The Emergence of Fiber Optic Sensor Technology

Telecommunications have been revolutionized by fiber optic technology. This chapter provides an overview of the types of fiber optic sensors that are being developed and the environmental parameters that are most often associated with each type of sensor. Extrinsic fiber optic sensors are distinguished by the characteristic that sensing takes place in a region outside the fiber. The chapter illustrates many of the intrinsic or all-fiber-optic sensors. "Intrinsic" and "all-fiber" indicate that the sensing takes place within the fiber itself. Initial penetration of fiber optic sensors into markets has been driven by performance advantages. Some of these advantages are compared to conventional electronic sensors. As developments occur, there will be a continuing merger of telecommunications and fiber optic sensor technology into larger and more sophisticated systems. Controlled Vocabulary Terms optical fiber sensors; telecommunication transmission lines