“If you can glue it, wrap it, wind it, bury it,
measuring with Oz Optics’ DSTS devel-
ops a complete strain and temperature pro-
file, Richardson explained. “This provides
ample data and insight into the character-
istics of the tailings dam. An accurate
strain and temperature profile can now
give assurances that any future defects
can be detected and corrected prior to any
serious risk of failure.”
As well as being able to go where many
conventional sensors cannot, fiber optic
sensors have the added advantage of dis-
tributed sensing along the entire length of
the fiber. So, instead of conventional point
sensing, where measure-
ments are made only at
discrete points in a system,
distributed sensing pro-
vides a much greater assur-
ance of measuring pertur-
bations.
A new self-healing sensor was
developed at North Carolina
State University. SMP = single-
mode patch cord; MMP = multi-
mode patch cord. Courtesy of
North Carolina State University.
entire length of 100 km of fiber. For fiber
lengths of 1 km, about 20,000 measurement points are provided, all without the
need for electrical power, metal wires,
multiple connection points or tedious
localization of the singular point sensors.
Although Oz Optics currently advertises
100 km of sensing length, Richardson
reveals that the company has gone much
farther than just 100 km, for which longer
sensing lengths are very important to
pipeline and power-line monitoring.
The self-healing sensor
By their very nature, sensor networks
often are embedded in locations or structures that are subject to dramatic amounts
of stress and strain. This poses a challenge
to sensor designers: The sensors must survive as long as the surrounding structure
because they are typically inaccessible
and therefore cannot be replaced.
Dr. Kara Peters, a professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering at North
Carolina State University, saw the benefits
