A novel quasi-distributed fibre optic displacement sensor for dynamic measurement

Abstract

We present a novel technique based on incoherent optical frequency domain reflectometry (OFDR) to measure length changes quasi-distributed between reflection points in optical fibres. The technique enables length changes to be measured with a resolution better than 1 µm and allows for static and dynamic measurement capabilities up to 2 kHz. We demonstrate that dynamic measurements of multiple fibre sections can be conducted independently from each other with high precision. Due to the precise and dynamic measurement capabilities, the proposed sensor system is expected to open new fields of application, especially in the structural-health-monitoring sector. Possible applications are discussed in the paper.