Interferometric demodulation system and method for large capacity fiber grating sensing network

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11933646-B2
Application number	US-202117488304-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 29, 2021
Priority date	May 14, 2021
Publication date	Mar 19, 2024
Grant date	Mar 19, 2024

Abstract

An interferometric demodulation system for a large capacity fiber grating sensing network is provided by the present disclosure, comprising: a continuous light output end of the nanoscale wide-spectrum light source is connected to an input end of the pulse optical modulator, an output end of the reference grating is connected to an input end of the grating array sensing network, and a third communication end of the optical circulator is connected to an input end of the optical amplifier, an output end of the optical amplifier is connected to an input end of the Mach-Zehnder interferometer, three-channel signal output ends of the Mach-Zehnder interferometer are respectively connected to signal input ends corresponding to the embedded signal processor through the photoelectric converter, and the embedded signal processor controls the heating device to control a temperature of an any one of interference arms of the Mach-Zehnder interferometer.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An interferometric demodulation system for a large capacity fiber grating sensing network, comprising: a nanoscale wide-spectrum light source, a pulse optical modulator, an optical circulator, a reference grating, a grating array sensing network, an optical amplifier, a Mach-Zehnder interferometer, a photoelectric converter, an embedded signal processor and a heating device; wherein: a continuous light output end of the nanoscale wide-spectrum light source is connected to an input end of the pulse optical modulator, and an output end of the pulse optical modulator is connected to a first communication end of the optical circulator, a second communication end of the optical amplifier is connected to an input end of the reference grating, an output end of the reference grating is connected to an input end of the grating array sensing network, and a third communication end of the optical circulator is connected to an input end of the optical amplifier, an output end of the optical amplifier is connected to an input end of the Mach-Zehnder interferometer, three-channel signal output ends of the Mach-Zehnder interferometer are respectively connected to signal input ends corresponding to the embedded signal processor through the photoelectric converter, and the embedded signal processor controls the heating device to control a temperature of an any one of interference arms of the Mach-Zehnder interferometer,
wherein the nanoscale wide-spectrum light source comprises a broadband light source, an optical filter, the optical amplifier and a gain-saturated semiconductor optical amplifier, and
wherein the optical filter is a nanoscale optical band-pass filter, a bandwidth range of a nanoscale optical band-pass filter is the same as a bandwidth range of the grating array sensing network, and the broadband light source emits a wide-spectrum optical signal, and the wide-spectrum optical signal is band-pass filtered by the optical filter, thus a filtered signal broadband is the same as a working bandwidth of the grating array sensing network, then the filtered signal is power amplified by the optical amplifier, and then is power compensated and shaped by the gain-saturated semiconductor optical amplifier, and finally a nanoscale wide-spectrum optical signal is output;
the pulse optical modulator is used for modulating an input nanoscale wide-spectrum optical signal into a pulse optical signal, so as to distinguish reflected signals of adjacent FBG in the grating array sensing network; and
the pulse optical modulator is also used to amplify the pulse optical signal power.

2. The interferometric demodulation system for the large capacity fiber grating sensing network according to claim 1 , wherein: the reference grating is packaged and placed in a temperature-isolation and a shock-isolation device, and a reflection center wavelength of the reference grating is not affected by an external temperature and vibration; and
the optical amplifier is used to amplify an optical reflected signal with sensing information and then send to the Mach-Zehnder interferometer.

3. The interferometric demodulation system for the large capacity fiber grating sensing network according to claim 1 , wherein: the grating array sensing network is a weak reflectance FBG array, a reflectance range of the weak reflectance FBG array is 0.005% to 0.01%, a length of the grating array sensing network is L, a plurality of FBGs with a coherent length≥m are engraved on the grating array sensing network, a distance between adjacent FBG is ≥l, and a multiplexing number is ≤l.

4. The interferometric demodulation system for the large capacity fiber grating sensing network according to claim 1 , wherein: the Mach-Zehnder interferometer comprises a 1×2 coupler and a 3×3 coupler, wherein: an input end of the 1×2 coupler is connected to an output end of the optical amplifier, a first output end of the 1×2 coupler is connected to a first input end of the 3×3 coupler, a second output end of the 1×2 coupler is connected to a third input end of the 3×3 coupler, a second input end of the 3×3 coupler is disabled, a first output end of the 3×3 coupler is connected to a first input end of the photoelectric converter, and a second output end of the 3×3 coupler is connected to a second input end of the photoelectric converter, a third output end of the 3×3 coupler is connected to a third input end of the photoelectric converter; and
the optical reflected signal returned by an each FBG in the grating array sensing network is divided into two channels through the 1×2 coupler, wherein: a hysteresis length of a channel of the optical reflected signal is N, the first input end of the 1×2 coupler to the 3×3 coupler is called a first interference arm, the second output end of the 1×2 coupler to the third input end of the 3×3 coupler is called a second interference arm, a sensing fiber length difference N between two interfering arms is not 0 and is less than a coherence length of a single FBG.

5. The interferometric demodulation system for the large capacity fiber grating sensing network according to claim 1 , wherein: the embedded signal processor is used for demodulating corresponding center wavelength information from an electric signal with the sensing information obtained by the photoelectric converter, and addressing a FBG by a time sequence of obtaining demodulated center wavelength information to locate a spatial position of the corresponding center wavelength information, meanwhile, the embedded signal processor controls the heating device to heat the any one of the interference arms of the Mach-Zehnder interferometer.

6. The interferometric demodulation system for the large capacity fiber grating sensing network according to claim 1 , wherein: the heating device is used for heating the any one of the interference arms of the Mach-Zehnder interferometer, and through an above process, calibrating an initial center wavelength of the FBG, and further realizing an effect of reducing an initial working state of an object to be measured.

7. A demodulation method of the interferometric demodulation system for the large capacity fiber grating sensing network according to claim 1 , wherein:
S1: outputting the nanoscale wide-spectrum optical signal from the nanoscale wide-spectrum light source;
S2: using the pulse optical modulator to modulate the nanoscale wide-spectrum optical signal into a pulse optical signal and amplify the pulse optical signal power;
S3: making the amplified pulse optical signal entering the reference grating and the grating array sensing network through the optical circulator in a sequence, wherein: an initial center wavelength of the reference grating is known, and is packaged in a temperature-isolated and a shock-isolated environment to ensure that a center wavelength is unchanged; since a spectral width of the pulse optical signal covers a working bandwidth of the FBG in the grating array sensing network, a return signal of the each FBG under a single pulse is a respective reflected spectral signal, and an optical signal reflected back by the grating array sensing network is output to the optical amplifier by the optical circulator to amplify the optical reflection signal with the sensing information and then send to the Mach-Zehnder interferometer;
S4: making the each FBG of the grating array sensing network returning optical signals and then entering the Mach-Zehnder interferometer, and being divided into two paths through the 1×2 coupler, to ensure an interference of the two paths of the optical signals, an arm length difference N of the two paths of optical fiber arms is less than the coherence length of the single FBG in the grating array sensing network; and
S5: determining an arrival time of a reflected optic

Assignees

• Univ Wuhan Tech

Inventors

• Li Zhengying
• Wang Jiaqi
• Wang Honghai

Classifications

• G01D5/35329 Primary

  using interferometer with two arms in transmission, e.g. Mach-Zender interferometer · CPC title

• G01D5/35303

  using a reference fibre, e.g. interferometric devices · CPC title

• H04B10/548

  Phase or frequency modulation · CPC title

• Y02D30/70

  in wireless communication networks · CPC title

• G01D5/35316

  using a Bragg gratings · CPC title