03 Sep 2007 The new Wx range of high-speed FBG interrogators from Smart Fibres Ltd. Wx is a compact and highly robust instrument for dynamic measurement of FBG sensors. Applications include the structural health monitoring of aircraft and military platforms. Wx was conceived to meet the needs of the EU defence research project AHMOS. During this project the intrinsic stability and reliability of the design have been proven through rigorous ground and fast jet flight tests.
The interrogator is based on a highly agile, tuneable laser source (1528 – 1568 nm) that is able to scan at a rate of 2.5 kHz over its full 40 nm range with a short-term repeatability of < 2 pm. By operating the Wx over a restricted wavelength range, higher scan frequencies are possible, for example, 5 kHz over a 20 nm range, 10 kHz over a 10 nm range, or 20 kHz over a 5 nm range. Further, onboard averaging (2, 4 or 8 times) enables the interrogator to operate at a reduced data rate with improved repeatability.
Initially Wx is available with 1 to 4 optical channels, each channel is capable of handling a maximum of 16 FBG sensors. Modular solutions with up to 16 optical channels are currently under development.
Data from the Wx is transmitted in real-time to a data acquisition PC using an Ethernet interface (UDP-IP). Included with every Smart Fibres interrogator is our SmartSoft suite of LabVIEW based application software enabling remote data acquisition, analysis and logging.
Wx will be presented at the 6th International Workshop for Structural Health Monitoring in Stanford, CA. September 11-13, 2007
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