Fiber-Optic Condition-Based Management System

There is a need for a condition based management system to continuously monitor aging and new naval systems. A fiber optic (FO) system is uniquely positioned to provide accurate, non-invasive, and continuous real-time assessment of parameters such as temperature, load, vibration, impact events, and acoustic emissions. In addition, new power-over-fiber methods have been identified to generate controlled ultrasonic wave pulses for active sensing of damage such as corrosion, cracks, or coating bond condition, which will be used to probe hot spot areas for additional information. Guidedwave (FBS, Inc. d.b.a. “Guidedwave”) proposes a FO network of embedded fiber Bragg grating sensors and ultrasound generation nodes to simultaneously collect this multi-parameter data in real-time. Many sensors will be multiplexed onto each fiber, and all fibers will be routed to a central hub where optical equipment (e.g., lasers, controllers) and data acquisition hardware will be held. A computer with custom monitoring software will be used to control, view, integrate, and analyze the data. This data will be integrated with other platform data streams for use in decision making regarding topics such as system readiness, real-time operational situational awareness, and maintenance planning, and will provide an overall cost savings to the Navy.