Behavior Monitoring Based on Intensity Matrix Distribution in Output Plane of Single-Mode Fiber Bundle

A smart structure using intensity-based optical fiber sensors has the potential to be a simple and low-cost system. In this paper, a novel fiber-optic smart structure system using a complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) is demonstrated that simultaneously monitors a number of hetero-core optical fiber bending sensors. The proposed system can integrate a number of optical fiber transmission lines. Therefore, the system does not require a number of photodetectors, which is different from conventional techniques. To simultaneously measure optical intensity, we coupled a number of hetero-core optical fiber sensors to a CMOS camera. The optical fiber sensor can detect macrobending to the optical light intensity. The output images comprise luminance spots distribution directly representing the sensor arrangements in the smart structure. A template matching technique based on the sum of absolute differences was introduced to distinguish between the overall behaviors of structures. A recognition experiment for object shapes was performed with a smart pressure sheet in which hetero-core optical fiber sensors are embedded as a simple case. In addition, a real-time human body posture recognition application was implemented using a fiber-optic smart clothing to apply the proposed system. Recognition results show that all images comprising luminance spots distribution were matched with the correct template images, with an error rate of 0% for 15 trials.