sensors-logo

Journal Browser

Journal Browser

Recent Progress in Optical Fiber Sensors for Structural Health Monitoring

A special issue of Sensors (ISSN 1424-8220). This special issue belongs to the section "Optical Sensors".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 25 August 2026 | Viewed by 760

Special Issue Editors


E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Industrial Engineering, University of Bologna, 40136 Bologna, Italy
Interests: optical fibre sensors; shape sensing; structural health monitoring; reliability assessment; metal hydrides for hydrogen storage

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
School of Civil, Aerospace and Design Engineering, University of Bristol, Bristol BS8 1QU, UK
Interests: structural health monitoring; composite materials; non-destructive testing
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, La Cañada Flintridge, CA, USA
Interests: photonics; nonlinear photonics; optical sensing and ranging

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Optical Fiber Sensors (OFSs) have emerged as a key area of research across fields such as aerospace, civil and mechanical engineering, medical devices, energy infrastructure, and maritime operations. Due to their unique capabilities, they have demonstrated strong potential for enabling the establishment of innovative approaches in Structural Health Monitoring (SHM), offering enhanced accuracy, durability, and adaptability in complex environments.

The goal of this Special Issue is to present a collection of original, high-impact research papers that showcase the latest advancements in OFSs for SHM. We welcome contributions that focus on cutting-edge OFS technologies and their novel applications, with a particular emphasis on innovation and practical relevance. In addition, we encourage the submission of comprehensive review papers that synthesize the current state of the art and outline future research directions in this field.

We welcome submissions covering a broad spectrum of topics, including, but not limited to, the following:

  • The development of novel Optical Fiber Sensing technologies for SHM;
  • Quantitative OFS performance assessment methodologies, such as Probability of Detection (POD) curves and alternative metrics;
  • Integration of Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence for OFS data interpretation and diagnostics;
  • Emerging and innovative applications of OFS in diverse industrial sectors;
  • Comprehensive review articles on established OFS technologies and their integration into SHM systems.

We look forward to receiving your contributions and to fostering meaningful progress in the field of Optical Fiber Sensors for Structural Health Monitoring.

Dr. Francesco Falcetelli
Dr. Neha Chandarana
Dr. Luis Costa
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Sensors is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • optical fiber sensors
  • structural health monitoring
  • optical sensing
  • optical metrology
  • optical measurement

Benefits of Publishing in a Special Issue

  • Ease of navigation: Grouping papers by topic helps scholars navigate broad scope journals more efficiently.
  • Greater discoverability: Special Issues support the reach and impact of scientific research. Articles in Special Issues are more discoverable and cited more frequently.
  • Expansion of research network: Special Issues facilitate connections among authors, fostering scientific collaborations.
  • External promotion: Articles in Special Issues are often promoted through the journal's social media, increasing their visibility.
  • Reprint: MDPI Books provides the opportunity to republish successful Special Issues in book format, both online and in print.

Further information on MDPI's Special Issue policies can be found here.

Published Papers (1 paper)

Order results
Result details
Select all
Export citation of selected articles as:

Research

28 pages, 4644 KB  
Article
Distributed Fiber-Optic Shape Sensing with Endpoint Error Compensation: Theory and Experimental Validation
by Leonardo Rossi, Francesco Falcetelli, Francesco Gagliardo, Piero Lovato, Filippo Bastianini, Raffaella Di Sante and Gabriele Bolognini
Sensors 2026, 26(7), 2156; https://doi.org/10.3390/s26072156 - 31 Mar 2026
Viewed by 402
Abstract
Fiber-optic shape sensing enables real-time monitoring of structural deformation across a wide range of applications. For large-scale structures, Brillouin-based distributed sensing, typically implemented through Brillouin Optical Time Domain Analysis (BOTDA), offers an extended range for quasi-static measurements, albeit its limited spatial resolution degrades [...] Read more.
Fiber-optic shape sensing enables real-time monitoring of structural deformation across a wide range of applications. For large-scale structures, Brillouin-based distributed sensing, typically implemented through Brillouin Optical Time Domain Analysis (BOTDA), offers an extended range for quasi-static measurements, albeit its limited spatial resolution degrades reconstruction accuracy. This study addresses this fundamental limitation through the introduction of a novel error compensation algorithm, particularly suited for a Brillouin-based shape sensing system, yet agnostic with respect to the sensing technology. The method leverages both the initial and final points of the sensing path, performing both forward and backward reconstructions and fusing the two trajectories by testing several polynomial and exponential weighting strategies. The algorithm is experimentally validated on a 28.91 m four-core shape sensing fiber cable (length = L), interrogated through BOTDA operating at 50 cm spatial resolution, and reconstructed through the Frenet–Serret frame formulation. Calibration procedures include radial-offset tuning and segment alignment via a hotspot reference. A non-trivial S-shaped geometry is adopted as a case study, specifically addressing curvature discontinuities arising from mixed straight and curved segments. Reconstruction accuracy is quantified through a Euclidean-distance-based Figure of Merit (FOMs). The cubic weighting strategy demonstrates improvements exceeding 86% in all FOMs compared to classical methods without compensation. Specifically, it achieves an RMSE of 0.145 m (0.50% of L), a MAE of 0.109 m (0.38% of L), and a maximum error of 0.341 m (1.18% of L). Remarkably, these percentage errors are of the same order of magnitude as those reported in the literature for Fiber Bragg Grating (FBG) and Optical Frequency Domain Reflectometry (OFDR) systems, indicating that the proposed compensation strategy enables BOTDA-based shape sensing to achieve comparable reconstruction accuracy despite its lower spatial resolution. Full article
Show Figures

Figure 1

Back to TopTop