Multiplexed fiber-coupled accelerometers for security monitoring applications

This paper describes the design and performance of a new all optical fiber-coupled Fabry-Perot (FP) acceleration and vibration sensor. This device can be readily multiplexed with up to eight other sensors on a single interrogation channel, and an existing state of the art Fiber Bragg Grating (FBG) swept-wavelength interrogation system can be used to monitor the sensor response. The ease of multiplexing combined with passive operation leads to an effective solution for monitoring vibration at many different points across a wide area, with minimal cost of deployment. We will also describe tests of a fiber conduit security monitoring application.