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

• LIGHT BEAM CHANGES BY THE

PHENOMENA THAT IS BEING MEASURED
• LIGHT MAY CHANGE IN ITS FIVE OPTICAL
PROPERTIES i.e INTENSITY, PHASE,
POLARIZATION,WAVELENGTH AND
SPECTRAL DISTRIBUTION
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 SENSING DETAILS
EP(t)cos[ωt+θ(t)]
• INTENSITY BASED SENSORS – EP (t)
• FREQUENCY VARYING SENSORS - ωP(t)
• PHASE MODULATING SENSING- θ(t)
• POLARIZATION MODULATING FIBER SENSING

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 CLASSIFICATION
 EXTRINSIC SENSORS

WHERE THE LIGHT LEAVES THE FEED OR

TRANSMITTING FIBER TO BE CHANGED BEFORE
IT CONTINUES TO THE DETECTOR BY MEANS
OF THE RETURN OR RECEIVING FIBER

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 CLASSIFICATION (contd.)
 INTRINSIC SENSORS

INTRINSIC SENSORS ARE DIFFERENT IN THAT THE

LIGHT BEAM DOES NOT LEAVE THE OPTICAL FIBER
BUT IS CHANGED WHILST STILL CONTAINED WITHIN IT.
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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 FOG’s (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

THIS SENSOR ENABLES LOW LIGHT IMAGING AT TV FRAME

RATES AND ABOVE WITHOUT THE LIMITATIONS OF VACUM TUBE
BASED SYSTEMS.

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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

• IMAGE CAPTURE
• IMAGE PROCESSING
• FEATURE EXTRACTION
• FEATURE COMPARISON

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 PARTIAL DISCHARGE DETECTION
USES OPTICAL FIBER SENSORS
OPTICAL FIBER SENSORS ARE BEING TESTED FOR USE
IN DETECTING PARTIAL DISCHARGES IN ELECTRICAL
TRANSFORMERS. PINPOINTING SUCH DISCHARGES IS
ESSENTIAL TO PREVENTING INSULATION BREAKDOWN
AND CATASTROPHIC FAILURES.

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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.
html
 Partial Discharge Detection
http://www.photonics.com/spectra/applications/XQ/ASP/ao
aid.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/Po
ckelsEffect.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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