A dual wavelength fiber optic strain sensing system

The extrinsic Fabry-Perot interferometer (EFPI) has been extensively used as a strain sensor in various applications. However, like other interferometric sensors, the EFPI suffers from ambiguity in detecting directional changes of the applied perturbation, when the operating point is at a maxima or a minima on the transfer function curve. Different methods, or sensor configurations have been proposed to solve this problem. This thesis investigates the use of dual wavelength interferometry to overcome this limitation. Possible systems configurations based on dual wavelength interferometry were considered, and the comprehensive design and implementation of a dual laser time division multiplexed (TOM) system based is presented. The system operates by alternately pulse modulating two laser diodes, which are closely spaced in center wavelength. Although the strain rate measurement capability of the system is dependent primarily on the speed of its hardware and the accuracy of its software, it is shown that it can be considerably enhanced by employing digital signal processing techniques.