Networking of optical fiber sensors for extreme environments

One of the major benefits of optical fiber sensors for applications to structural health monitoring and other structural measurements is their inherent multiplexing capabilities, meaning that a large number of sensing locations can be achieved with a single optical fiber. It has been well demonstrated that point wise sensors can be multiplexed to form sensor networks or optical fibers integrated with distributed sensing techniques. The spacing between sensing locations can also be tuned to match different length scales of interest. This article presents an overview of directions to adapt optical fiber sensor networking techniques into new applications where limitations such as available power or requirements for high data acquisition speeds are a driving factor. In particular, the trade-off between high fidelity sensor information vs. rapid signal processing or data acquisition is discussed.