It is not a secret that fiber optic technology already has a wide range of different applications starting with medicine and ending with road monitoring. However, scientists still have a lot of spheres for FBG sensors implementation. And the VR ecosystem is one of them.
So one Korean company has developed motion capture suits based on fiber optic solutions. This company is a developer of virtual reality technologies that aims to create a fully integrated VR ecosystem with the usage of fiber Bragg grating sensors.
VR entertainment is becoming more popular and capturing the minds of consumers. Nowadays, VR equipment can be installed at homes and other VR-based devices. Its applications are very diverse and can be applied in many industries, including education and even defense.
The FBG suits based on fiber optic technology are considered to be the fourth generation VR technologies. This generation intends to make VR more exciting and easily accessible. The previously created motion capture devices were much more expensive and required experience to work with. However, the company has solved both these problems with the help of fiber optic technology.
The company found out that there were some aspects that prevent VR adoption, for example, high installation costs and a long list of limitations. However, with the application of fiber optic sensors, the maintenance costs can be greatly reduced which will lead to greater adoption.
A lot of VR systems working on the principle of inertial sensor technology have a great number of cameras to detect a person’s movements. On the one hand, this method provides more accurate results. However, it also provides too much information that is needed to be handled. This factor makes it difficult to participate simultaneously for many users. Moreover, inertial sensor technology can be influenced by electromagnetic fields and cause an error.
The alternative design was developed with the usage of FBG sensors. This fiber optic technology is based on recognizing a person’s position through the refraction of light in the fiber optic cable. Fiber optic sensors precisely measure joint movement. Moreover, it can be used for a long perspective, providing no errors. According to scientists, this is a new implementation of FBG sensors into the existing products.
Now the company plans to deliver suites based on FBG sensors for VR applications in various fields and for different producers. And scientists hope to work in this direction further.
A collaboration of scientists from different countries (China, Pakistan, and Hong Kong) have developed new 3D printed FBG sensors that can help in creating the ‘smart beds’. Scientists have worked to determine the main advantages of the innovative 3D printed FBG sensors and their applications in different spheres.
3D printing has demonstrated enormous results in different scientific fields. It helps to reduce the costs and makes the production process much easier for the developers. The university scientists have already applied it in their different devices with potential healthcare applications.
The main goal of this development based on the fiber Bragg grating sensors was to track sleeping patterns with high precision. First, the research team hopes that this fiber optic solution can be helpful for hospitals to monitor the well being of patients. Moreover, these fiber Bragg grating sensors are temperature-insensitive, lightweight, and high-accurate. That increases their chances to be installed in more hospitals and improves the quality of care because the staff could respond more quickly when the patients’ condition deteriorates.
Usually, FBGs are a microstructure that length is a few millimeters. It is implemented into a short optical fiber that can transform the light in response to temperature, strain, or vibration. FBG sensors are highly applied in mechanical engineering, textile, and medical spheres, thanks to their high thermal sensitivity.
Nowadays, the production of FBG sensors for healthcare still remains a time-consuming and equipment-intensive process that is hard to replicate. While 3D printing is an advanced technology that allows the creation of complex FBG sensing devices. Moreover, fiber Bragg grating sensors have never been applied to sleep-monitoring.
During the first experiments, the 3D printed FBG sensors were tested while putting under pressure loads. Each device demonstrated a number of consistent wavelengths which leads to the possibility of providing reliable readings. The final tests on fiber Bragg grating sensors were held by placing them under the mattress of a bed. A person demonstrated several sleeping positions while the FBG sensors were tracking his changes in posture.
According to the results, the FBG sensors’ readings were almost precise and had an error rate of less than 1%. Nevertheless, the research team considers that this fiber optic technology still has potential in the future. They could, for example, track a patient’s breathing and identify when the heart rate has begun to fall. And that is not the first time that fiber optic technology can prove beneficial to medicine.
Scientists from Latvia made a number of experiments using fiber optic technology for monitoring the condition of the road surface. They chose special FBG sensors that can collect data about roadway changes, like changes in the strain and temperature. These fiber optic solutions that also include applying fiber Bragg gratings (FBGs) will help in designing reliable roads and planning for road repairs.
The process of pavement destroying can’t be completely stopped. However, we can apply more strong materials and repair small cracks in the structure at the early stages. That is why we require new monitoring methods and the most effective ways are fiber optic solutions.
According to the research, the fiber sensors could define the roadway defects and measure the load on the site. So with the help of fiber optic sensors, it will be possible to consider the pressure and vibration created by transport in the area and strengthen the coverage in the right places.
Scientists chose fiber optic systems because fiber optic sensors are highly sensitive and do not require a power supply. Fiber sensors can be installed in an existing fiber optic network and receive data remotely. The basis of fiber optic sensors contains fiber Bragg gratings (FBGs). It is a section in the middle of an optical fiber, where the refractive index of light has been changed using ultraviolet radiation. As a result, such a section always reflects radiation only in a very small part of the spectrum and transmits the rest of the light without loss. The fiber Bragg grating (FBG) can be formed so that the wavelength of the reflected light depends on changes in temperature, pressure, or other physical aspects. Because of these parameters, fiber Bragg grating sensors are effective for application.
Scientists placed two types of fiber optic sensors on one of the highways during its renovation. The first one measured deformations in construction, the other detected temperature. Since unprotected fiber sensors are quite fragile, they were packed in composite and ceramic tubes. The first test demonstrated that the most precise strain measurements are possible when the load is placed exactly at the location of the fiber optic sensors. Researchers also specified that temperature plays a crucial role in the deformations of the asphalt. And the final key aspect of the tests with fiber optic technology was monitoring real traffic and defining the truck’s quantity.
Finally, the experiments demonstrate that fiber optic sensors can measure the deformations of the roadway with sufficient accuracy. By applying FBG sensors specialists can determine the moment when the limit of permissible deformations will be exceeded in the selected area. That will definitely help in designing new roads and repairing the existing ones.
During the last 60 years, fiber optic technology has been applied to improve the efficiency of developed systems in various spheres like medicine, vehicles, and other industries. Modern fiber optic solutions expand the abilities by implementing levels of data and sensing technology in the energy, medical field, and even aerospace. There are various fiber optic solutions that help researchers improve their development and make new discoveries in science.
Intrinsic and extrinsic fiber optic sensors are two wide categories of fiber optic sensors. Extrinsic fiber optic sensors utilize the fiber to manage the light to a sensing region. Then the optical signal is modulated in another environment. Talking about the intrinsic fiber optic sensors, the light remains within the waveguide. So it measures the influence of the optical fiber signal.
Intrinsic fiber optic sensor technology, where the fiber optic sensor is the fiber optic cable itself, has improved significantly during recent years. There are two main technologies connected to intrinsic fiber optic sensors: scattering and FBG. FBG methods can be fully distributed or have many sensing points. With the help of FBG sensors, scientists can define the changes by getting precise measurements. Scattering techniques depend on natural imperfections occurring in the fiber optic cable. The FBGs have a high signal-to-noise ratio in comparison with scattering techniques.
Both scattering and FBGs use different demodulation techniques. Scattering techniques get the information by observing changes in naturally back-scattering patterns. For FBG based technology, wavelength division multiplexing is the most prevalent demodulation technique. However, in certain circumstances, optical frequency domain reflectometry can become the most useful method.
Wavelength division multiplexing is able to spread to large distances and get the data rapidly. This technology can also support multiple fiber Bragg gratings on a fiber. It observes critical points more than the whole field of the data. That is why it is mostly applied in automobile crash testing as a monitoring instrument.
The scattering techniques can cover long distances and give a distributed profile of the data. They obtain information all over the entire fiber optic cable. Many systems on the market measure temperature or acoustics and are called Distributed Temperature Sensing (DTS) or Distributed Acoustic Sensing (DAS). These techniques are usually applied in monitoring a pipeline for tampering, for example, where there is no need for high-speed acquisition.
Optical frequency domain reflectometry is another demodulation technique that is mostly applied with FBG sensors where fiber Bragg gratings are placed really close and create a fully distributed sensing fiber. It has many advantages like the combination of high spatial resolution, a bunch of fiber optic sensors, a quick refresh rate, and a full distribution set. Apart from distributed sensing of a strain and temperature, this technology allows defining 2D deflection, liquid level, magnetic fields, etc.
Nowadays, thanks to fiber optic technology, scientists have an opportunity to solve any problems in their designs by using fiber optic systems. And there are still many possibilities for fiber optic technology in the future.
Researchers from India have presented a new development. Thanks to it the scientists can find toxic mercury in drinking water. The whole system is based on FBG sensors.
Fiber Bragg grating (FBG) sensors are utilized widely in industrial and commercial applications with the addition of fiber optic solutions. FBGS sensors are especially effective in stabilizing the wavelength of semiconductor lasers and are useful in extracting a single wavelength from the fiber. Fiber Bragg grating sensors are popular in different spheres, including aerospace, robotics, the oil and gas industry, etc. Achievements in creating fiber optic sensors and their applications make the Fiber Bragg grating sensors appropriate for other spheres and developments.
That’s why scientists from India decided to apply Fiber Bragg grating sensors to the mercury detecting system. We can find mercury particles everywhere in the environment. They can be produced not only by human-made causes, like industrial wastes but also by natural ones, for example, combustion of fossil fuels and volcanic eruptions. That’s why the creation of the mercury detection system with the help of FBG sensors was a very important step.
According to medical studies, mercury particles can easily enter the human body. The most common ways are water bodies and marine life. In the human gut, some microorganisms can turn mercury into organic and alkyl forms. These forms of mercury in the human blood-vascular system can lead to diseases of kidneys, nerves, endocrine, and other systems. So the mercury detection system based on fiber Bragg grating sensors plays a crucial role in health care activities.
The developed by the research team FBG sensors are portable in comparison with other traditional techniques. These techniques are gas chromatography and liquid chromatography methods were tested by time. They are considered to be precise and complicated. And they are not portable like fiber Bragg grating sensors. Moreover, they need much time and get more expenses because are made in special laboratories by professionals.
Scientists think that fiber Bragg grating sensors are an ideal decision for the developing mercury detection system. Fiber Bragg grating principles help to make this system cost-expensive and highly effective in comparison with the others. However, they agree that there is still a lot of work to do and Fiber Bragg grating sensors can be updated in the future.
Scientists from the USA have created a laser light-powered micron optics accelerometer. It is a micron sensor that locates any speed changes. The advantage of it is the fact that it functions over a greater range of frequencies and at a higher rate of precision than usual instruments.
The thing is that all micron optics accelerometers fix changes in speed by monitoring proof mass, or its position while moving, toward an unmoving reference point inside the HBG accelerometer. Herewith, the distance itself alters only if the micron optics accelerometer changes speed or direction.
The scientists created a design with supporting beams. The beams play the role of a harmonic oscillator or a spring that vibrated a single frequency. The FBG accelerometer comprises two chips and the laser light that goes through the bottom chip and emits at the top. A proof mass is installed at the top chip by silicon flexible beams. That allows a proof mass to move freely in response to acceleration. There is also a mirrored surface on the proof mass and a mirror fixed the bottom chip. That design forms an optical cavity.
While motion, the proof mass creates a signal that a micron optics accelerometer can adopt. The scientists used laser light to measure the alterations in distance between two reflective surfaces and watch any changes in the resonant wavelength. The proof mass could move freely and it supported one of the mirrored surfaces. The other surface including a microfabricated concave mirror was the fixed reference point.
That construction of the FBG accelerometer helped the scientists measure the cavity light with a high degree of precision. The proof mass moves when the device has an acceleration. Herewith, the length of the cavity alters as well as the resonant wavelength shifts. All this impacts the intensity of the reflected light.
While the process of the research, the micron optics accelerometer enabled the team to reach minimal measurement uncertainty acceleration frequencies spanning. According to the scientists, the device employs light as an activator and does not need periodic calibrations. Furthermore, the FBG accelerometer could detect any displacements of the proof mass.
The research team announced that further improvements in the micron optics accelerometer allow us to use it as a highly effective and portable device for the calibration of other accelerometers.
The topic of a smart city and how it should be implemented is one of the most discussed today. The problem is everyone understands something different by this term. However, all people agree on one thing — the advent of the era of “smart cities” is inevitable and fiber optic solutions play a crucial role in it.
First of all, the smart city is a modern urban management system, convenient transport, efficient fiber optic solutions, developed internal procedures of the urban environment. They also include modern channels of interaction with residents, infrastructure, big data, etc.
Additionally, the smart city is a big amount of data that is structured, accessible, and properly secured. When these factors are combined and managed, then the smart city will appear.
Components of smart cities
The elements of the smart city, in general, contain smart energy, a resource supply system, smart transport and security system provided by fiber sensors, a system of social services, and urban management. Only when all these parameters come together, this is a full-fledged smart city, not its elements.
In the smart city concept, the conventional infrastructure of housing and utilities is equipped with modern fiber optic sensors. Herewith, controllers and video cameras, connected to broadband networks and integrated with a platform for data collection and processing are installed too. All this data is analyzed and allows achieving great efficiency and optimization of city services and local businesses, whether it is the expenditure of resources or the management of passenger traffic.
In theory, everything looks simple, but in reality, there are a lot of obstacles. Those who develop the ideology of a smart city have to face a lot of barriers, both typical for large IT projects and individual ones. This fact seriously complicates the process. Cities must meet one common requirement to become smart: to collect reliable information (from fiber optic sensors). Based on data it is possible to develop fiber optic solutions for the long term because data is crucial in our time. If you integrate fiber sensors into the city’s infrastructure and create new data collection points — including from citizens with their mobile devices — the smart city administration will be able to analyze big data to more accurately track and predict what is happening. This is also evident in the deployment of communication systems: local fiber optic networks, municipal Wi-Fi, specialized applications for specific tasks (smart parking, street lighting, waste disposal, and recycling).
As already mentioned, the concept of a smart/safe city includes components from a wide variety of areas of life. Moreover, the consumers of these elements are both business and government organizations, as well as the residents of cities themselves.
Fiber sensors as a component of smart transport
In large cities, we are used to applying intelligent traffic analysis and route planning services. These services are based on fiber optic solutions for the collection and processing of data on vehicle movement. Nevertheless, the concept of smart transport is much broader.
Equipping vehicles with location and speed fiber sensors, as well as video cameras, allows solving a variety of tasks. For example, they provide security to logistics management. Fiber optic sensors allow detecting where the car is, what it does and how it can plan its further route.
The development of smart transport will lead to the emergence of a full-fledged autopilot for private cars. However, there are a lot of technological and legal issues to be resolved, so whether this will happen shortly is not clear.
Smart fiber sensors for security
One of the most popular and well-developed features of smart cities today is the security (in the context of protection from crime). The streets of cities around the world are equipped with video surveillance cameras connected to a single fiber optic system for collecting and processing information, which reduces the volume of crimes. But video surveillance is just one part.
Smart policing is an attempt to transform a familiar service into a more effective law enforcement tool in the face of increasing population density. There is a huge layer of fiber optic technologies that the average user simply does not notice. In addition to the video surveillance system itself, this may include: ● new communication tools that allow quickly receiving information about incidents; ● modern emergency notification systems for employees and the public; ● equipment (sapper robots, drones, etc.) that allows replacing people when they have to solve dangerous tasks or improve search and other activities; ● data collection tools that can be used as an evidence base (audio recording, etc.); ● fiber optic systems for analyzing all kinds of data that allow identifying atypical human behavior or infrastructure failures at an early stage.
In the future, the concept of smart police implies the creation of centers, where all the information is collected by the fiber optic systems, especially from critical areas. Seeing the whole situation, emergency services can make decisions more quickly.
Fiber optic sensors for smart resource consumption
It is obvious that accurate accounting of resources consumed allows managing the load or making savings. Therefore, it is necessary not only to implement fiber sensors in all areas of housing and communal services but also to collect data in a single platform for centralized management. On the scale of the entire country, this is a task for years and it requires billions of dollars in budgets.
There are examples of cities around the world that are actively implementing smart resource consumption. In particular, Barcelona has introduced automated structural health monitoring of street lighting, taking into account the time of day and weather conditions. Taking into account favorable environmental conditions, solar energy is actively used here for heating water in buildings, as well as powering interactive displays of public transport stops. Nowadays a modular open-source platform is being developed. It collects and analyzes information from fiber optic sensors for the consumption of basic resources, weather fiber sensors, ambient noise, etc.
Other areas as part of the smart city
Smart education and health care (as well as other areas — mass events and tourism) allow not so much to save money but to improve the quality of life in the city. Broadband networks make it possible to significantly expand the audience listening to a particular training course. For this purpose, educational facilities are equipped with electronic boards and cameras, as well as remote presence systems. This allows solving different tasks at different levels of education — from providing compulsory secondary education to low-mobility citizens to remote higher education in the country’s leading universities.
Similar fiber optic systems in medicine allow helping patients in hospitals on the outskirts or in the regions, using the advice of more qualified specialists from the center. For example, it can be performed by a mobile carriage with diagnostic devices, a computer, a video camera, etc.
It is worth noting that the division of industries in this list is very conditional. Many tasks are solved at the intersection of, for example, resource analysis and logistics. The routes of cars that take out the garbage are planned not according to a schedule, but taking into account the data from the fiber optic sensors. They detect the fullness of garbage containers that arrive at the coordination center in real-time.
Besides, some ideas combine fiber optic solutions from several areas at once. For example, they include smart office buildings that are part of a smart city.
The main problems of implementing fiber optic sensors
From the business point of view, there are several serious obstacles to the development of real projects within the framework of the smart city concept, which still need to be improved. Individual components of the smart city have been developing in different cities for a long time. The main problem is the payback period for projects.
Therefore, the first task is to increase the level of security in cities, obviously, through the introduction of video recording systems and video analytics provided by fiber sensors. It allows automatically cut off a large part of street crimes. This is the most understandable task: it is clear how to use fiber optic technology and why it is necessary, it is easier to justify the costs. In general, local specifics are extremely important for the smart city project, because people think differently in every city in the world, they have different needs and problems.
The issue of the security of the smart city system itself requires special mention. After all, every smart fiber sensor or device can become an entry point for intruders. The sensor software can be modified so that if there are “defects” in the security system, it will perform completely different tasks.
Usually, all fiber optic sensors are made in the dust- and moisture-proof coatings, equipped with batteries with a long working time, and support data transmission over the network.
Finally, it is necessary to pay attention to the fiber sensor for monitoring the position of manhole covers and the water level sensor, which allows measuring the water and its volume in any tank.
Smart cities are predicted to have a great future. However, when it will come, it is not yet clear. The thing is that technologically, everything is ready for this. There are Big Data analysis tools, appropriate server equipment, fiber sensors that can work for ten years without recharging the battery, and appropriate communication standards. Nevertheless, this market has a lack of technological stability — the final choice of dominant standards and the formation of business models. All these help to understand how you can work and earn money here.
Optromix is a fast-growing vendor of fiber Bragg grating (FBG) product line such as fiber Bragg grating sensors, for example, fbg strain sensors, FBG interrogators and multiplexers, Distributed Acoustic Sensing (DAS) systems, Distributed Temperature Sensing (DTS) systems. The company creates and supplies a broad variety of fiber optic solutions for monitoring worldwide. If you are interested in structural health monitoring systems and want to learn more, please contact us at info@optromix.com
A group of scientists from China has designed a very sensitive tiny fiber optic sensor for the measurement of the slightest pressure changes. Such FBG pressure sensors are suitable for medical applications. Herewith, they do not have numerous disadvantages of silica-based optical fibers.
According to scientists, such a fiber sensor is extremely sensitive, and it allows for measuring lung pressure even while breathing. The thing is that pressure changes in the lungs are very small and difficult to be detected. The operating principle of FBG pressure sensors is based on a fiber Bragg grating (FBG) inscribed into an optical fiber.
It should be noted that the optical fiber used is made of a new polymer. The pressure sensor detects the slightest pressure changes of 2 kilopascals. The biocompatibility of these fiber optic sensors makes them suitable for medical applications. Additionally, the fiber sensors are chemically inert, herewith they are not sensitive to moisture.
The scientists plan to use FBG pressure sensors to control different parameters that contain pressure, temperature, and strain. Moreover, numerous modern fiber sensors use FBG technology, “ tiny periodic microstructures that can be inscribed onto a fiber.”
FBG sensors made of conventional silica-based fibers have several disadvantages for medicine. They are not convenient for long-term use in the body because these optical fibers are relatively hard and very frangible. Moreover, most FBG sensors made of silica perform limited sensitivity to the slightest pressure changes.
Compared to silica sensors, there are polymer fiber optic sensors. However, they absorb water. This is the main reason why scientists create advanced polymer optical fiber to solve the current problems. Novel FBG pressure sensors can be applied in aqueous environments.
Also, such material offers a higher light shift in response to a pressure change. The production of these FBG sensors becomes easier because it doesn’t require the use of dopants. Thus, scientists produce optical fibers with good reproducibility.
The FBG pressure sensors have been already tested by comparing their performance with the standard polymer counterpart. Herewith, novel fiber sensors provide a linear, repeatable response. They can be employed for low-pressure measurement up to 50 kilopascals above or below atmospheric pressure with a resolution of 2.0 kilopascals.
Finally, these FBG sensors demonstrate higher sensitivity (80% higher than standard polymer-based sensors). Their promising applications include the operation not only in medical and high-altitude environments but also in gaseous containers.
Nowadays researchers tend to use fusion as a safe energy source at power plants. Nevertheless, this process is dangerous. It requires reliable fiber optic technology for structural health monitoring at power plants. Novel fiber optic sensors offer robust operation in the harsh conditions of a commercial fusion power plant.
To be more precise, these fiber sensors provide temperature sensing applying optical fibers with written fiber Bragg gratings (FBGs). The FBG operating principle is based on broadband light that is directed on it. Although most of the light goes through, one wavelength is reflected. Herewith, the reflected wavelength changes with both temperature and strain.
Therefore, the installation of several fiber Bragg gratings enables performing independent temperature sensing of each location. Standard FBGs are widely used in various industries for strain and temperature sensing. Herewith, compact superconducting cables use these optical fibers based on fiber optic technology.
Novel FBG sensors can maintain “the intense electrical, mechanical, and electromagnetic stresses of a fusion magnet’s environment.” The novel fiber optic technology supposes ultra-long fiber Bragg gratings of 9-millimeter located 1 mm apart. The FBG sensors operate as conventional long quasi-continuous systems.
Compared to standard systems, FBG sensors include such benefits as long grating length (meters instead of millimeters). Ultra-long FBGs allow for sensing simultaneously occurring temperature changes along their entire length. Thus, it is possible to determine fastly temperature variation, irrespective of the location of the heat source.
Additionally, it is possible to combine ultra-long FBGs and traditional FBGs to produce both spatial and temporal resolution. The fiber optic technology has been developed by a team of researchers from Switzerland. According to them, such a combination can be used on bigger cables.
These FBG sensors detect quickly and accurately even the smallest temperature changes under realistic operation conditions. Moreover, they demonstrate a better signal-to-noise ratio thanks to their high level of sensitivity and the opportunity to adjust the optical fiber response.
Thus, the fiber optic sensors locate quench events tens of seconds faster than voltage taps. Herewith, the application of FBG sensors for HTS magnets quenches detection is very potential. It allows for overcoming the current problem of HTS coils from damage during quenches.
Finally, such a fiber optic technology plays a crucial role in compact fusion processes, where practical, high-field, high-temperature superconducting magnets are important. FBG sensors are still under development and need some improvements to be used in new applications.
Common communication channels apply fibers in fiber optic sensors where laser beam light passes along haul distances. These fiber sensors allow for determining, controlling, and measuring external parameters in a distributed format. Herewith, the optical fiber in a fiber optic system operates both as a distributed transducer and optical channel.
To be more precise, the fiber optic sensors measure various changes on specific parameters along with the transducer. Such factors as the dynamic range and the spatial resolution play a crucial role in distributed sensing but still have to be improved. The operating principle of fiber optic systems is based on “the incident light wave that produces acoustic waves through the electrostriction effect. It induces a periodic modulation of the refractive index of material that evokes a light-backscattering like a fiber Bragg grating of FBGs.”
It should be noted that a fiber sensor or sensing system is a tool that determines, measures physical or chemical parameters. Herewith, in the case of light use in such systems, this is a photonic or optical sensor. The fiber optic sensors, in turn, consist of optical fibers and the fiber optic technology around them.
Distributed fiber optic sensors detect and measure physical factors by Brillouin scattering of light in optical fibers. Brillouin scattering advances the development of precise distributed fiber optic systems. Additionally, these fiber sensors enable to measure specific variables.
Distributed sensing systems are very promising for structural health monitoring. The following parameters can be detected: strain and temperature, acoustic waves, and others. Moreover, these fiber optic sensors maintain severe environments and offer noise electromagnetic immunity, durability, and reliability.
The most common application of fiber sensors based on the Brillouin sensing technique includes laboratory implementation. Nevertheless, their applications are not limited to labs only. Distributed fiber optic sensors are widely used in such fields as:
The civil infrastructure where distributed sensing systems detects variables in bridges, railways, and land monitoring;
Bridges and monitoring where compact fiber sensors promote accurate diagnostic load test;
Geotechnical structures monitoring for measuring and controlling of the stress distribution;
Pipelines monitoring by distributed fiber optic sensors in real-time for early warning of liquid and gas pipes;
Monitoring of some materials and structures, for instance, competition yachts or experimental vehicles.
It is not a secret that fiber optic technology already has a wide range of different applications starting with medicine and ending with road monitoring. However, scientists still have a lot of spheres for FBG sensors implementation. And the VR ecosystem is one of them.
A collaboration of scientists from different countries (China, Pakistan, and Hong Kong) have developed new 3D printed FBG sensors that can help in creating the ‘smart beds’. Scientists have worked to determine the main advantages of the innovative 3D printed FBG sensors and their applications in different spheres.
Scientists from Latvia made a number of experiments using fiber optic technology for monitoring the condition of the road surface. They chose special FBG sensors that can collect data about roadway changes, like changes in the strain and temperature. These fiber optic solutions that also include applying fiber Bragg gratings (FBGs) will help in designing reliable roads and planning for road repairs.
During the last 60 years, fiber optic technology has been applied to improve the efficiency of developed systems in various spheres like medicine, vehicles, and other industries. Modern fiber optic solutions expand the abilities by implementing levels of data and sensing technology in the energy, medical field, and even aerospace. There are various fiber optic solutions that help researchers improve their development and make new discoveries in science.
Researchers from India have presented a new development. Thanks to it the scientists can find toxic mercury in drinking water. The whole system is based on FBG sensors.
Scientists from the USA have created a laser light-powered micron optics accelerometer. It is a micron sensor that locates any speed changes. The advantage of it is the fact that it functions over a greater range of frequencies and at a higher rate of precision than usual instruments.
The topic of a smart city and how it should be implemented is one of the most discussed today. The problem is everyone understands something different by this term. However, all people agree on one thing — the advent of the era of “smart cities” is inevitable and 
A group of scientists from China has designed a very sensitive tiny 
Nowadays researchers tend to use fusion as a safe energy source at power plants. Nevertheless, this process is dangerous. It requires reliable
Common communication channels apply fibers in