WAVELENGTH DIPLEXED, FIBER COUPLED, COHERENT LASER RADAR MEASUREMENT SYSTEM

THERE IS A NEED FOR FIBER COUPLED PROXIMITY SENSORS WITH HIGH SPEED AND ACCURACY FOR APPLICATIONS TO ROBOTIC END EFFECTORS AND TO AUTOMATED INSPECTION AND QUALITY CONTROL. THE PROPOSED PHASE I EFFORT WILL DEMONSTRATE A NOVEL, ROBUST, INTEGRATED SENSOR CONCEPT WITH MULTIPLE SENSOR CAPABILITY. FIBER OPTIC SENSORS HAVE BEEN DEMONSTRATED TO HAVE GEOMETRIC FLEXIBILITY. IN THE CASE OF PHASE MODULATED INTERFEROMETRIC TYPE SENSORS HIGH SENSITIVITY IS DEMONSTRATED AS WELL. HOWEVER, DUE TO THE SENSITIVITY OF CONVENTIONAL SINGLE MODE FIBERS TO ENVIRONMENTAL PERTURBATIONS, PROBLEMS SUCH AS POLARIZATION FADING AND DRIFT ARE LIMITING FACTORS. THE PROPOSED PHASE I EFFORT IS TO DESIGN AND DEMONSTRATE A WAVELENGTH DIPLEXED, FIBER OPTIC MEASUREMENT SYSTEM THAT UTILIZES BOTH A MULTIMODE LASER RADAR AND A FREQUENCY MODULATED LASER RADAR IN A COHERENT DETECTION CONFIGURATION THAT ELIMINATES THE PROBLEM OF ENVIRONMENTAL PERTURBATIONS. THE PROPOSED DESIGNHAS THE FLEXIBILITY TO MULTIPLEX A NUMBER OF MINIATURE SENSORS MOUNTED ON ROBOTIC END EFFECTORS AND TOOLS TO MEASURE PROXIMITY, TACTILE PRESSURE (TOUCH), FORCE, AND TORQUE.