APPLYING FIBER OPTIC SENSORS TO REAL-WORLD INDUSTRIAL PROBLEMS

FIBER OPTIC SENSORS HAVE VERY ATTRACTIVE FEATURES FOR INDUSTRIAL APPLICATIONS. BECAUSE THEY USE NONCONDUCTING SILICA INSTEAD OF WIRES, THEY CAN OPERATE IN HIGH ELECTROMAGNETIC FIELD ENVIRONMENTS AND EXPLOSION HAZARD AREAS. THE EXPECTATIONS OF THE 1980S WERE THAT FIBER OPTIC SENSOR USAGE WOULD BE OVER $100M PER YEAR IN 1993; ACTUAL SALES WERE UNDER $20M. THE ORDER-OF-MAGNITUDE ERROR WAS IN PART DUE TO FORECASTING METHODOLOGY AND IN PART DUE TO USERS' NOT ACCEPTING THE NEW SENSOR TECHNOLOGY TO REPLACE TRADITIONAL SENSORS. THIS PROJECT WILL WORK WITH USERS IN THREE INDUSTRY SEGMENTS: CHEMICAL PROCESSING, ELECTRIC POWER, AND FOOD PROCESSING TO (1) CLARIFY REASONS FOR THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN EXPECTATIONS AND USAGE OF FIBER OPTIC SENSORS; (2) IDENTIFY NEEDS THAT FIBER SENSORS CAN FILL UNIQUELY; AND (3) IDENTIFY PHASE 2 TASKS THAT WILL LOWER BARRIERS TO THE USE OF FIBER OPTIC SENSORS. PHASE 2 WILL CATALYZE COLLABORATION BETWEEN USERS, E.G. WITHING THE FOOD INDUSTRY. COLLABORATION BETWEEN SENSOR SUPPLIERS WILL BE INITIATED (SUBJECT TO APPLICABLE ANTI-TRUST LAWS) TO IMPROVE SENSOR INTERCHANGABILITY AS WELL AS TO EDUCATE USER GROUPS TO FIBER OPTIC SENSOR APPLICABILITY. OPPORTUNITIES FOR NIST PARTICIPATION WILL BE DEFINED IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF MEASUREMENT METHODS AS WELL AS MEASUREMENT REFERENCE STANDARDS.