There’s good news for new and almost new ENLIGHT users.  A series of 15 training videos is now posted on YouTube.  Previously, most users have relied on the comprehensive ENLIGHT user manual to learn how to access ENLIGHT’s many features.   These videos should make it easier to get up to speed.
 
Since its release in 2009, ENLIGHT has become the interface of choice for the vast majority of users of Micron Optics sensor interrogation instruments.  ENLIGHT leads the user through an easy transition from the optical parameters (like peaks and FBGs) to calibrated sensor measurements.
 
Even users who prefer other programming and data analysis environments, like LabVIEW, often choose to use ENLIGHT for basic setup and sensor definition, and then use their custom code to connect to ENLIGHT via the Remote Command Interface.  You’ll find two elements of the video training that focus on specifically on this. 

Enlight Tutorials

Atlanta, GA – December 15, 2010

Micron Optics, Inc., a leading provider of innovative equipment for fiber optic sensing and laser imaging, today announces the successful installation of two of their state of the art optical sensing systems in the world’s tallest television tower. The Canton Tower at Guangzhou has Micron Optics monitoring systems integrated into the building control system. Integration of the structural sensing and building control systems make this architectural landmark the world’s tallest smart structure.

The Canton Tower is a unique architectural statement implementing an advanced design which places higher strain ranges on the building structure. The installed Micron Optics interrogators and sensors provide high speed strain and temperature information that engineers require for long term structural monitoring of the tower. High strain range, resistance to lightning and other electromagnetic interference, its unparalleled reliability and low cost per sensing point make the Micron Optics system uniquely well qualified for this application.The sensing system integration was performed by Hong Kong Polytechnic under the leadership and guidance of Dr. Hwa-Yaw Tam.

The building design incorporates 800 total sensors. Of these, 220 are Fiber Bragg Grating (FBG) based optical sensors with 140 incorporated into the tower body and 80 used on the antenna. The majority of the electrical sensors are used for in-construction monitoring while the optical sensors are used for long term monitoring of the structure.

Andrei Csipkes, COO of Micron Optics commented, “We are pleased that Hong Kong Polytechnic University chose Micron Optics as its technology partner for this important application. Dr. Tam and his associates are very knowledgeable in this field and we look forward to continued cooperation on projects such as this. The Canton Tower in Guangzhou is a real architectural accomplishment and Micron Optics is pleased that our technology is playing an important role in making smart structures a marketplace reality.”

A technical paper on the optical sensing system installed on the Canton Tower in Guangzhou can be found at Micron Optics Docment Library. The case study associated with this project is at Micron Optics website. A live presentation and a discussion about this monitoring system will be given at OFC 2011.

In September, I posted a brief about work that Applied Geomechanics (AGI) had done with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to measure strain in pavement. One of the sensor types evaluated by AGI and the FAA was produced by Monitor Optics. To create this novel sensor, Monitor Optics has developed a pultrusion process that coats and protects a FBG sensor arrays so that they can be directly embedded in asphalt and concrete pavements either during construction or long after.

You can learn more about such an application on our website here. It highlights an installation in Australia that sought to quantify risks associated with potential mine subsidence under a highway. An update is here. In this case study, see how the data helped highway and mine officials identify the root cause of a road buckling event. Was it the result of thermal expansion or an indication of an imminent mine collapse? Without the data from the fiber optic sensors, the answer would not have been so clear.

Micron Optics’ FBG sensors are made for certain common applications for measurement of strain, temperature and acceleration, but the potential uses of FBG sensors go far beyond what’s covered by these products. That’s where our network of integrators steps in. One good example is Kaisen, Korea Advanced & Innovative Sensing Technology. They have developed a full line of FBG based sensors to support their civil engineering services business, and these sensors are now available for applications worldwide.

Their FBG sensors include long and short gage displacement, a double ended accelerometer, a tilt meter, several special strain gage packages for FRP and concrete applications, and a soil pressure gage. See details at http://www.kaisen.co.kr/products/FBG-sens2.htm