Applications of Optical Fiber Sensors

Dear Colleagues,

In recent decades, fiber-optic sensors have changed traditional industrial processes, from new remote sensing engineering applications including bio-sensing to the concept of smart cities using artificial intelligence and the Internet of Things. These sensors utilize optical fiber either as the sensing element, resulting in thousands of continuous sensor points along the fiber length, or as the medium of relaying signals from a remote sensor to the electronics that process the sensing signals. For instance, by using a device such as an optical time-domain reflectometer, the time delay can be determined to detect any changes in temperature, strain, and other parameters by using the physical properties of light as it travels down an optical fiber, while the wavelength shift can be calculated using an instrument implementing optical frequency-domain reflectometry in critical industrial applications.

Depending on different applications, fiber-optic sensors may have (but are not limited to) the following advantages:

1. No electrical power is needed at the remote location, so they are immune to electromagnetic interference;
2. Many sensors can be multiplexed along the length of a fiber simutaneously by using a light wavelength shift for each sensor;
3. The time delay can be easily detected as light passes along the fiber through each sensor;
4. They have an extremely small size, so the sensors can be embedded into any structure such as a bridge, building, dam, or wall.

This Special Issue highlights innovative studies and practical applications and addresses new technologies related to optical fiber sensors, together with emerging standards and research topics that would push forward the realization of smart cities and the Internet of Things. Original research articles and reviews are all welcome. Research areas may include, but are not limited to, the following:

1. Novel theories and concepts for fiber-optic sensing;
2. New fiber design and fabrication for sensing applications;
3. Modeling reliability analysis of fiber-optic devices, circuits, and systems;
4. Circuit and system design and optimization for emerging remote sensing technologies;
5. Digital signal processing in fiber-optic sensor networks, and sensor fusion techniques with multi-modal data;
6. Thermal-aware electronics, system-on-chip, and network-on-chip combined with fiber-optic sensing systems;
7. Innovative fiber-optic sensor design and verifications with high accuracy and reliability;
8. Application of fiber-optic sensors in any area including healthcare, bio-sensing, smart homes, smart cities, environment monitoring, structural health, battlefield surveillance, artificial intelligence, robotics, and oil and gas leakage.

Dr. Yi Weng
Dr. Zhongqi Pan
Guest Editors

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