Fiber Optic Dynamic Sensors
Newport Sensors’ proprietary fiber optic dynamic sensors measure a variety of dynamic quantities from acceleration, displacement, strain to pressure. Due to technical innovation and breakthrough, these sensors represent significant advances over their conventional electrical counterparts:
- Total immunity to electromagnetic interference and lightning strikes due to the non-existence of electric signals or electric cables;
- Unique safety in dangerous environments where electric sparks causes explosion concerns, such as gas and oil tanks and pipes;
- High sensitivity and resolution in a wide dynamic range, particularly at very low frequencies;
- Measure both strong motion and ambient vibration with the same high sensitivity;
- Small sensor heads and lightweight optical fiber cables, and the resulting ease of installation;
- Robustness against environmental (e.g., temperature and moisture) changes;
- Lower cost than conventional optical fiber sensors due to their simple signal processing.
All these make the Newport Sensors’ fiber optic dynamic sensors uniquely suited for monitoring civil infrastructure systems, which are often large in size and exposed to harsh environments. In fact, these sensors have been successfully tested and applied in a number of bridges, buildings, and power plants.