OPTICAL SENSORS AND

THEIR APPLICATIONS

PRESENTED BY
GAURAV PURI
ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING
SUNY AT BUFFALO
gapuri@buffalo.edu

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 TOPICS INCLUDED IN THIS
PRESENTATION
INTRODUCTION
WHY OPTICAL SENSORS ?
PRINCIPLE OF OPTICAL SENSORS
CLASSIFICATION AND COMPARISON
SOME INTERESTING APPLICATIONS
WHERE DO WE GO FROM HERE ?

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 INTRODUCTION
NEW REVOLUTION OF OPTICAL
FIBER SENSORS
IT IS A SPIN-OFF FROM OTHER
OPTICAL TECHNOLOGIES
SEEING THE POTENTIAL IN
SENSING APPLICATIONS
DEVELOPED AS ITS OWN FIELD

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WHY OPTICAL SENSORS
ELECTROMAGNETIC IMMUNITY
ELECTRICAL ISOLATION
COMPACT AND LIGHT
BOTH POINT AND DISTRIBUTED
CONFIGURATION
WIDE DYNAMIC RANGE
AMENABLE TO MULTIPLEXING

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OPTICAL SENSOR MEASURANDS
TEMPERATURE CHEMICAL
SPECIES
PRESSURE FORCE
FLOW RADIATION
LIQUID LEVEL pH
DISPLACEMENT HUMIDITY
VIBRATION STRAIN
ROTATION VELOCITY
MAGNETIC ELECTRIC
FIELDS FIELDS
ACCELERATION ACOUSTIC
FIELDS 5
 WORKING PRINCIPLE

LIGHTBEAMCHANGESBYTHE
PHENOMENATHATISBEINGMEASURED
LIGHTMAYCHANGEINITSFIVEOPTICAL

PROPERTIESi.eINTENSITY,PHASE,
POLARIZATION,WAVELENGTHAND
SPECTRALDISTRIBUTION
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 SENSING DETAILS
EP(t)cos[t+(t)]
INTENSITY BASED SENSORS EP (t)
FREQUENCY VARYING SENSORS - P(t)
PHASE MODULATING SENSING- (t)
POLARIZATION MODULATING FIBER SENSING

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 CLASSIFICATION
EXTRINSIC SENSORS

WHERETHELIGHTLEAVESTHEFEEDOR
TRANSMITTINGFIBERTOBECHANGEDBEFORE
ITCONTINUESTOTHEDETECTORBYMEANS
OFTHERETURNORRECEIVINGFIBER

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 CLASSIFICATION (contd.)
INTRINSIC SENSORS

INTRINSICSENSORSAREDIFFERENTINTHATTHE
LIGHTBEAMDOESNOTLEAVETHEOPTICALFIBER
BUTISCHANGEDWHILSTSTILLCONTAINEDWITHINIT.
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 COMPARISON OF THE TWO TYPES
EXTRINSIC INTRINSIC
APPLICATIONS- APPLICATIONS-
TEMPERATURE, ROTATION,
PRESSURE,LIQUID ACCELERATION, STRAIN,
LEVEL AND FLOW. ACOUSTIC PRESSURE
LESS SENSITIVE AND VIBRATION.
EASILY MULTIPLEXED MORE SENSITIVE

INGRESS/ EGRESS TOUGHER TO MULTIPLEX

CONNECTION REDUCES CONNECTION
PROBLEMS PROBLEMS
EASIER TO USE MORE ELABORATE
LESS EXPENSIVE SIGNAL DEMODULATION
MORE EXPENSIVE

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 SENSOR TYPES
CHEMICAL SENSORS
REMOTE SPECTROSCOPY
GROUNDWATER AND SOIL CONTAMINATION
MAJOR PLAYERS IN CHEMICAL SENSORS
1) PHARMACIA BIOTECH (SWEDEN)
2) FIBERCHEM
3) THE QUANTUM GROUP

TEMPERATURE SENSORS
LARGEST COMMERCIALLY AVAILABLE SENSORS
RANGE -40 deg C TO 1000 deg C
US-SMALL COMPANIES, JAPAN- HITACHI n SUMITOMO

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STRAIN SENSORS
FIBER BRAGG GRATINGS (FBG)
TECHNOLOGY
SENSES AS LITTLE AS 9 MICROSTRAIN
NRL and UNITED TECHNOLOGY RESEARCH

BIOMEDICAL SENSORS
SPECTROSCOPIC BIOMEDICAL SENSORS
CO 2, O 2 and pH CAN BE MEASURED
SIMULTANEOUSLY
FLOW MONITORING BY LASER
DOPPLERIMETRY

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 FIBERS OPTHALMOLOGIC APPLICATION
ELECTRICAL AND MAGNETIC
SENSORS
APPEALING- INHERENT DIELECTRIC
NATURE
LESS SENSITIVE TO ELECTROMAGNETIC
INTERFERENCE
SMALL SIZE AND SAFER
THEY ARE ALMOST ALWAYS HYBRID
ABB CORPORATION RESEARCH CENTER

ROTATION SENSOR
BASED ON THE SAGNAC EFFECT

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 TWO TYPES RING LASER GYROSCOPE
(RLG) AND FIBER OPTIC GYROSCOPE
(FOG)
US COMPANIES PURSUING HIGH
PERFORMANCE FOGs (HONEYWELL,
LITTON, NORTHRUP, ALLIED SIGNAL etc.)
PRESSURE SENSORS
EARLIER BASED ON PIEZORESISTIVE
TECHNIQUE
BASED ON MOVABLE DIAPHRAGM
HIGH PERFORMANCE- (POLARIZATION
BASED SENSORS)
OPERATING PRESSURE RANGES FROM 0-
70,000 torr
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DISPLACEMENT AND POSITION
SENSORS
ONE OF THE FIRST OPTOELECTRONIC
SENSORS TO BE DEVELOPED.
SIMPLE SENSORS RELY ON THE CHANGE
IN RETROREFLECTANCE DUE TO A
PROXIMAL MIRROR SURFACE
ALSO REFERRED AS LIQUID LEVEL
SENSORS

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 APPLICATIONS
MILITARY AND LAW ENFORCEMENT

THISSENSORENABLESLOWLIGHTIMAGINGATTVFRAME
RATESANDABOVEWITHOUTTHELIMITATIONSOFVACUMTUBE
BASEDSYSTEMS.

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NIGHT VISION CAMERA (contd.)
COMPRISES OF :
AMPLIFIED CCD SENSOR
ANTI BLOOMING TECHNOLOGY
CRYSTAL POLYMER SHUTTER

ADVANTAGES :
EXCEPTIONAL DAY LIGHT RESOLN.
IMMUNE TO OVER EXPOSURE
VERY HIGH CONTARAST LEVELS
NO HALOING OR SCINTILLATIONS

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 BIOMETRICS
YOUR FACE, FINGERS AND EYES IN A WHOLE NEW
LIGHT

IMAGECAPTURE
IMAGEPROCESSING
FEATUREEXTRACTION
FEATURECOMPARISON

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 PARTIAL DISCHARGE DETECTION
USES OPTICAL FIBER SENSORS
OPTICALFIBERSENSORSAREBEINGTESTEDFORUSE
INDETECTINGPARTIALDISCHARGESINELECTRICAL
TRANSFORMERS.PINPOINTINGSUCHDISCHARGESIS
ESSENTIALTOPREVENTINGINSULATIONBREAKDOWN
ANDCATASTROPHICFAILURES.

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LETS TAKE A LOOK AT
THE CHRONOLOGY
OF OPTICAL
SENSORS

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PUBLICATION AND PATENT
TRENDS

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GEOGRAPHICAL ORIGIN OF
PUBLICATIONS

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GEOGRAPHICAL ORIGIN OF
OPTICAL SENSOR PATENTS

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 CONCLUSIONS
LOOKING AT THE INDUSTRY TRENDS
IN THE PAST 2 DECADES AND THE
EXPONENTIAL CURVE IT SEEMS TO
ME THAT THERE IS GOING TO BE A
LOT OF RESEARCH AND
IMPROVEMENTS TO THE EXISTING
SENSORS
OPTICAL SENSORS ARE HERE TO
STAY !!!!

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QUESTIONS ??

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 REFERENCES
Optical Sensor Technologies
www.wtec.org/loyola/opto/c6_s3.html
Measuring with LIGHT

www.sensorsmag.com/articles/0500/26main.html
Optical Fiber Sensors

www.ul.ie/elements/Issue6/Optical%20Fibre%20Sensors.h
tml
Partial Discharge Detection

http://www.photonics.com/spectra/applications/XQ/ASP/a
oaid.328/placement.HomeIndex/QX/read.html
Military and Law Enforcement

http://www.militaryandlaw.com.au/products/l3vision.php

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 Pockels Effect
www.scienceworld.wolfram.com/physics/Pock
elsEffect.html
Distinctive advantages give optical
sensors the edge over conventional
systems
www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/ 2003-
08/ti-dag081303.php

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THANK YOU FOR YOUR
PATIENCE AND TIME

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