Optical fibre sensors — A compressed perspective

This paper will present a brief perspective on the current status and future potential of fibre optic sensors. In the half century since the concept was first mooted the fibre sensor has established itself in a few specialised niches, predominantly distributed sensing, applications in the electrical power supply industry and the fibre optic gyroscope. The technology continues to develop both in addressing further niches and in demonstrating innovative sensing modalities. This paper will briefly explore the principles of fibre sensing and illustrate these with both an analysis of emerging applications and examples of the exploration of more recently available optical concepts into this domain.