Optimising Multi-Wavelength Attenuation-Based Length Sensors

The use of length sensors is crucial in providing feedback control in the field of soft robotics. One such type of length sensor utilises the attenuation of light along a highly extensible waveguide to determine length. By ratiometrically combining multiple wavelengths of light in this style of sensor, we can calculate robust estimates of length, immune to wavelength independent light losses. This paper investigates the performance of multi-wavelength attenuation-based length sensors and optimises the attenuation coefficients for each wavelength of light for an arbitrary number of wavelengths to provide optimal sensor performance.