Senior projects in optical fiber sensing

Abstract

The utilization of optical fibers in the field of sensing has enabled the remote operation of optical sensing elements far from the rest of sensor optoelectronics. This is a major advantage in many applications where the presence of powering wires and electrical components at the sensing site could be a source of hazards, or the presence of a severe electromagnetic interference environment does not allow the reliable transmission of sensor data over electrical wires. With the use of a part of the optical fiber as the sensing element, coupling losses between the fiber ends and an external sensing element are avoided and an improved sensitivity could be achieved. The possibility of multiplexing sensors in a fiber-connected network using multiplexing techniques is also very interesting for multi-point sensing applications. These factors have motivated a lot of research and development in the optical fiber sensor technology which stands now as a well-established branch of photonics applications. This paper addresses the introduction of optical fiber sensors to undergraduate students in electronics and communications engineering. A senior project in optical fiber sensing is one of the ways to expose students to the field and to apply and expand their background in optical fibers and optoelectronics. The Electronics and Communications Engineering Department at The Faculty of Engineering, Ain Shams University has offered this project for two years now. The classifications of optical fiber sensors with respect to the nature of the sensing element and the optical signal modulation and detection techniques employed are reviewed in this paper and two senior level projects are described: a liquid level sensor and a fiber gyroscope.