A novel ber Bragg grating sensors multiplexing technique

Gao Hongwei
*
, Li Hongmin, Liu Bo, Zhang Hao, Luo Jianhua,
Cao Ye, Yuan Shuzhong, Zhang Weigang, Kai Guiyun, Dong Xiaoyi
Institute of Modern Optics, Nankai University, Tianjin 300071, China
Received 25 October 2004; received in revised form 15 March 2005; accepted 15 March 2005
Abstract
We bring forward a novel FBG sensor multiplexing technique based on the combination of wavelength- and spatial-
division multiplexing technique. Furthermore, the data acquisition parameter of the multiplexing sensing FBG system is
dened. With this technique, the FBG sensors system not only avoid frequently switching and improve the average
response speed, but also are able to enact data acquisition rule according to the data acquisition factor that is composed
with priority (PRI), the delay time and the wavelength shift of FBG sensors. Therefore, the smart FBG sensors
multiplexing system is more rational and smarter than the conventional counterpart. The simulate result and the exper-
iment work demonstrated that the average delay time of smart system is less than conventional ones and immune to the
scale size.
2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
PACS: 42.65.Sf
Keywords: Fiber Bragg gating; Wavelength-division multiplexing; Spatial-division multiplexing; The information factor; Smart
1. Introduction
One of the attractive advantages of an FBG sen-
sor system is the multiplexing capability [1,2].
Many multiplexing schemes have been proposed
based on techniques including time [3,4], space [5]
and wavelength-division multiplexing [2,6]. For
applications requiring a larger multiplexing gain,
a combination of the WDM, TDM and SDM tech-
niques may be used [710]. Among these tech-
niques, the WDM/SDM technology has several
advantages, such as simple structure, credibility
and feasibility, etc. But there are still some
disadvantages.
In this paper, we put forward a novel combina-
tion of WDM and SDM technology. The multi-
plexing technique only scan and demodulate
0030-4018/$ - see front matter 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.optcom.2005.03.027
*
Corresponding author. Tel.: +86 222 350 9849; fax: +86 222
350 8770.
E-mail address: ghw00@mail.nankai.edu.cn (H. Gao).
Optics Communications 251 (2005) 361366
www.elsevier.com/locate/optcom
FBG sensors whose peak wavelength is shifting.
That avoids the optical switch frequently switch-
ing, prolongs the life of optical switch and shortens
the delay time. Moreover, We bring forward the
data acquisition parameter concept that makes
the data acquisition rule is more rational. Com-
pared with the conventional WDM/SDM system,
the smart FBG sensor system is more exible
and smarter that is required in some large scale
or complex systems.
2. The conventional WDM/SDM technique
A primary advantage of using FBG for distrib-
uted sensing is that a great amount of sensors may
be interrogated along a single ber. WDM pro-
vides for tens sensors per ber, but SDM can mul-
tiply this number several times by re-using of the
spectrum of the source. With combination of
WDM and SDM illustrated in Fig. 1, light from
a super uorescent source (pumped Erbium doped
ber) propagates through a 3 dB coupler and an
optical switch (OS) to enter the sensing FBG ar-
rays. These arrays consist of sets of FBG sensors
whose peak wavelengths are dierent. Accord-
ingly, the reection light from FBG successively
returns to the detector. To re-using the super uo-
rescent source and detector, the conventional data
acquisition rule selects dierent channels by aim-
less frequently switching the optical switch. In
order to locate sensor positions, the multi-
wavelength signals that are aected by FBG array
are demodulated into single ones by an adjustable
narrow lter. Analyzing the electric signals that
come from optical detector, we can obtain the
information of the probing area.
3. The smart ber Bragg grating sensors system
The conventional WDM/SDM technology has
several advantages, such as simple structure, cred-
ibility and feasibility, etc. However, some disad-
vantages still remain:
(1) According to the conventional data acquisi-
tion rule, the optical switch aimless cycle
switching between dierent channels.
Whether the wavelength of FBG sensors
shifts or not, demodulation part has to scan
and demodulate every channel, which makes
the delay time longer. In order to shorten the
delay time, the optical switch has to be
switched as frequently as possible. Then,
with the limit switching number, the lifetime
of optical switcher is short. Therefore, the con-
ventional data acquisition rule is irrational.
(2) Whether important or not, whether how long
the delay time is, whether how much the
wavelength shifts, every optical channels
has the same priority to be demodulated.
The conventional data acquisition rule can-
not meet the smart demand of some large
scale or complex systems.
As shown in Fig. 2, a long period ber grating
(LPG), a 3 dB coupler and a photodetector are
placed in the front of every ber channel. As the
wavelength shifts, the output of photodetector
Broad Band
Source
3dB
Optical
Swithcer
Channel 2
FBG 21
FBG1n
FBGn1 FBGnn
Channel n
FBG2n
Channel 1
FBG11
Computer
Photo
Detector
Filter
Fig. 1. Scheme of the conventional WDM/SDM multiplexing FBG sensing system.
362 H. Gao et al. / Optics Communications 251 (2005) 361366
would change because of the convolution eect of
FBG and LPG [11]. According to the output of
photodetector, the computer judges which FBG
sensing channel detects the environmental uctua-
tion. While wavelength shifting, the demodulation
part only demodulates the channels whose wave-
lengths are shifting. Without aimless frequently
switching, the average response speed of demodu-
lation part is improved and the life of optical
switch is prolonged. As wavelengths of two or
more channels shift, computer records when and
which channels are shifting to avoid the informa-
tion loss Then, according to the data acquisition
parameter that we bring forward, demodulation
part will switch to and demodulate those channels
in turn. Therefore, compared with the conven-
tional SDM/WDM system, the smart FBG sensing
system is more rational.
As wavelengths of dierent channels may shift
simultaneously, the switching of optical switch is
a competition between dierent channels, causing
data acquisition conict. To avoid conicts and
improve data acquisition rule, we bring forward
data acquisition parameter concept that consist
of priority, the delay time and the wavelength
shift. With the LPG linear demodulation edge l-
ter technique, we attain the wavelength shift [11]:
I
i
k
X
n
k1
Z
1
1
R
ik
k k
0
H
i
k
0
dk
0
; 1
where I
i
(k) is the optical signal power of ith optical
channel, H
i
(k) is the LPGs transmission of ith
channel, R
ik
(k) is the optical power density of
kth FBG in ith optical channel. So, we can acquire
the wavelength shift by detecting I
i
(k). Thus the
data acquisition parameter C
i
can be written as:
C
i
n
i
k
1
T
i
k
2
I
i
; 2
where n
i
is the priority of ith optical channel, T
i
is
the delay time, I
i
is optical power that obtain from
Eq. (1). k
1
and k
2
are the weights of the delay time
and wavelength shift, respectively. With the data
acquisition parameter C
i
, we can establish the data
acquisition rule that is composed of priority, the
delay time and wavelength shift information. In
addition, we can determine the proportion of three
factors: n
i
, k
1
and k
2
, respectively. Therefore, the
data acquisition rule is more rational and smarter
than the conventional one.
In order to illustrate the technique described
above, we set n
i
= 1, k
1
= 1 and k
2
= 0. That is to
say, we establish the data acquisition rule simply
by the delay time. The sensing information is as-
sumed as random signal from Poisson distribution.
The demodulate time of the sensing system is
deterministic, while the conventional one is sto-
chastic. According to Queuing theory [12], the
conventional system is a M/M/1 queue system
(the input and demodulate processes are both
Poisson processes) and the smart sensing system
is a M/D/1 queue system (the input processes Pois-
son processes and the demodulate process is deter-
ministic). Then, the delay time of the conventional
multiplexing technology and the smart multiplex-
ing technology can be dened as:
W
con
k l=2; 3
LPG4 LPG2
Optical
Circulator
2
2 Optical
Circulator
Optical
Circulator
Channel 2
FBG 21
FBG1n
3
3
3
1
1
FBG 41 FBG4n
Channel 4n
FBG2n
Channel 1
FBG11
Broad Band
source
Computer
1*4 Optical
coupler
F-P
P
h
o
t
o
d
e
t
e
c
t
o
r
Opitcal
Switcher
PD4 PD1 PD2
3dB
3dB
3dB
2
1
LPG1
Fig. 2. The smart ber Bragg grating sensors system.
H. Gao et al. / Optics Communications 251 (2005) 361366 363
W
sm

q
l k

k q
k
l1 q
k

0:5; 4
where W
con
is the delay time of the conventional
FBG sensing system. W
sm
is the delay time of
the smart ones. k is the scale size of FBG sensing
array. q = k/l is the service density of the system,
k is the average signal rate and l is the average
demodulate rate.
4. Experiment
As shown in Fig. 3, the demodulation part
is composed of ber FabryPerot (MICRON
OPTICS) whose nesse is 750, an A/D data acquisi-
tion card (AD-Link DAQ2010) with sample fre-
quency of 1 MHz, a computer (Evoc 810) which
is used to demodulate sensing information and
generate pulse drive voltage signal for PZT. There
is one FBG strain sensor on every PZT. The sam-
ple frequency of A/D card is 1 MHz and the
switching time of optical switcher is 0.05 s. Thus,
the service time of scanning and demodulating
one optical channel is 0.15 s. In order to compare
the theoretical values and the experimental results,
we choose three parameters for the analytical
model, described by Eqs. (3) and (4). These param-
eters are the average delay time of sensing system
when the scale size is decided, the average delay
time of sensing system when the average signal rate
is decided.
4.1. The average delay time vs. the average signal
rate
Our rst experiment is to test the average delay
time vs. the average signal rate. The scale size is
four and the sensing signal rate controlled by com-
puter is from Poisson distribution. The computer
records the time when pulse signals are generated
and demodulated by smart and conventional ways,
respectively. Then, the average delay time together
with the average signal rate are recorded at every
0.5 step. The experiment results are plotted in
Fig. 4, where the x-axis is the average signal rate
in Hz, and the y-axis is the average delay time of
the FBG sensing system in ms. By comparing
experiment results (triangle line and star line) with
the theoretical results (dotted line and solid line)
within the same signal rate change, it can be seen
that they show the same behaviour. The theoreti-
cal values show a good tted result to the experi-
mental data. The delay time of the smart system
is less than the conventional ones before the aver-
age signal rate reaches six. With the limit of the
demodulate rate, the sensing information would
be lost when the average signal rate comes up to
larger than six. Thus, our experimental results
show good agreement with the theoretical model.
The dierence in the average delay time is due to
the fact that the pulse signal is random and exper-
iment time (200 s/point) cannot be innite as the-
ory assumed, hence there would be of a tiny
amount. In our experiment, the sampling time is
LPG4
LPG2
Optical
Circulator
2
2 Optical
Circulator
Optical
Circulator
3
3
3
1
1
Broad Band
source
Computer
1*4 Optical
coupler
F-P
P
h
o
t
o
d
e
t
e
c
t
o
r
Opitcal
Switcher
PD4 PD 1 PD 2
3dB
3dB
3dB
2
1
LPG1
PZT1
FBG1
PZT2
FBG2
PZT4
FBG4
Fig. 3. The experiment setup of the smart FBG sensing system.
364 H. Gao et al. / Optics Communications 251 (2005) 361366
200 s for every data point. With more sampling
time, the better tness between theoretical and
experimental curves would be achieved.
4.2. The average delay time vs. the scale size
As described above, our sensor is theoretically
immune to the scale size of sensing array. To ver-
ify this, further experiments are conducted to
investigate the delay time under the dierent
scale size and the average signal rate k = 2 Hz.
With the array size increase, the sampling time
of every signal point is 200 s. The results are
shown in Fig. 5. It can be seen that when the
scale size changed from 2 to 10, the delay time
of smart system (approximately 20 ms) remained
fairly stable. While, with the array size increases,
the average delay time of conventional ones is
prolonged. It is several times larger than that of
the smart ones. As well as the rst experiment,
the dierence between theoretical and experimen-
tal results come from the sampling time (200 s/
point) cannot be innite as theoretical assumed.
It is apparent that, the larger size of sensor array,
Fig. 4. Experimental plots between the average delay time and the average signal rate when the scale size is four.
Fig. 5. Experimental plots between the average delay time and the scale size when the average signal rate is 2 Hz.
H. Gao et al. / Optics Communications 251 (2005) 361366 365
the more advantageous the smart multiplexing
technology would have.
5. Conclusion
With the WDM/SDM technique, we bring for-
ward a novel FBG sensors multiplexing technique
and the data acquisition parameter of multiplexing
sensing FBG system is dened. The theoretical
simulate and the experiment work indicate that
this technique has a few advantages: more rational
and smarter data acquisition rule, the shorter de-
lay time, the longer optical switch lifetime, avoid-
ance of frequently switching and the average
delay time immune to the scale size. Therefore, this
technique is able to meet the smart requirement of
some complex system and large scale distributed
system.
Compared with the traditional WDM/SDM
technology, there are also several disadvantages
in this sensor system. For example, the structure
is more complex and expensive. The LPG also
exhibits sensitivity to temperature and pressure
which may cause unintended demodulation of
adjacent channels. This can be overcome with a
thermally stabilized package. So, the demodulation
part might demodulate and scan the wrong optical
channels whose wavelengths are not shifting. With
the development of opticalelectrical industry, the
price of opticalelectric devices will fall down. To
solve the stability problem of LPG, there are some
encapsulation technologies [13].
Acknowledgements
Supported by the National High Technol-
ogy Program of China under Grant No.
2002AA313110, the Tianjin Important Scientic
and Technological Project under Grant No.
043182011.
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