Product Portfolio
Our fiber sensing portfolio includes systems that measure strain and temperature using either elastic (Rayleigh) or inelastic (Raman) scattering of light at small molecules inside an optical fiber – or they operate with fibers that have Fiber Bragg Gratings inscribed in a regular pattern. Our devices transform a single optical fiber into up to several thousand sensors for strain, pressure or temperature, enabling seamless measurement and monitoring of large structures from aircraft wings to bridges or pipelines.
AMS Technologies’ portfolio of fiber sensing instrumentation based on Fiber Bragg Gratings (FBG) excels with the longest reach and highest spatial resolution available on the market. A family of equipment is available that ranges from a single-channel device for static strain measurements to four-channel systems with up to 8,192 sensors, all the way to eight-channel systems with up to 16,384 sensors and a maximum total sensing length of 104 m.
Further FBG-based sensing equiment comes in three different configurations: A stand-alone, robust interrogator featuring 1 or 4 parallel, 160 nm wide channels for hundreds of sensors – also available as single board for integration into OEM systems – as well as the 4, 8 or 16-channel version for reliable measurements with almost 1,000 sensors. In addition to FBGs, all models within this family of devices also work with, long period FBGs (LPG), Fabry-Perot (FP) and Mach-Zehnder (MZ) sensors.
Our series of fiber optic sensing interrogators based on Rayleigh backscatter in optical fiber allows to measure and acquire strain and temperature data with very high resolution of up to 1,538 sensors per meter of standard optical fiber in static and quasi-static applications.
If your task is to measure the temperature profile across standard optical fibers with high-resolution, have a look at our distributed optical temperature sensor featuring a measurement technique that is based on Raman scattering.
If the standard models in our product portfolio should not meet your needs, contact AMS Technologies with your requirements and together let us find the customized solution to your fiber optic sensing challenge.
Related Products
AMS Technologies also supplies a platform of optical switches that allows multiplexing a single sensor to several fibers.
Complementing our fiber sensing equipment, we offer a broad portfolio of further optical test and measurement solutions: Our extensive range of spectroscopic instruments includes spectrometers, spectrographs and spectroscopy cameras. Our interferometers are important tools for quality control. We carry interferometers for measuring fiber holders, single- and multi-fiber connectors, but also systems for other applications like a fiber-pigtailed Mach-Zehnder free space interferometer or Michelson and Mach-Zehnder fiber interferometers.
A broad portfolio of further devices for inspection, test and measurement of optical connectors is available like an extensive range of fiber optic microscopes for every application and budget, tools and systems for measuring passive optics and connectors, as well as other fiber properties measurement devices like fiber analysers, tensile testers, or refractive index measurement services.
Equipment like light sources, optical power meters or OTDRs allow tests of optical fibers or patch cables in the laboratory as well as in the field.
AMS Technologies’ further optical test and measurement offerings include beam profilers, integrating spheres or reflectance targets.
Tools for fiber optics processing, dispensing and curing of optical adhesives and cleaning of optical connector surfaces round off the AMS Technologies range of solutions around optical test, tools and measurement.
Definition
Fiber optic sensing describes a set of differing technologies that can be used to convert a physical or an environmental change to the fiber (like temperature or strain) into a measureable optical signal. Using optical fiber as the sensor(s) offers the distinct advantage that it is relatively inexpensive considering that the sensors can measure over lengths of up to 100 km, with distributed fiber optic sensing creating thousands of continuous sensor points along the fiber.
The measurement system containing a laser or superluminescent source emitting the light that is coupled into the fiber, as well as the detector or sensor arrangement measuring the very subtle changes in the light (e.g. the wavelength of back scatterings), is called an interrogator.
One of several distributed fiber sensing technologies is based on the measurement of the naturally-occurring, elastic Rayleigh scattering at molecules of sizes far below the light’s wavelength. This technology delivers high spatial resolution for static and quasi-static applications.
Fiber sensing equipment based on inelastic Raman scattering make use of the temperature dependence of the Raman scattering signal (Anti-Stokes). Due to this effect, temperature variations along the sensing optical fiber are transformed in a variation of the backscattered signal which is measured and processed by a specialized interrogator device.
While Rayleigh and Raman sensors can operate with standard optical fiber, systems based on Fiber Bragg Gratings (FBG) depend on gratings that are inscribed into the fiber, mostly in regular, known length intervals. These gratings’ Bragg wavelength of maximum reflectance does not only depend on the grating period, but also on the fiber’s temperature and on mechanical strain that may be applied onto the fiber – both parameters causing subtle shifts in Bragg wavelength that are detected and measured by the interrogator device.
Applications: Compared to discrete sensors like strain auges or thermocouples, fiber optic sensing does not require electrical wiring of each sensor for power and signal, and the application of an optical fiber to the structure of interest is also much less complicated than applying hundreds or thousands of discrete sensors. As fiber optic sensors do not conduct electricity and are also immune to electromagnetic interference, they can be used in applications where flammable material or high voltages are present. Distributed fiber optic sensing is used to monitor structures like bridges, airplane wings or pipelines for changes in strain (and/or temperature), but also to measure deep inside of oil wells and other harsh environments. Another application for fiber sensors based on Rayleigh backscattering is "Distributed Acoustic Sensing" (DAS), mostly used for monitoring and allowing to measure vibrations acting on the fiber. Those vibrations change the Rayleigh "quiescent signal", and this change is detected and processed by the interrogator.
Alternative Terms: Fiber Optic Sensor; Brillouin Sensor; Raman Sensor; Fiber Bragg Grating Sensor; FBG Sensor; Distributed Fiber Optic Sensing; Fiber Interrogator
