Sensors for civil infrastructure monitoring require capability of dense multiplexing, long span or large area coverage, minimum maintenance, low cost, versatility response to a range of key measurands, and harsh environment performance. The objective of this project is to develop a new optical fiber sensor technology that would increase the multiplexing capability and permit measurement of a number of key structural health and integrity parameters, such as pressure, strain and temperature. This work is directly based on a newly demonstrated UV-induced intrinsic Fabry-Perot interferometric (IFPI) fiber sensor method at Virginia Tech's Center for Photonics Technology. Sensor performance characteristics will be optimized by developing a thorough understanding of the effect of sensor fabrication and multiplexing parameters through both mathematical modeling and experimental analysis. Different types of data aggregation will be investigated for real-time infrastructure monitoring by a large number of heterogeneous sensors using a hybrid of hierarchical and data-centric approaches. . A multidisciplinary team has been assembled to accomplish these objectives leveraging expertise from the mathematics, electrical engineering, materials science and computer engineering at Virginia Tech. Through novel sensor design and computer networking, the successful completion of the research will result in a revolutionary increase in sensor multiplexing density for large area coverage of physical parameter measurements with high spatial resolution and harsh environment capability. Such capabilities will permit real time monitoring of critical civil and industrial infrastructure both for future economic growth, and homeland security at a scale previously unrealizable. This is an integrated research group (IRG) proposal supported by Division of Civil & Mechanical Systems (CMS) under Sensors Initiative NSF04-522.
