IEEE SENSORS JOURNAL, VOL. 12, NO. 1, JANUARY 2012
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Editorial Third Special Issue on Optical Fiber Sensors ELCOME to this the third Special Issue of the IEEE SENSORS JOURNAL dedicated to progressing fiber-optic sensor science technology. This issue comprises significantly enhanced versions of some papers originally presented at the Fourth European Workshop on Optical Fiber Sensors (EWOFS), which took place in Porto, Portugal, in September 2010 (SPIE Proceedings, Vol. 7653). EWOFS takes place on roughly a three/four year cycle with the next one planned to take place in Poland. The meeting is designed as a highly interactive workshop with relatively few oral presentations from internationally recognized experts in their field complemented by extensive poster and discussion sessions. This Special Issue brings out the immense diversity in every perspective of the evolution of fiber-optic sensor science and technologies. We see the emergence of serious discussions on standards, test procedures, and protocols all of which are essential to the eventual acceptance for the application of fiber sensors. We also see discourse on the incorporation of emerging photonic concepts such as the slow light and photonic crystal structures into sensor technology. In between and indeed representative of the bulk of current enquiry into fiber sensors, we have investigations into prospective application. Examples here range from monitoring buildings and bridges to several examples of the “lab in or on a fiber” to continuing interest in the prospects for fiber sensing in medicine especially as a diagnostic tool. These examples tantalize both the prospective user and technologist through proof of principle experiments. Regular readers of the IEEE SENSORS JOURNAL will inevitably be aware that the path from proof of principle to proven product can be long and tortuous. There are, of course, numerous proof of principle examples from different technological enthusiasts applied to the same or similar applications and each technology has its idiosyncratic benefits and drawbacks. The enthusiastic technologists need patience and persistence, not to mention communication skills and respect for users to pursue this path to accepted reality within the broader community. For fiber sensors as indeed with numerous other sensing technologies, this pursuit has typically taken over a decade. However, there are now sufficient examples of fiber sensors in practical reality to instill user confidence and greatly aid the future acceptance of at least some (though it would be but guess
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work to more than speculate on which) of the technologies which are described in this Special Issue. The forty or so papers which follow present an intriguing picture of a uniquely diverse technology and we thank the authors for their efforts in enhancing the original presentations. We also thank the numerous reviewers for their – usually – prompt responses to our requests for help and last, but most certainly by no means least, we thank the IEEE staff especially Eileen Murray for her patience, persistence, and tolerance of the frequently errant guest editors.
BRIAN CULSHAW, Guest Editor University of Strathclyde Department of Electronic and Electrical Engineering Glasgow, Scotland, G1 1XW, U.K.
[email protected] JOSÉ M. LÓPEZ-HIGUERA, Guest Editor University of Cantabria Photonic Engineering Group (TEISA) Santander, Cantabria 39005, Spain
[email protected] IGNACIO R. MATIAS, Guest Editor Public University of Navarra Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering Pamploná, Navarra 31006, Spain
[email protected] WILLIAM N. MACPHERSON, Guest Editor Heriot-Watt University Department of Physics Edinburgh, Scotland EH14 4AS, U.K.
[email protected] JOSÉ LUÍS SANTOS, Guest Editor INESCO Porto Unidade de Optelectrónica e Sistemas Electrónicos Porto, 4485 Portugal
[email protected]
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/JSEN.2011.2147450
1530-437X/$26.00 © 2011 IEEE
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IEEE SENSORS JOURNAL, VOL. 12, NO. 1, JANUARY 2012
Brian Culshaw received the B.Sc. degree in physics from the University College London (UCL), London, U.K., and the Ph.D. degree in electronic and electrical engineering, specializing in microwave semiconductors from UCL in 1969. In 1970, he was a post-doc at Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, joining the staff of Bell Northern Research (now Nortel) immediately afterwards and evolving into microwave system design, especially for long-haul transmission. He returned to UCL after three years in Ottawa, joining the academic staff at UCL in 1975 thereafter developing an interest in fiber optics for sensing and measurement. With many co-workers, he produced some basic results in the use of phase modulation in sensors and the interferometric architectures to demodulate them. A sabbatical year with J. Shaw at Stanford University, Stanford, CA, in 1982 gave an opportunity to contribute to basic research in fiber gyros. These interests in fiber sensing evolved into applications in ultrasonics, NDE, smart structures, advanced materials technologies, environmental sensing and MEMS. He has founded or co-founded three small companies, of which two survive. In 1983, he joined Strathclyde University, Glasgow, U.K., in 1983, as a Professor of Optoelectronics, and since then has also become involved in a number of professional activities including multipartner national and international research project management, conference organization, and journal editing. His work with professional societies includes serving as President of SPIE during 2007. At Strathclyde University, he served six years as Vice-Dean (Engineering) in the United Kingdom’s largest Engineering Faculty and has completed a five year term as Head of the Department.
José Miguel López-Higuera (M’98–SM’93) is a Full Professor and the Head of the Photonic Engineering Group of the University of Cantabria, Cantabria, Spain. Presently, he works in the development of photonic techniques and instrumentation and optical fiber sensor for characterization and monitoring of processes, materials, and structures of a wide set of application sector. He has directed more than 60 R&D projects, written or co-written more than 500 publications, and obtained more than 15 patents. Prof. López-Higuera is currently a TPC or ISC member of several conferences, was the Chairman of the EWOFS04, the Co-Chairman of the OFS20, and is the Chairman of Optoel2011 and will be Chairman of the OFS23 Conferences. He is a Member of the Optical Society of America (OSA) and the International Society for Optical Engineers (SPIE). For more details: www.teisa.unican.es/gif
Ignacio R. Matias (SM’03) received the M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in electrical and electronic engineering from the Polytechnic University of Madrid (UPM), Madrid, Spain, in 1992 and 1996, respectively. Currently, he is a Professor with the Electrical and Electronic Engineering Department and the Director of the School of Engineering and Sciences at the Public University of Navarra, Pamplona, Spain. He has coauthored more than 200 books, book chapters, and journal papers mainly related to optical fiber sensors. He has been involved with more than 50 research projects holding more than a dozen patents and copyrights and promoting several spin-offs. Prof. Matias has received several scientific and research awards. He is a Senior Editor of the IEEE SENSORS JOURNAL.
EDITORIALTHIRD SPECIAL ISSUE ON OPTICAL FIBER SENSORS
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William N. MacPherson received the B.Sc. and Ph.D. degrees in physics from Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh, U.K. Currently, he is a Lecturer in Physics at Heriot-Watt University. His current research interests include application of grating-based sensors to harsh environments, high temporal bandwidth sensors, and sensor applications of novel fibers. He has coauthored over 90 journal and conference papers in this area.
José Luís Santos graduated with a Degree in applied physics in 1983, received the Ph.D. degree in 1993 and the Agregação in 2008 from the University of Porto, Porto, Portugal. Currently, he is a Professor with the Physics and Astronomy Department, Faculty of Sciences, University of Porto, and is Researcher of the INESC Porto Optoelectronics and Electronic Systems Unit. His main research interests are related to optical fiber sensing and optical fiber technology. Prof. Santos is a Member of the Optical Society of America (OSA), the International Society for Optical Engineers (SPIE), and Planetary Society.
