Micron Optics, Inc., the leading provider of innovative equipment for fiber optic sensing, today announces the major new release of Micron Optics’ ENLIGHT Sensing Analysis Software version 1.5. ENLIGHT software combines the traditional features of conventional sensor software with the specific needs of the optical sensor system to create a single software tool for the optical sensor system integrator. This new version enhances existing features and adds new functionality, principally in the areas of data management, archiving, analysis, and access for users of Micron Optics optical sensing interrogators and sensors. Many of these new functions are organized in the new Archive tab and are built upon the strong foundation that users have been accustomed to with previous versions of ENLIGHT.

To find out more or for a free download, to Micron Optics sensing software page.

Earlier this week, National Instruments released a revised version of their driver for the Micron Optics sm130 Optical Sensor Interrogator. The Micron Optics x30 is the leading platform for dynamic measurements, with unmatched sensor capacity, measurement stability, and scan rates of up to 2kHz.

This new driver now provides LabVIEW users with access to the x30’s streaming mode. Streaming is a low overhead means of transferring hundreds of thousands of sensor readings per second from the x30 interrogator to a client computer. The new NI driver provides three virtual instruments, or VI’s:

1) turn streaming mode on and off
2) read data while in streaming mode
3) display a graph of streaming data at a specified sampling rate

http://sine.ni.com/apps/utf8/niid_web_display.download_page?p_id_guid=7CACA3A2BE9D0B1BE04400144FB7D21D

For many Micron Optics interrogator users, LabVIEW has been the interface-of-choice for years. In addition to NI-maintained drivers for x25 and x30 interrogators, Micron Optics still provides LabVIEW examples for direct communication to our instruments. http://www.micronoptics.com/support_downloads/Instrumentation/

Even users of our popular ENLIGHT Sensing Analysis Software have a LabVIEW option. The Remote Command Interface can be accessed via LabVIEW; and Micron Optics also provides a LabVIEW example for this.

http://www.micronoptics.com/sensing_software.php

With so many tools available, extracting the value created by Micron Optics sensing systems is easier than ever. Watch soon for news of more ENLIGHT features.

To date I have blogged about the use of fiber optic sensors in the geotechnical (DUSEL) and wind energy (Sandia National Labs) sectors for structural health monitoring. We have now released a case study showing how FOS is being utilized in the nuclear power industry to monitor post tensioned tendons in a nuclear containment structure on an operational nuclear power plant. This pilot project is still currently active and the system is still collecting data.

- Alan Turner

What do the following have in common:
- Measurement of huge strains of 20 to 40%
- Detection of 0.04 psi changes in hydrostatic pressure over a range of more than 13,000 psi
- Sensing of tiny electromagnetic fields with a resolution of 1 milliTesla

Answer:
1) Each are fiber optic sensors relying on fiber Bragg gratings and/or special high birefringence fibers
2) And each depend on the Micron Optics sm125 interrogator to achieve these results.

Since the initial release of the sm125 in 2004, it has become the mainstay for research, development, and deployment of fiber optic sensing solutions. Users can count on the internal NIST-traceable gas cell for accurate measurements on every sweep of the powerful laser. The sm125 has helped increase the pace of growth and acceptance of fiber optic sensors.

Learn more about these applications from those who’ve developed them (clicking on the links below takes you to another website containing the paper referenced):
A large-scale strain sensor based on fiber Bragg grating
Hydrostatic Pressure Sensing with High Birefringence Photonic Crystal Fibers
Magnetic Field Measurements Based on Terfenol Coated Photonic Crystal Fibers

See more about the sm125 here

- Tom Graver