Fiber Optics Sensor Systems for Environmental Monitoring
Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna, TeCIP Institute, Via G. Moruzzi 1, 56124 Pisa, Italy
[f.dipasquale@santannapisa.it]
ABSTRACT
Optical fiber sensors are attracting a great deal of attention in academic research and industrial fields due to the advantages they offer compared to conventional electronic sensors. They are electrically passive, immune to electromagnetic interference, compact, resistant to harsh environments, they can be embedded in smart materials, they provide high sensitivity also allowing high multiplexing capabilities and distributed sensing. For these reasons they are successfully applied in a wide range of fields, including structural health monitoring, energy production, conversion and storage, oil&gas, transportation, automotive, aerospace, security, medical and biotech as well as environmental monitoring.
In this lecture the basic physical principles of discrete and distributed optical fiber sensor systems will be introduced, considering in particular Fiber Bragg Grating (FBG) and distributed optical fiber sensors for temperature, strain and vibration measurements. A few examples will be described related to their applications to environmental protection.
CURRICULUM VITAE
Fabrizio Di Pasquale received the degree in Electronic Engineering from University of Bologna, Italy, in 1989 and the Ph.D. degree in Information Technology from University of Parma, Italy, in 1993. From 1993 to 1998, he was with the Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, University College London, U.K., as a Research Fellow, working on optical amplifiers, WDM optical communication systems and liquid crystal displays. After two years with Pirelli Cavi e Sistemi and two years with Cisco Photonics Italy, he moved to Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna, Pisa, Italy, where he is now Full Professor of telecommunications at the Institute of Communication, Information and Perception Technologies (TECIP). He is co-founder of Infibra Technologies S.r.l., a spin-off company of Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna developing and marketing fiber optic sensor systems.
His current research interests include optical fiber sensors, silicon photonics, optical amplifiers, WDM transmission systems and networks.
He has filed 20 international patents and he is the author and co-author of over 220 scientific journals and conference papers. He has been TPC member of several international conferences and is on the Board of Reviewers of international refereed journals like IEEE/OSA Journal of Lightwave Technology, IEEE Sensors Journal, IEEE Photonics Technology Letters, Optics Express, Optics Letters and Optics Communications.