOUSTON BRIAN H(1) JARZYNSKI JACEK(1)
How we did it? In order to compress all the information into a single report, we used the 360 series of reports available in the software. From the Inventor 360 report options, we selected the different pieces of information we wanted to include in the singular display and then ran the report. The generated report as then exported to Excel using the option provided for the same.
Assignee portfolio across different sensor types and application areas

Categories Intrinsic Fiber Optic Sensors Extrinsic/Hybrid Fiber Optic Sensors Extrinsic Fabry-Perot Fiber Sensors Application Areas
Intrinsic Fabry-Perot Fiber Sensors
Key Assignees
Chemical/ Bio-detection
Interferometric Sensors
Bragg Grating Sensors
Industrial Applications
NORTHROP GRUMMAN CORP WEATHERFORD INC. US NAVY BAKER HUGHES INC SCHLUMBERGER TECHNOLOGY CORP HALLIBURTON INC. GENERAL ELECTRIC CO BOEING CO ABB GROUP VIRGINIA TECH INTELLECTUAL PROPERTIES INC. UNIV STANFORD SENSOR HIGHWAY LTD LUNA INNOVATIONS INC
22
10
5 12
22 5
1 1
1 5 1 8
6 1 12 1 2
5 7 11 1 1
10
10
8 2 2 4 1 1 4
1 1 1
2 3 1
3 3 8 1
1 1
1 3
1 3
1 1
Encoder Plates/Disks
Distributed Sensors
Rayleigh Scattering
Microbend Sensors
Raman Scattering
Youngs Modulus
Mode Coupling
Transportation
Infrastructure
Oil and Gas
Defense
GENERAL MOTORS CORP US ARMY NXTPHASE CORP LOCKHEED MARTIN CORP. HONEYWELL INC. UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY SIEMENS AG REGENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY 1 2 1
1 1
1 1 1
1 2 1 1
In the above matrix leading patent holdings within each category of sensor types and application areas have been highlighted with stronger shades of orange for larger number of patents within that category.
How we did it? The clusters of types and application areas that were created for the previous analysis were correlated using the cooccurrence analyzer and then the resulting matrix was exported to Excel using the option provided for the same.
Keywords vs. Fiber Optic Technologies White Space Analysis

What are the top keywords in Fiber Optic technologies and how do they vary across the different fiber optic sensor types? For this a cleaned list of keywords that were generated from the Title, Abstract and Claims. Such a table can be used for preliminary insights toward White Space Analysis. (Whitespaces are gaps in a technology landscape that have potential for attaining exclusivity.) As can be seen in the table below the concept of Electromagnetic Sensor, Displacement Sensor havent been used in any of the Intrinsic and Extrinsic Fiber Optic Sensors. Such an indication can be further verified via patent search to confirm existence of a white space.
How we did it? First the various types of Fiber Optic Sensors were identified by online research. Then by using a combination of semantic analysis tools such as the clustering tools and searching tools available in Patent iNSIGHT Pro, patents were categorized under the different types. A clean set of keywords was generated using Patent iNSIGHT Pro using a combination of keyword list Cleanup and Auto Custer features. A co-occurrence matrix was generated to map the keywords with types. The generated matrix was exported to Excel.
Fiber Optic Sensor types vs. Key Application Areas

How do various fiber optic sensors compare across key application areas?
In the chart below Bragg Grating Sensorsare extensively used in Oil and Gas with 21 records. Distributed sensors are used in Raman Scattering.
How we did it? The clusters of types and application areas that were created for the previous analysis were correlated using the cooccurrence analyzer and then the resulting matrix for converted into a bubble chart.
Sample Portfolio Comparison of Northrop Grumman Corporation vs. other top Assignees
How does the portfolio landscape of Northrop Grumman Corporation compare with other companies? What are the overlaps in the portfolios?
The map shows patents of top five assignees clustered together based on the basis of application areas. The map also shows the overlapping areas and patents in respective categories.
How we did it? The VizMAP tool in Patent iNSIGHT Pro was used for this analysis. First the patents of the top five assignees were loaded on the map. The map was then analyzed in the context mode wherein each patent record is placed across to the contextual similarity with other records. The contextual similarity was calculated over Title, Abstract and Claims.
Appendix A: Key Assignee Normalization Table

Note: The tables below include normalization from US Assignments database and so some assignees may appear under multiple normalized names. NORTHROP GRUMMAN CORP LITTON SYSTEMS INC LITTON SYSTEMS INC US NORTHROP GRUMMAN GUIDANCE AND GRUMMAN AEROSPACE CORP NORTHROP CORP GRUMMAN AEROSPACE CORP LITTON SYSTEMS CANADA SPERRY MARINE INC TELEDYNE RYAN AERONAUTICAL DIV NORTHROP GRUMMAN CORP LITEF GMBH HONEYWELL INC. HONEYWELL INC ALLIED SIGNAL INC MCCLARY CHARLES R HONEYWELL INT INC HONEYWELL ASCA INC HODARA HENRI HONEYWELL INC MEASUREX CORP FERRAR CARL M WINSTON JR CHARLES R ALLIED SIGNAL INC L 3 COMM CORP HONEYWELL FED MFG AND TECHNOLOGI SANDIA NAT LAB BAKER HUGHES INC. BAKER HUGHES INC WESTERN ATLAS INTERNATIONAL INC WESTERN ATLAS INT INC BAKER HUGHES CORP ABB GROUP ASEA BROWN BOVERI ABB RESEARCH LTD ABB TECHNOLOGY AG SKOLD LEIF, AKESSON ULF, ANDERSSON DAG PETERSSON YNGVE ASEA AB WESTINGHOUSE ELECTRIC CORP ASEA AB BBC BROWN BOVERI AND CIE ASEA BROWN BOVERI ABB FLEX AUTOMATION INC
Appendix B: Search Strings Used for Categorization Categorization: Types of Fiber Optic Sensors
1. Extrinsic/Hybrid Fiber Optic Sensors a) Bragg Grating Sensors Bragg Grating Sensors (TAC) contains ((Bragg w/3 grating*)or FBG) 160 results b) Extrinsic Fabry Perot Fiber Sensors Extrinsic Fabry Perot Fiber Sensors (TAC) contains (fabry-perot and (extrinsic or 18 results external or hybrid)) 2. Intrinsic Fiber Optic Sensors a) Distributed Sensors Distributed Sensors (TAC) contains (distributed w/3 sensor*) 74 results b) Interferometric Sensors Interferometric Sensors (TAC) contains (interferomet* w/3 sensor*) 114 results c) Intrinsic Fabry Perot Fiber Etalon Sensors Intrinsic Fabry Perot Fiber Sensors (TAC) contains (fabry-perot and (intrinsic or 13 results internal)) d) Microbend Sensors Microbend Sensors (TAC) contains(microbend w/3 sensor*) 14 results Categorization: Applications 1. Chemical/ Bio Detection Chemical/ Bio Detection (TAC) contains ((chem* or bio*) w/5 (detect* 71 results or monitor*))
2. Defense Defense (TAC) contains (defense or aerospace or 37 results aeronautic* or aerodynamic* or navy or naval* or army or airforce or aircraft or airplane or aerosystems or military or weapon* or submarine* or missile*) 3. Encoder Plates/ Disks Encoder Plates/ Disks (TAC) contains (encode* w/3 (plate* or disk*)) 2 results 4. Industrial Applications a) Humidity Humidity 44 results
(TAC) contains (humid* or dampness* or moist*) b) Induction Heating
(TAC) contains (induction w/3 heat*) c) Plastic Film
Induction Heating 3 results
(TAC) contains (plastic pre/3 film*) 5. Mode Coupling
Plastic Film 3 results
(TAC) contains (mode w/3 coupl*) 6. Infrastructure a) Bridges i) Suspension Bridges
Mode Coupling 9 results
Suspension Bridges (TAC) contains (suspension w/3 (line* or cable* 4 results or wire*)) ii) Truss (TAC) contains truss* Truss 2 results
b) Buildings Buildings 1 result
(TAC) contains building* c) Tunnels
(TAC) contains tunnel* 7. Oil and Gas
Tunnels 2 results
Oil and Gas (TAC) contains (oil* or gas or petro* or refin*) 190 results 8. Pyrometer Pyrometer 7 results
(TAC) contains pyrometer* 9. Raman Scattering
(TAC) contains Raman 10. Rayleigh Scattering
Raman Scattering 26 results
(TAC) contains (rayleigh or CRN) 11. Transportation a) Acoustic Sensors
Rayleigh Scattering 12 results
(TAC) contains (acoustic w/3 sensor*) b) Automobiles
Acoustic Sensors 82 results
Automobiles (TAC) contains ((traffic or vehic*) w/3 control* 6 results or monitor*) c) Fire Detection Fire Detection 5 results
(TAC) contains (fire w/3 detect*)
12. Youngs Modulus Youngs Modulus 13 results
( TAC ) contains ("youngs modulus")
Summary
Fiber optic sensors began as a by-product of optical fiber research and development. The first sensors were designed to measure the performance and status of an optical network. This report graphically analyzes fiber optic sensor markets from many perspectives, categorizes and highlights the key companies involved, defines unique keywords. This report also covers the global fiber optic sensors marketplace. It focuses particularly on the markets and opportunities for fiber optic sensors in defense, oil and gas exploration and drilling, medical, and industrial markets. The study considers future opportunities for new application markets.
About Patent iNSIGHT Pro

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Have a comment on this report? Mail us at feedback_tr@patentinsightpro.com
Sources & References

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fiber_optic_sensor http://www.rp-photonics.com/fiber_optic_sensors.html http://www.eaeeie.org/theiere_bratislava/1.html http://www.wikid.eu/index.php/Fiber_optic_sensing#Two_Main_Types_of_Optical_S ensors http://www.sensorwiki.org/doku.php/sensors/fibre_optic

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Technology Insight Report

FIBER OPTIC SENSORS

Brief History of Fiber Optic Sensor

Fiber Optic Electronic Parts Image Source:

b) Automobiles c) Fire Detection Youngs Modulus

The top assignees are:

Total 1324 180 83 72 36 32 25

Assignee - Key Statistics

NORTHROP GRUMMAN CORP

BAKER HUGHES INC

BOHNERT KLAUS(2) BRAENDLE HUBERT(1) FRANK ANDREAS(1 ) WUEST ROBERT(1)

WEATHERF ORD INC.

SCHLUMBE RGER TECHNOLO GY CORP

LOCKHEED MARTIN CORP.

VIRGINIA TECH INTELLECT UAL PROPERTIE S INC.

CALIFORNI A INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLO GY

Inventor - Key Statistics

Average No. of Total Fwd No. of Cites Records per Patents

Filing Trend ( Absolute )

Filing Year Range

Key Assignees (Top 5)

BAKER HUGHES INC(20) SENSOR HIGHWAY LTD(4) TUBEL PAULO S(1)

BAKER HUGHES INC(20) SENSOR HIGHWAY LTD(2)

NORTHROP GRUMMAN CORP(15)

NORTHROP GRUMMAN CORP(13)

BAKER HUGHES INC(11) SENSOR HIGHWAY LTD(2)

BAKER HUGHES INC(8) SENSOR HIGHWAY LTD(4)

UNIV STANFORD(10) US AIRFORCE(1) IFOS INC(1)

ABB GROUP(11) BOHNERT KLAUS(1) BRAENDLE HUBERT(1)

Assignee portfolio across different sensor types and application areas

Intrinsic Fabry-Perot Fiber Sensors

Bragg Grating Sensors

Oil and Gas

Keywords vs. Fiber Optic Technologies White Space Analysis

Fiber Optic Sensor types vs. Key Application Areas

Appendix A: Key Assignee Normalization Table

(TAC) contains (humid* or dampness* or moist*) b) Induction Heating

(TAC) contains (induction w/3 heat*) c) Plastic Film

Induction Heating 3 results

(TAC) contains (plastic pre/3 film*) 5. Mode Coupling

Plastic Film 3 results

(TAC) contains (mode w/3 coupl*) 6. Infrastructure a) Bridges i) Suspension Bridges

Mode Coupling 9 results

b) Buildings Buildings 1 result

(TAC) contains building* c) Tunnels

(TAC) contains tunnel* 7. Oil and Gas

(TAC) contains pyrometer* 9. Raman Scattering

(TAC) contains Raman 10. Rayleigh Scattering

Raman Scattering 26 results

(TAC) contains (rayleigh or CRN) 11. Transportation a) Acoustic Sensors

Rayleigh Scattering 12 results

(TAC) contains (acoustic w/3 sensor*) b) Automobiles

Acoustic Sensors 82 results

(TAC) contains (fire w/3 detect*)

12. Youngs Modulus Youngs Modulus 13 results

( TAC ) contains ("youngs modulus")

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Sources & References

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