FAULT PREDICTION AND DIMENSIONAL FAULT ISOLATION FOR FIBER OPTIC COMMUNICATION SYSTEMS

SAFETY AND RELIABILITY OF CONTROL ARE FOREMOST CONSIDERATIONS FOR NUCLEAR POWERPLANTS. AS NUCLEAR POWERPLANT CONTROL BECOMES MORE DISTRIBUTED WITH NEXT-GENERATION INTELLIGENT SENSORS, INTEGRATED SIGNAL PROCESSORS, AND SO FORTH, THE NEED FOR MORE RELIABLE PLANT-WIDE COMMUNICATION WILL BECOME INCREASINGLY SIGNIFICANT. BECAUSE THE DISTRIBUTED COMMUNICATION SYSTEM IS THE MOST EXPOSED ELEMENT IN THE OVERALL CONTROL SYSTEM, IT IS THE MOST VULNERABLE TO TRANSIENT AND STEADY-STATE RADIATION. OPTICAL WAVEGUIDES AVOID ELECTRICAL INTERFERENCE AND OFFER SUPERIOR OVERALL SAFETY AND PERFORMANCE CHARACTERISTICS. HOWEVER, THEY ARE ALSO SUSCEPTIBLE TO NONRECOVERABLE RADIATION-INDUCED LOSSES AT LOW-DOSE RADIATION LEVELS SUCH AS THOSE COMMONLY FOUND IN NUCLEAR POWERPLANT ENVIRONMENTS. DURING PHASE I OF THIS PROGRAM, A FUNCTIONAL DESIGN CONCEPT WILL BE PROPOSED FOR A UNIVERSAL COMMUNICATION DEVICE THAT WOULD PROVIDE FAULT TOLERANT DATA TRANSMISSION WITH INTEGRAL, REAL-TIME OPTICAL POWER MEASUREMENT AND OPTICAL FAULT ISOLATION CAPABILITY. THIS WOULD PROVIDE CONTINUOUS REAL-TIME MONITORING OF OPTICAL POWER LOSSES (RADIATION-INDUCED AND OTHERS) COINCIDENT WITH DATA COMMUNICATION THROUGHOUT THE FIBER OPTIC COMMUNICATION GRID. FAILURE CONDITIONS COULD BEPREDICTED AND DIMENSIONALLY ISOLATED TO THE PRECISE LOCATIONIN THE OPTICAL WAVEGUIDE WHERE THE DAMAGE HAS OCCURRED (OR TO THE LOCATION OF THE FAILED TRANSMITTER OR RECEIVER). THIS WOULD ENABLE PREDICTIVE MAINTENANCE WITH A HIGH DEGREE OF SAFETY, RELIABILITY, AND EFFICIENCY.