Simultaneously distributed temperature and dynamic strain sensing based on a hybrid ultra-weak fiber grating array

Abstract

A fiber-optic sensing system based on two types of ultra-weak fiber Bragg gratings (UWFBG) for simultaneous temperature and vibration sensing was proposed. Narrowband and broadband UWFBGs are alternately written into an optical fiber with equal spacing. Distributed temperature sensing is realized by demodulating the wavelength shift of the narrowband UWFBG, while distributed vibration sensing is achieved by detecting phase variation between two adjacent broadband UWFBG interference pulses. The experimental results show that the proposed hybrid UWFBG array can perform temperature and vibration sensing simultaneously. The experimentally conducted temperature measurement ranges from 20°C to 100°C, with the measurement error less than 0.1°C. Vibration signals at different temperatures can be accurately restored, and the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) is improved by 21.1 dB compared with a normal single-mode fiber (SMF).