Research of FBG Optical Sensors Network and Precise Peak Detection

In this paper research of optical fiber Bragg grating (FBG) temperature sensors network is made and new effective sensors’ signal peak detection algorithm is proposed. Primary research was carried out at the Fiber Optical Transmission Systems laboratory of Riga Technical University. First, the parameters of available commercial optical FBG temperature sensor was experimentally measured and by using RSoft OptSim simulation software, the acquired data was further examined in developed simulation model of fiber optical transmission system. Secondary, Mathworks Matlab software was used, where research on minimal allowable spacing (guard band) of sensors’ signals was investigated and new precise peak detection algorithm was created. The optical sensors network created in simulation environment was combined with 8channel intensity modulated wavelength division multiplexed (WDM) data transmission system, where one shared 20 km long ITU-T G.652 single mode optical fiber was used for both – transmission of data and sensors signals. As market forecasts implies steady growing need for different kind of fiber optical sensors in the near future, brief analysis was made evaluating these trends and forecast for FBG sensors usage in the given field. Connection between fiber optical sensors and internet of things (IoT) concept was also evaluated.