HIGH ACCURACY FABRY-PEROT OCEAN TEMPERATURE SENSOR

A HIGH-ACCURACY TEMPERATURE SENSOR--WITH IMMUNITY TO EMI--IS PROPOSED AS AN OCEAN TEMPERATURE MONITOR. THE SENSOR CONSISTS OF A BROADBAND LIGHT SOURCE COUPLED INTO AN OPTICAL FIBER WHICH TRANSMITS THIS BROADBAND SPECTRUM TO THE REMOTE SENSOR ELEMENT. THE SENSOR ELEMENT IS A VARIABLE GAP FABRY-PEROT CAVITY WHICH MODULATES THE REFLECTED SPECTRUM ACCORDING TO GAP DIMENSION. THE REFLECTED SPECTRUM IS FIBER-TRANSMITTED BACK TO A MICROPROCESSOR BASED, COLOR DEMODULATION SYSTEM. THIS COLOR DEMODULATION IS ACCOMPLISHED BY PRISM DISPERSION OVER A CHARGE-COUPLED-DEVICE (CCD). THE MICROPROCESSOR USES KALMAN FILTERING TO ANALYZE AND CONVERT THE SPECTRAL DATA TO TEMPERATURE.