Dynamically Swept Tunable Laser for Optical Sensor Interrogation
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Existing interrogator systems using tunable lasers to read optical sensors, such as Fibre Bragg Gratings, face inefficiencies due to the need to sweep across a broad wavelength range, where only a small percentage of the spectrum contains actual data, leading to slow measurement speeds.
Innovation Solution
A dynamically swept tunable laser system that divides the wavelength sweep into segments, allowing for continuous tuning across each segment, with adjustable start and stop references, and the ability to skip regions with no wavelength peaks, enabling faster and more efficient data acquisition by focusing on segments with peak measurements.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If the laser sweeps across the entire wavelength range to ensure all sensors are detected, then measurement completeness is improved, but measurement speed deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The wavelength sweep range is divided into multiple segments, each corresponding to a specific sensor or group of sensors. The system performs sweeps on individual segments rather than the entire wavelength range, significantly reducing the time required for each measurement cycle while ensuring all sensors are covered across multiple sequential segment sweeps.
Solution Approach 2:
The system performs a preliminary full-range sweep to identify the wavelength positions of all sensors before subsequent measurements. This preliminary action allows the system to store sensor location information and use it to guide future targeted segment sweeps, eliminating the need to repeatedly scan the entire wavelength range.
2Loss of information
If the laser sweeps over a broad wavelength range, then all sensor data is captured, but time efficiency deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The system extracts and isolates only the relevant wavelength segments containing sensor data from the broad spectrum. By identifying and extracting the specific wavelength regions where sensors are located, the system eliminates unnecessary sweeping of empty wavelength regions, reducing sweep time while maintaining complete data capture.
Solution Approach 2:
A preliminary sweep is performed to map sensor locations across the wavelength spectrum. This preliminary action enables subsequent sweeps to focus only on relevant segments, preventing redundant time expenditure on wavelength regions without sensors while ensuring all sensor data is captured in subsequent targeted sweeps.
3Speed
If the sweep band is reduced to only relevant wavelengths, then measurement speed is improved, but system adaptability deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The system dynamically adjusts the sweep range based on detected sensor locations. Rather than using a fixed narrow bandwidth, the sweep band is adaptively configured to match the actual sensor distribution. This allows the system to optimize measurement speed for current sensor configurations while maintaining the capability to adapt to different sensor arrangements and wavelengths.
Solution Approach 2:
The system uses feedback from detected wavelength peaks to adjust subsequent sweep parameters. By monitoring sensor locations and sweep results, the system dynamically modifies the sweep band and segment boundaries to match actual sensor distributions, optimizing measurement speed while maintaining adaptability to various sensing configurations.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
This approach significantly increases measurement speed, reduces noise, and enhances accuracy by allowing more sensors to be interrogated per laser, while also accommodating multiple lasers for increased flexibility and reliability.
Implementation Method 1
a tunable laser system for measuring sensor characteristics obtained from an array of optical sensors
Implementation Method 2
Optical sensors (Fibre Bragg Gratings (FBG)) have been proposed for many sensing applications
Data Source
AI summary
The invention provides a dynamically swept tunable laser system and method for measuring sensor characteristics obtained from an array of optical sensors comprising means for dividing the total wavelength sweep of the laser into different regions in any particular order where each region contains single or multiple contiguous sweep segments and where each sweep segment is referenced by a start and a stop reference and can have different lengths compared to the other sweep segments. The sensor characteristics are determined from each region swept by the tunable laser. The invention provides for the tunable laser to be adapted to operate in a quasi-continuous mode to select segments in any order. The relative sweep rates of regions can be changed such that some regions can be swept more times than other regions.