The recent research progress in the key device and technology of the fiber optic sensor network (FOSN) is introduced in this paper. An architecture of the sensor optical passive network (SPON), by employing hybrid wavelength division multiplexing/time division multiplexing (WDM/TDM) techniques similar to the fiber communication passive optical network (PON), is proposed. The network topology scheme of a hybrid TDM/WDM/FDM (frequency division multiplexing) three-dimension fiber optic sensing system for achieving ultra-large capacity, long distance, and high resolution sensing performance is performed and analyzed. As the most important device of the FOSN, several kinds of light source are developed, including the wideband multi-wavelength fiber laser operating at C band, switchable and tunable 2 μm multi-wavelength fiber lasers, ultra-fast mode-locked fiber laser, as well as the optical wideband chaos source, which have very good application prospects in the FOSN. Meanwhile, intelligent management techniques for the FOSN including wideband spectrum demodulation of the sensing signals and real-time fault monitoring of fiber links are presented. Moreover, several typical applications of the FOSN are also discussed, such as the fiber optic gas sensing network, fiber optic acoustic sensing network, and strain/dynamic strain sensing network.

This paper reviews the work on huge capacity fiber-optic sensing network based on ultra-weak draw tower gratings developed at the National Engineering Laboratory for Fiber Optic Sensing Technology (NEL-FOST), Wuhan University of Technology, China. A versatile drawing tower grating sensor network based on ultra-weak fiber Bragg gratings (FBGs) is firstly proposed and demonstrated. The sensing network is interrogated with time- and wavelength-division multiplexing method, which is very promising for the large-scale sensing network.

The measurement of circulating blood volume (CBV) is crucial in various medical conditions including surgery, iatrogenic problems, rapid fluid administration, transfusion of red blood cells, or trauma with extensive blood loss including battlefield injuries and other emergencies. Currently, available commercial techniques are invasive and time-consuming for trauma situations. Recently, we have proposed high-speed multi-wavelength photoacoustic/photothermal (PA/PT) flow cytometry for in vivo CBV assessment with multiple dyes as PA contrast agents (labels). As the first step, we have characterized the capability of this technique to monitor the clearance of three dyes (indocyanine green, methylene blue, and trypan blue) in an animal model. However, there are strong demands on improvements in PA/PT flow cytometry. As additional verification of our proof-of-concept of this technique, we performed optical photometric CBV measurements in vitro. Three label dyes—methylene blue, crystal violet and, partially, brilliant green—were selected for simultaneous photometric determination of the components of their two-dye mixtures in the circulating blood in vitro without any extra data (like hemoglobin absorption) known a priori. The tests of single dyes and their mixtures in a flow system simulating a blood transfusion system showed a negligible difference between the sensitivities of the determination of these dyes under batch and flow conditions. For individual dyes, the limits of detection of 3×10^–6 M ? 3×10^–6 M in blood were achieved, which provided their continuous determination at a level of 10^–5 M for the CBV assessment without a priori data on the matrix. The CBV assessment with errors no higher than 4% were obtained, and the possibility to apply the developed procedure for optical photometric (flow cytometry) with laser sources was shown.

In order to enhance the signal-to-noise-ratio of a distributed acoustic sensing system based on phase-sensitive optical time-domain reflectometry (Φ-OTDR), we have proposed a combination of segmented unwrapping algorithm, averaging estimation of phase difference, and infinite impulse response (IIR) filtering method. The enhancement of signal quality is numerically demonstrated. Moreover, we have studied the influence resulted from the light source noise on the Φ-OTDR performance. The result has shown that when the linewidth of light source used in the Φ-OTDR system is narrower, the performance of the system is better. In a word, such a Φ-OTDR system could obtain higher quality demodulated signals when the narrower linewidth light source is chosen and the method of averaging estimation phase difference is used.

The frequency response of a dual depletion p-i-n (PIN) photodiode structure is investigated. It is assumed that the light is incident on the N side and the drift region is located between the N contact and the absorption region. The numerical model takes into account the transit time and the capacitive effects and is applied to photodiodes with non-uniform illumination and linear electric field profile. With an adequate choice of the device’s structural parameters, dual depletion photodiodes can have larger bandwidths than the conventional PIN devices.

Bridge is an important part of modern transportation systems and deformation is a key index for bridge’s safety evaluation. To achieve the long span bridge curve measurement rapidly and timely and accurately locate the bridge maximum deformation, the continuous deformation measurement system (CDMS) based on inertial platform is presented and validated in this paper. Firstly, based on various bridge deformation measurement methods, the method of deformation measurement based on the fiber optic gyro (FOG) is introduced. Secondly, the basic measurement principle based on FOG is presented and the continuous curve trajectory is derived by the formula. Then the measurement accuracy is analyzed in theory and the relevant factors are presented to ensure the measurement accuracy. Finally, the deformation measurement experiments are conducted on a bridge across the Yangtze River. Experimental results show that the presented deformation measurement method is feasible, practical, and reliable; the system can accurately and quickly locate the maximum deformation and has extensive and broad application prospects.

An optically enabled z-axis micro-disk inertia sensor is presented, which consists of a disk-shaped proof mass integrated on top of an optical waveguide. Numerical simulations show that the optical power of laser beam propagating in a narrow silicon nitride (Si₃N₄) waveguide located under the disk is attenuated in response to the vertical movement of the micro-disk. The high leakage power of the TM mode can effectively be used to detect a dynamic range of 1 g ? 10 g (g=9.8 m/s²). At lest, the waveguide is kept at a nominal gap of 1 ?m from the proof mass. It is adiabatically tapered to a narrow dimension of W×H = 350×220 nm² in a region where the optical mode is intended to interact with the proof mass. Furthermore, the bottom cladding is completely etched away to suspend the waveguide and improve the optical interaction with the proof mass. The proposed optical inertia sensor has a high sensitivity of 3 dB/g when a 50 μm-long waveguide is used (normalized sensitivity 0.5 dB/μm²) for the vertical movement detection.

This paper presents a new technique for flat optical frequency comb (OFC) generation, which is based on the nonlinear process of multiple four-wave mixing (FWM) effects. The nonlinear effects are significantly enhanced by using the proposed optical feedback scheme consisting of a single mode fiber (SMF), two highly nonlinear fibers (HNLFs) with different zero dispersion wavelengths (ZDWs) and polarization beam splitters (PBSs). Simulation results illustrate its efficiency and applicability of expanding a comb to 128 coherent lines spaced by only 20 GHz within 6-dB power deviation.

A novel variety of three dimensional (3D) vibration sensor based on chirped fiber Bragg grating (CFBG) is developed to measure 3D vibration in the mechanical equipment field. The sensor is composed of three independent vibration sensing units. Each unit uses double matched chirped gratings as sensing elements, and the sensing signal is processed by the edge filtering demodulation method. The structure and principle of the sensor are theoretically analyzed, and its performances are obtained from some experiments and the results are as follows: operating frequency range of the sensor is 10 Hz ? 500 Hz; acceleration measurement range is 2 m·s^-2 ? 30 m·s^-2; sensitivity is about 70 mV/m·s^-2; crosstalk coefficient is greater than 22 dB; self-compensation for temperature is available. Eventually the sensor is applied to monitor the vibration state of radiation pump. Seen from its experiments and applications, the sensor has good sensing performances, which can meet a certain requirement for some engineering measurement.