Applications of Fiber Optic Smart
Structures
Eric Udd
Blue Road Research
2555 N.E. 205th Avenue
Troutdale, Oregon 97060
503 667-7772
Fax: 503 667-7880
email: ericudd@aol.com
Many plants and can be
considered "smart structures" that can sense and
react to their environment. Ln animals nerve
endings are used to sense an environmental effect
that could be heat, pressure or light. The signals
are then conveyed via n ~ v e tos the brain where
the signals are then processed and a decision is
made on how to react. If a reaction is necessary a
signal is sent via another nerve and the animal
responds to the environmental effect.
Man made structures can be made
"smart" by duplicating the essential elements of
the system that consists of embedded sensors
(nerve endings), data links (nerves), a
programmed data processor (brain), and actuators
(muscles, hormones). Fiber optic sensors offer
embedded sensor capability and natural
connections to fiber optic data links that can be
used in a wide variety of composite materials to
act as the structures "nervous system". These
sensors have a series of important advantages
over conventional electronic sensors. (I) They
are small often being made with overall diameters
of 125 microns or less resulting in a hair thin
sensor that can be embedded in many types of
composite stnictures without changing
mechanical properties. (2) Fiber optic sensors
can be made environmentally rugged and are able
to withstand the temperatures and pressures
associated with the manufacture of composite
structures. (3) The glass fibers are passive
dielectric devices enahling their usage in organic
composite materials like carbon epoxy and
thermoplastics where electrical discharge hazards
such as lightning on aircraft and spacecraft require
the elimination of conductive paths. The passive
nature of fiber optic sensors also allows these
sensors to be embedded successfully into metal
structures. (4) Many fiber optic sensors can be
made that have a high degree of immunity to
electromagnetic interference eliminating the need
for costly and bulky shielding. (5) Fiber optic
ISBN# 0-7803-3277-6 68
sensors may be multiplexed so that many sensors
lie along a single fiber line. (6) me fiber
sensors are compatible with fiber optic
data liks which have the bandwidth necessary to
support large numbr of (7) is a
high of synergy between fiber optic
sensors and the telecommunication and
optoe~~tronicsindustry with the benefit of
continuously iwroving and lower
costs.
Most fiber optic smart structure
applications [I] fall into one of four mjor
categories. The first is smart manufacturing here
fiber optic sensors are embedded or attached to
parts during the manufacturing process. They are
then used to monitor such parameters as
temperature, pressure, viscosity, degree of cure
and residual strain. After the parts have been
made the same sensors or another set may be
used for the second application area of
nondestructive testing. Here the fiber sensors
may be used to measure acoustic signatures,
changes in strain profiles, delamination and other
indications of changes in the structural
characteristics of fabricated parts. The third
aspect of filxr optic smart structures and the one
that has been the focus of many efforts is health
and damage assessment systems for structures.
Examples would include the status of buildings,
bridges and dams as well as checks supporting
maintenance of aircraft. Finally fiber optic smart
structures may be used to support control
systems. Unlike health and damage assessment
systems which simply monitor changes in the
structure these control systems measure the
environmental effects acting on the structure and
then react to them. Examples of these types of
structures would be buildings that sense and
readjust to earthquakes to minimize damage and
planes that are designed to react to structural
changes by adjusting their flight envelop.
 In the next sections a few fiber optic
sensors [2-41 that are particularly useful for fiber
optic smart structures will be briefly overviewed
followed by examples of how they may be
applied.
Fiber Optic Sensors for Smart
Structures
A basic block diagram of a fiber optic
smart structure system is shown in Figure 1. A
composite panel may have embedded or attached
fiber optic sensors that are used to monitor an
environmental effect. These sensors may be
multiplexed and their signals are carried by a fiber
optic data line to an optidelectronic processor
which is used to separate out and preprocess the
information. The data is then formatted and
transmitted to a control system that may be used
to support performance enhancement or act to
assess damage. A fiber optic link may then be
used to convey informationto an actuator system
that is directed to respond to the environmental
effect.
There are many issues associated with
implementing this type of system including
placement of the fiber into the composite
material without degrading the strength of the
structure, the coating on the fiber which is
crucial to successful sensing, ingress and egress
out of parts, what type of fiber sensors to use,
what type of multiplexing and signal processing.
Overriding all these issues are the concerns of the
end user and system designer who passes down
requirements that must be met by all of these
subsystems.
Because of concems with structural
degradation of composite materials it is often
desirable to have a fiber sensor with an overall
diameter not much larger than a standard
telecommunication grade optical fiber of 125
microns. This situation often does not apply to
large concrete structures and instead is usually
associated with relatively thin composite
structures.
Many fiber optic sensors are based on
intensity modulation. For many smart structure
applications this brings up serious issues related
to changes in intensity due to misalignments,
aging, and changing fiber loss that can result in
measurement errors. Another approach is to use
a fiber optic sensor that is inherently spectrally
based. These sensors may be based on blackbody
radiation, absorption, fluorescence, dispersive
elements such as gratings and etalons or other
spectrally sensitive elements.
69
For many types of structures the key
parameter of interest is often strain. Since much
of traditional structural analysis and experiment
have been supported by relatively short gauge
length strain sensors and many events occur over
relatively short distances a short gauge length
fiber optic strain sensor is highly desirable.
Fiber grating and fiber etalon based fiber optic
sensors meet these requirements.
A fiber grating may be formed by
exposing the core of a germanium doped optical
fiber to altemating regions of highly intense and
dark short wavelength laser light. This may be
done using a phase mask and a high intensity uv
light source or by combining two laser beams to
form an interference pattern that is imaged
through the side of the fiber "writing"the grating
pattern onto the fiber. The major issue with the
fiber grating is that for small strains on the order
of 10 microstrain the change in wavelength can
be quite small, on the order of nm. Because
this is below the resolution level of most
laboratory spectrometersthat are too expensive to
be cost effective the major issue has been to find
methods that can be used to extract the strain
information. This can be done by a number of
methods. Essentially what is needed is a narrow
band spectral filter to beat against the spectral
profile of the fiber grating. This filter can be as
simple as a second fiber grating that is matched
to the first. In this case the reference fiber
grating can be modulated and adjusted in length
to match the fiber grating used to sense strain in
the composite material. Other approaches
include the use of filters based on Fabry-Perot
etalons and interferometers.
Various types of Fabry-Perot etalons
have been made. In each case the idea is that
light transmitted through the etalon which
consist of two reflective surfaces will be
transmittal with the highest efficiency when the
wavelength of the light is such that an integral
number of waves at that wavelength corresponds
to the distance between the two mirrors.
Depending on the reflectivity of the mirrors the
sharpness of transmission peak will vary. The
intrinsic fiber etalon consists of fibers that have
been cleaved and coated with a reflective material.
This could be a metal or a dielectric material such
as titanium dioxide. The fibers are then refused
to form a mirror contained within the fiber. The
process is repeated twice to form an intrinsic
fiber etalon. A second approach is to take a
capillary tube and insert reflectively coated (or
bare) fibers into it. The first approach has the
advantage of being no larger than the fiber
diameter with the issue of polarization control.
The second approach eliminates the polarization
problem at the cost of overall size and
ruggedness. A third configuration uses two
fibers reflectively coated and placed in close
proximity to form a variable etalon (spectral
filter) that can be used to demodulate fiber
gratings.
There are some applications where long
gauge length fiber optic strain sensors are useful
including monitoring earth movement and strain
Control System Optical/ composite panel
-Performance Electronic with ~ ~ l ~
-Health Proce?sor Fiher Sensors
i Fiber OpticLinkto
Actuator System
- U
Environmental Effect
Flgure 1. Fiber optic smart structure system
Cure Monitor
Controller
Figure 2. Smart manufacturing.
on high tension wires. In this case
Interfemneteric fiber sensors can be extremely
useful.
Another class of fiber optic sensors that
have the potential for wide use in fiber optic
smart structures are distributed fiber sensors.
Most of these sensors are based on variants on
optical time domain reflectometry and look at
forward or backward scatter of light beams.
Scattering mechanism that have been used
include Rayleigh, Raman, Brillouin and
Fluorescence. The excess scatter and loss along
the fiber associated with Rayleigh scattering may
be used as an indication of strain. Raman
scattering has been used effectively to measure
temperature along the length of fiber as this type
of scattering has a strong temperature dependace.
Distributed fiber sensors may also be used to
locate and measure time varying effects like
acoustic or vibration disturbances. Interlaced
Interferometeric fiber sensors offer a means to do
this. They are all based on the position
dependent response of the Sagnac interferometer
and include combinations of the Mach--der
and Sagnac interferometer as well as multiple
Sagnac configurations. The key point is that
the Sagnac loop has a position dependent
response. By interleaving two Sagnac
interferometers at two different operational
wavelengths two linear responses are generated to
a time varying effect whose sum is a measure of
i ~ l ~ ~ ~ d
the amplitude of the effect and whose ratio is an
indication of position.
There are many other fiber sensors that
may be and have been used to support fiber optic
smart structures and those described above should
be considered a representative sampling rather
than a comprehensive treatment.
Fiber Optic Smart Structure
Applications
One potentially very large application
area for fiber optic smart structures is the area of
smart manufacturing. Figure 2 illustrates the
concept of embedding an optical fiber in a
composite part that is being processed in an
autoclave. The embedded fiber may be used to
measure temperature and degree of cure based on
fluorescence of the resin in the composite part.
Because large composite parts are often very high
value items it would be highly desirable to
improve the reliability with which the parts are
processed. Variations in resins from batch to
batch and due to aging can change optimum
processing parameters. Internal measurements of
key parameters offers the prospect of improving
this situation. The key obstacles to widespead
usage are lack of familiarity with fiber optic
sensors by manufacturing personnel, logistical
difficulties associated with connecting the fibers
to the parts and lack of effective low cost fiber
sensors. This situation is slowly changing as
more personnel are trained to use fiber optics,
components and methods improve and higher
volume production rates are achieved for key
components.
A similar situation applies to
70
 nondestructive testing of parts. In this case
acoustic murces are used to perform diagnostics
on parts after they have been fabricated. Fiber
optic acoustic sensors are buried internal to the
part and can be used to make local measurements.
Other types of fiber optic sensors could be used
to support nondestructive testing and could be the
same ones used to support smart manufacturing.
One of the most widely investigated
system applications is damage assessment.
Many of these systems use strain or acoustic
sensors to monitor changes due to impact on a
structure.
Implementing a damage or control
system on a large structure such as an aircraft
Wing can require large numbem of sensors. As
an example measuring strain fields across the
entire wing of a large modem jetliner (an MD-11,
767 or 777) would require about 2000 sensors
based on placing fiber strain sensors
approximately every 10 cm. In order to make a
system affordable it generally must be a small
fraction of the total structure cost and most
importantly it must add substantial economic
value to the end user. This value added could be
in the form of improved safety, reliability or
maintainability. It could also be measured in
terms of fuel savings in the case of aircraft or
customer down time for utility applications.
Whatever measures and justifications are used the
case must be clear for a viable commercial
application to occur. To realize such a system
there are several possible architectures. One
approach would be to use fiber optic sensors that
have wide m coverage to locate damage
approximately and then switch to a more
comprehensive set of sensors to do a detailed
assessment later. A second approach would be to
have a large number of fiber optic sensors
configured to detailed sensing but only have a
small fraction on in a quiescent state to do an
initial localization of damage.
detailed assessments may be made without
overwhe,lming processor capabilities to form real
or near real time measurements. The information
from the demodulator is then formatted for
transmission via fiber optic data link to a
subsystem signal processor that could be used to
support many modules consisting of
formatter/demodulatorlswitch units. The
information from the subsystem signal processor
would then be routed to the a health management
bus. In the case of an aircraft this would be a
vehicle health management bus. The damage
assessment information on the bus would be
processed and routed via distribution system to
the pilot or automatic systems that would react
and take corrective actions as necessary.
Building and bridges could have similar
systems to monitor for earthquake damage, fires,
break ins, and other events requiring corrective
action. The information could be routed via
communication links (that might also be fiber
optic based) to central monitoring station as in
Figure 4. As cable TV and telephone services
improve it can be expected that these sensing
systems will form a natural extension of existing
services.
Optical Sensor String
Data Formatter
and Transmitter Switch 7
OPtlc Subsystem
Figure 3. Fiber sensor modular architecture
Buildings

Figure 3 shows a module that could be

used to support a system with a large number of
sensors. Strings of fiber sensors that could be
fiber gratings or fiber etalons are multiplexed
along a single fiber line. Several of these strings
are connected to an optical switch that may be
hEa Bridge
Fire, Police
Maintenance
used in conjunction with a demodulator unit that
may be able to interrogate subsets of the fiber Figure 4. Fiber optic civil structures.
s e n m on the string. By switching between
sbings and measuring the output of selected
sensors along the selected string@) localized

71
 Fiber optic smart structures also may be
used to provide new capabilities for monitoring
very large natural structures. One exciting
possibility is to use very long fiber optic strain
sensors in combination with existing fiber optic
telecommunication links to provide a wide base
of information on strain build up near fault areas.
This infomation could be used to form a dah
base that may provide a future basis for
earthquake prediction and more rapid monitoring
of events. Figure 5 illustrates how a system of
this type could be locally configured. Fiber optic
communication cables pass near a fault Bine.
Fiber optic sensors are used to measure small
changes in strain parallel to the fault line. This
information is then converted into digital form
and transmitted back to a central processing
location. Monitoring fault lines in California or
(- Fault
Line
A
mgure b. Earth movement detection system.
Japan would be examples of how this system
could be deployed. Other examples could be to
monitor earth movements by measuring strain
build up in volcanoes.
There are also cases where earth
movements that may result in rock slides or
displacement of building or other high value
assets are important to measure such as an oil
drilling platform that m y be slowly moved by
currents or river outflow. Fiber optic strain
systems could be part of a smart structure system
to monitor position and strain build up on the
platform. As another example long gauge length
fiber optic strain sensors could be placed in
power or telecommunication cables. Strain build
up could then be monitored for situations such as
ice stows or earth slippage.
72
Summary
Fiber optic smart structure technology
offers the prospect of enabling new systems that
are capable of providing critical information for
manufacturing, nondestructive evaluation, health,
damage and control systems. These systems are
synergistic with the expanding fiber optic
communication and optoelectronic markets and
can be expected to have a bright future.
Acknowledgments
Figures 1-5 are drawn from the Blue
Road Research Fiber Optic Sensor Workbook,
copyright 1993 and1994, and used with
permission. Portions of the text are draw from
the article "Fiber Optic Smart Structures" [5] and
are used with permission.
REFERENCES
1. E. Udd, Editor, Fiber Optic Smart
Structures, Wiley , 1995.
2. J. Dakin and B. Culshaw, Editors,
"Optical Fiber Sensors: Principles and
Components," Vol. 1 Artech House, Boston,
1988.
3. B. Culshaw and J. Dakin, "Optical
Fiber Sensors: Systems and
Applications," Vol. 2, Artech House,
Norwood, Mass, 1989.
4. E. Udd, Editor, Fiber Optic Sensors:
An Introductionfor Engineers rmd
Scientists, Wiley, New York, 1991.
5. E. Udd, "Fiber Optic Smart Structures",
Proc. of IEEE, Vol. 84, p. 60, 1996.
Eric Udd is President of Blue Road Research, a
company he founded in 1993 to promote fiber
optic sensor and smart structure technology.
Keywords: Fiber optics, sensors, composite
materials, structures.